Pleasantville fifth graders Anahita Subramanya, Ethan Lin, James Blasdell, Lucas Lee, and Maya Sauthoff, as Team Legomaniacs, won the first prize for their research project at the Hudson Valley Regional First Lego Land (FLL) Championship held on Feb 23, 2013 at the Dutchess Community College (DCC), Poughkeepsie. Over 78 teams from up and down the Hudson Valley participated in FLL competitions this year. They worked from September through February on designing and programming a Lego Mindstorms NXT robot to execute predefined tasks and also carry out a research project on the theme "Senior Solutions". The 78 teams participated in six qualifying events from December through January and the winners of the qualifying competitions took part in the regional final at DCC.
Legomaniacs, coached by Ravi Subramanya researched the problems faced by senior citizens and came up with an innovative solution for one of the issues. They tackled the problem that a lot of seniors face, namely, that of carrying laundry and other items between floors. Their idea was to install a screwlift with a platform that could carry seniors between different floors. This solution is cheaper than a chairlift as well as an elevator.
"It was a thrilling experience to be a part of the team. We had a lot of fun playing and learning at the same time." said Anahita.
"The kids deserve a lot of credit for their willingness to learn and participate in this venture. They really worked together and carried out the robot tasks and the project with a lot of enthusiasm," said coach Subramanya.
"We all agree that we definitely could not have done all this without all the help and support of our families, coach, and mentors," added the other members of the team.
