About Us
My name is Andrew, and I am 14 years old. I have designed this site to tell
others about us, our robotics teams, FIRST, and to share some fun
and useful resources.
I enjoy programming computers, designing web pages, manipulating
photos in Adobe Photoshop, and doing FIRST Lego League.
I have a younger brother, whose name is David, who has participated
in FIRST too. He enjoys the research project the most. He loves
animals and wants to work with them when he is older. He will have
his own website soon. Check back later to find the link to it.
My mom really likes FLL. She and Dad both have Engineering degrees. She thinks kids get to experience what it is like to be an engineer by participating in FLL. But FLL is really more than just engineering, it is problem solving, learning to think creatively, and team work. I think kids can learn things much earlier than they are often given the opportunity. FLL gives kids a chance to do ‘real’ work, and solve ‘real’ problems. I like to think of life skills as tools in a tool box. Learning in school gives kids tools for their tool box. FLL gives them the opportunity to pull them out and use them. I believe this will inspire kids to become our technology leaders of tomorrow. FIRST gives kids ‘real world’ problem solving experience. Participants have to work with limited resources, a compressed schedule, and have a plan for when things go wrong. At the competition, even though there are a lot of distractions, you have to make sure you and all your things are in the right place at the right time.
I still remember the first time I ever heard of FIRST robotics. Several years ago, it was fall of 2001, our family went to the Maryland State Fair. At the fair that year, several FIRST high school robotics teams were competing (see pictures). It held my attention for hours! Two years later, we were at the fair again, and so were the robots! This time they let my brother and me control them. They also told us about FIRST Lego League. We were still too young for it. But we didn't forget... A few years later we learned of a FLL team in our area, and we joined in 2006. Our team, TechBrick, went to the competition at the University of Maryland in January 2007, winning the Team Spirit award. We had so much fun!
It was about the same time that my father took a new job, which relocated us to Roanoke, Virginia, where we now live. The most difficult part of moving for me was leaving our FLL team behind. Since we didn't know of another FLL team in Roanoke, we started our own.
Our first team was called RoboForce. We did well. Our second team in Virginia, RoboRubiks, also did well. We went to the State Championship, and won the Judges award. Pictures of both teams can be viewed by clicking the Pictures link.
If you would like more information, check out the FIRST website, look at movies on YouTube by searching for FIRST LEGO League, or contact us.
We are available to do robot demonstrations for your school or group. We'd also be happy to offer guidance to new teams. If you'd like we could even hold a training session for you.
Thanks for taking the time to visit our site and to learn more about us. We hope to see you at an upcoming FLL competition! 3-2-1-LEGO!!