It is not all about robots!

Landroids’ FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Smart Move “Deer Avoidance” research project has won the 2010 eCYBERMISSION 8th grade Northeast Regional 1st place Award!

Landroids will be one of the 16 out of 3,306 (grades 6 to 9) teams  in the country to compete at the National Judging & Educational Event (NJ&EE) during the week of June 21, 2010.

eCYBERMISSION is a web-based, national science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competition sponsored by the U.S. Army.  A teams of 3 to 4 students, in grades six through nine, may submit online their research projects in the areas of Sports and Recreation, Environment, Renewable Energy, and Health and Safety, to be judged by a panel of virtual judges. This year, more than 13,218 students, led by 804 team advisors, competed for the regional awards by using the scientific method to solve a problem in their local communities. Out of 3,306 teams, 96 teams (3%) were chosen to received an award. Only sixteen (16) 1st place teams (1 team per US region per grade) will advance to the national level.

This is Landroids’ first-time entry at eCYBERMISSION as an off-season, non-robotics, science challenge. The team spent 6 months in developing this research project using tire noise as passive sonar to detect roadside deer and send out a warning signal to the drivers. A core team of four Landroids 8th grade members (l. to r.: Stanley, Brian, Karlin and Gage) continued the weekly experiments and research effort even after completing our FIRST LEGO League State competition in December 2009.

Each member on the 1st place winning team will receive a $3,000 EE Savings Bond, plus an all expense paid trip to Baltimore, MD from June 21 to June 26, 2010 for a week of national competition. Each member of the 1st place national winning team will receive an additional $5,000 of EE Saving Bond as the award. Each member of the national finalist will receive a $3,500 EE Saving Bond.

Landroids look forward to a trip to Baltimore, MD and visit Washington D.C. in June.