Suburban kids compete in Lego challenge at Elgin Community College
With 63 other teams of Lego professionals hot on their heels, Mount Prospect's Department of Detritus squad had no room for error.
Again and again, they calibrated the movements of their Lego robot, troubleshooting its retrieval of a trash bag.
"Try 85 degrees," 13-year-old Sam Beedy suggested to John Jones, 14, who powered a laptop controlling the robot Saturday morning.
Finally - success.
"It got it ... oh my gosh ... I'm so happy!" an elated Mackenzie Molina said.
Similar last-minute adjustments played out across the crowded Elgin Community College venue at the FIRST Lego League's state championship, open to fourth- through eighth-graders.
The recycling-themed "Trash Trek" challenge required participants to solve a waste-disposal problem that includes building a robot and presenting their project to judges.
The Mount Prospect teens from Lincoln Middle School engineered an app that scans devices and gives options for reusing or recycling electronic garbage.
"It's fun to be with other kids that have the same fascination as you," said Alex Jacob, 14, who has three bins of Lego at home. "I want to learn about programming so I can start writing my own apps or my own code for devices."
"I hope to learn as much as I can here," Mackenzie said. "I look at this as the start of a career in engineering."
The Lovely Lego Ladies, an all-girl team of close friends from Crystal Lake, sat on the floor discussing strategy minutes before giving a presentation to judges.
The Hannah Beardsley Middle School students threw some unique twists into their recycling robot, which took three months to build.
"Most teams have two motors for steering, we have only one," which allows for more accurate turning, explained Maddie Dennis, 12.
Down the hall, the Naperville Friends squad described how they convinced students at Patterson Elementary School, where some team members attend, to cut back on garbage by a system of rewards, such as indoor recess.
"We took the idea of cap and trade and tied it into trash," said 13-year-old Roshan Prakash.
"They seemed very ecstatic and liked to do it because it's good for the environment," Brock Novak, 9 said.
The end result after a week was a 33 percent reduction in trash. The boys met with judges and then as a further test of their cooperative skills had to create an impromptu car out of nothing.
"Four people can curl up and make a wheel," Rayhan Driver, 9, advised the others.
Inspiring kids to love science, engineering, technology and math is the intent behind FIRST Lego, Illinois FLL Executive Director Dan Green said.
"This is the way to do it. They get excited at a young age and go to college and want to be scientists and engineers," he said.
The Elgin event covering northern Illinois is the first of two statewide challenges with the second occurring Jan. 23 in Champaign. Both feature 64 teams.