A local FIRST LEGO League (FLL) team earned a Champion's Award at the Western PA Regional Championships last month.
The team qualifies for the FIRST LEGO League Razorback Invitational in Arkansas, where members will compete with teams from all over the world May 17 to 20. The team worked five hours per week for seven months under the guidance of adult mentors Maria Yamanaka and Marcel Bergerman from MySTEM Academy.
This year's theme, Hydrodynamics, challenged teams to propose innovative solutions to how we find, transport, use, and dispose of water. AI proposed a low-cost innovative showerhead to reduce stagnant water in showerheads in hospitals and therefore eliminate the growth of dangerous Legionella bacteria that can infect sick patients. The A.W.E.S.O.M.E., or AI Water Elimination System Of Major Excellence, can result in savings of 5.8 million gallons of water every year in the 4 hospitals AI visited in the Pittsburgh area in 2017. One of the hospitals in Pittsburgh intends to test the A.W.E.S.O.M.E. showerhead when the prototype is manufactured.
The AI team also fundraised $1,300 to help Aliquippa Elementary School rookie team Quip-Bots participate in the FLL season. AI team members dedicated over 100 hours mentoring the Quip-Bots, both in person and via teleconference. With the support of team AI, Quip-Bots won first-place award in Research Presentation and placed ninth in the robot game.
