LEGO robotics inspire High Desert students
Technology is improving at a rapid pace, and Sunday at Bend’s Mountain View High School, Central Oregon kids provided another example of that by competing in a LEGO robotics tournament.
To be successful, it takes a combination of skills.
“We’re just really creative, and we like to play with LEGOS and build stuff,” Riley Teitgen said. “It’s just really fun to do stuff with the robot and do missions and stuff.”
The tournament is competitive and allows 9- to 14-year-olds to have fun while preparing for their future.
“At some point. I’m going to retire,” instructor Lance Kasari said. “These kids are going to be running the world when I retire, and so I want the kids who are excited about engineering, science and solving real-world problems.”
There were 18 teams in this year’s tournament, each led by coaches; but the rules state the coaches can’t help their team members in any way.
“Everybody is in on everything,” Colter Edde said, “We all put in an idea. We all support each others’ ideas, and we just like to have fun like that.”
The teams have been preparing since September for this day. Along the way, there have been plenty of hiccups and challenges.
“I think it’s the programming, because sometimes it does random turns and just goes crazy and stuff,” Riley said.
After three months of hard work, you’d think winning the tournament would easily be a kid’s favorite part. For 11 year old Edde, that’s not the case.
“Each one of them think their own way, have their own way, all put in cool ideas and it’s just incredible,” Edde said. “I love to see them doing that.”
