By Mandy McFarland Staff Writer
BREMEN — Not every day does a group of elementary-middle school students from a small town receive an invitation to compete against 78 other teams from around the world.
May 6 through 8, however, the Bremen Botz Lego robot team has the chance to fly to Taiwan to compete in the International FLL (FIRST Lego League) competition.

True to their name, the Botz build working Lego robots capable of performing a variety of simple tasks on command. The team has been around for about eight years and has been among the top 10 teams in the state consistently every year they have gone to competition. This year at regionals, they scored 100 percent in each of the areas judged, which include robot performance, research and presentation, technical and values, or how well they work as a team.
In December the team advanced to state, where they competed against 48 other teams and were one of only three teams in Indiana to achieve perfect scores in three of the four judged areas.
Getting there is a long process. Each year around September, the organization FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) comes up with a new challenge. They ship out all of the Lego pieces and a mat on which to build the obstacle course. They also specify four predetermined tasks that the robot must be able to perform. This might include retrieving certain items, navigating around obstacles, stopping on a target and more.
Once they have their directions and their Lego pieces, the team gets to work building and programming their robot. Using a specially-designed software, they program each course into the robot using myblocks. Each myblock contains the information necessary to complete a certain portion of each course, like when to stop, turn or pick something up.
Programming a Lego robot is a lot more complex, however, than simply inputting information. The robot must be designed not only for accuracy, but speed, as the team has only two and a half minutes to complete all four of their tasks.
“As with anything, the first robot never works,” coach Les Turner said.
When the first robot does not work, the students must go back and reprogram it or modify their design and try again. Through it all they learn not only technical skills but problem solving and teamwork, something this year’s Botz thought they might never learn.
“This year has probably been my most challenging team from the standpoint of where we started,” Turner said. “By the end of the season, they’re best buddies, they’re helping each other out. Even more important than the robot, that’s been the real benefit of this. They learn to work together as a team to accomplish a task that’s bigger than they are.”
Through it all, the team learns persistence and perseverance.
“It’s neat to see them start building a robot, fail, pick themselves back up, make the changes and work through the process,” Turner said.
Each team must also complete a research project centering around a specific theme. This year’s topic was transportation issues within the community. After a little observation, the team realized school busses can be a major traffic concern for drivers, pedestrians and students. As a solution, they came up with a system similar to a GPS. They call it the GAS (Global Alert System). Were the GAS real, it would alert students when their bus was arriving so they would not have to wait outside in the cold or the dark. Going further, drivers could use it to determine what route to take to work in the morning to avoid getting behind a bus that will be making multiple stops.
Going even further, the team believes their design could be adapted for ambulances, trains and more. Each team must present their research in the form of a skit.
When he received the invitation via e-mail to go to Taiwan, Turner’s first reaction was one of shock, then excitement.
“We basically have gone so close to going to a national tournament so many times,” he said. “I read it and my jaw dropped. How neat is this, that we get to go to an international tournament.”
Parental permission is an important factor as far as whether the entire team will travel to Taiwan. Fundrais-ing is also of extreme importance. The trip costs around $1,200 to $1,300 apiece. To send the entire team, plus the coaches and parent chaperones could quickly add up to 15 or 20 times the team’s normal annual budget of less than $1,000.
Then there is timing, especially where passports are concerned. To help pay for the trip, the team plans to hold fundraisers between now and May, though they are still working on the details.
Turner feels fundraising efforts will be a little easier because the team has several local sponsors who help them with major expenses.
About the Bremen Botz
The Bremen Botz is open to all students in Bremen between the ages of 9 and 14. Students from Bremen Public Schools and St. Paul’s Lutheran School and homeschool students are all welcome to join. There are currently eight members, though that changes every year.
The team has been around for about eight years. Before that, Turner coached a team at Covenant Christian School in Mishawaka.
About FLL
Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway and other celebrated technologies, founded FIRST in 1989.  The FIRST Lego League (FLL) came about in 1998. Students participate in teams of up to 10 students between the ages of 9 and 14. FLL is open to public and private schools, home schools, churches and civic groups, neighborhood groups and anyone interested in participating. Adult coaches and mentors work closely with the students, helping them develop skills in teamwork, technology and more.
FLL creates a new challenge each year, and each team must begin from scratch. Each project takes about eight weeks and includes building the course, building and programming the robot and completing a research project that addresses a technology issue.
There are between 200 and 250 FLL teams in Indiana and more than 100,000 worldwide. FLL teams exist in 42 countries and more than 136,000 kids between age 9 and 14 participate.
More information about FIRST and the FLL is available at www.ufirst.org.