The Mega Cardinals Robotics Team from Crabapple Lane Elementary took third place in the FIRST Lego League Georgia Regional State Tournament held recently on the Georgia Tech campus.
The first-year team of nine fourth- and fifth-graders secured victories at both the Regional and Super Regional in order to advance to the state level where they competed against 600 teams from Georgia, including teams from Fayette’s middle schools.
Team members are Ian Rigney, Matthew Villiger, Sofia Fuenmayor-Diaz, Marc van Zyl, Keelen Garcia, Christian Clarke, Drew Lakly, Roshan Kolachina, and Mark Redahan. Fifth-grade teacher Pat Costa, third-grade teacher Natalie Schmitt, and several parents coach the team.
In addition to programming an autonomous robot to score points on a themed playing field, the competition requires teams to complete a project challenge that solves a current issue or problem. This year’s challenge was “Trash Trek,” where teams were asked to find a solution to a real-world trash problem.
The Mega Cardinals came up with an idea to take K-cups, the single serve coffee pods, out of landfills and recycle them into doors that are stronger than a traditional wood door. In addition to keeping the cups out of landfills, the idea also saves trees from being cut for lumber, and reduces the manufacturing expense.
