Schaumburg LIMES head to LEGO competition

Most parents never imagine that playing with LEGO toy building bricks would lead to their children's interest in biomedical engineering.

Today that scenario has come close to reality, as Team LIMES and dozens of others prepare to participate in FIRST LEGO League Challenge regional competition at Quest Academy, Palatine, on Sunday, December 19.

FIRST LEGO League is a robotics program for 9- to 14-year-olds that makes use of the LEGO MINDSTORMS technology.

LIMES (Living Intelligently Means Engineering Successfully) includes Nathanael Claussen, 14, Benjamin Hyde, 13, Christian Hyde, 13 and Colin Stevenson, 9, of Schaumburg; John Lewis, 13, of Roselle; and John Brochu, 14, and Stephen Brochu, 11, of Deer Park. Most of the LIMES teammates are homeschooled. The team is coached by David Hyde.

This year's theme is Body Forward. Through the 2010 Body Forward Challenge, FLL teams will explore the cutting-edge world of biomedical engineering to discover innovative ways to repair injuries, overcome genetic predispositions, and maximize the body's potential, with the intended purpose of leading happier and healthier lives.

For the research component of this year's challenge, the LIMES are studying magnetoencephalography (MEG) technology. MEG is state-of-the-art brain imaging technology that measures magnetic brain activity, rather than electrical activity like an electroencephalograph (EEG) does. MEG is much more accurate than EEG, because a helmet surrounds the entire skull with over 300 sensors, rather than only 23 electrodes. MEG can even pinpoint where in the brain epileptic activity originates. An EEG can locate brain activity within three centimeters, but a MEG can locate activity within three millimeters.

In their research, LIMES visited the Illinois MEG Center at Alexian Brothers Neurosciences Institute, Elk Grove Village, to tour the facility and speak with its medical director, John S. Ebersole, M.D. The boys were impressed by the technology. However, they were concerned that the general public is not aware of its availability. Moreover, they were alarmed that much of the mainstream medical community has been slow to adapt to using this new technology.

FLL is designed to get children excited about science and technology—and teach them valuable employment and life skills. In fact, LIMES teammate Claussen plans on a career with NASA. Stefan Hyde, a founding member of LIMES, is currently a LIMES team mentor and an honors engineering student at Northwestern University.

The competition begins at 8 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 19, at Quest Academy, and there is no admission charge for spectators.