Edison and Ford Winter Estates’ Robotics Team places second at international tournament
The Edison and Ford Winter Estates’ robotics team, “Assembly Required,” recently competed against 50 other teams in the FIRST LEGO League international tournament held at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach. The team placed second in the Project Award category.
The team’s innovative project was focused on increasing the accessibility of LEGO robotics for the sight-impaired community. “Assembly Required” created a series of products, including online robotic tutorials with a focus on accessibility. The team also created a scaled-down 3D printed robotics field with tactile features that includes letters or Braille to assist students in understanding the challenges and designed and printed a tactile grid that allows individuals to identify areas of the robotics field, using a coordinate system.
“Together, their shared passion is robotics, and they want more people to be able to enjoy it,” said Pearce Augustenborg, education manager and robotics coach at EFWE. “The files for these 3D printed objects are available on the team-created website at https://www.assemblyrequired.us/innovation-project/stl-files.”
The goal of the team’s accessibility package is to have it adopted by FIRST LEGO League. When new teams register, they will have the option to make these resources available to their students. The FIRST LEGO League headquarters is aware of the team’s work, and their accessibility team is currently reviewing the project.
“While the award is wonderful, the potential for the team’s project to be implemented is a very exciting prospect,” Augustenborg said.
Currently, EFWE hosts four robotics teams; the other three are “jEdison Knights,” “Batteries Included” and the “Wired Wizards.” Each team has nine students in fourth through ninth grade from 13 different schools in two Florida counties. The teams practice weekly and work together on innovative projects to prepare for competition.
The EFWE robotics program is sponsored by Entech, FPL, LCEC, Ronin Charities and TLC Engineering Solutions. For more information about educational programs at EFWE, visit EdisonFord.org.
Edison and Ford Winter Estates
Edison and Ford Winter Estates is the internationally known winter home site of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. More than 220,000 visitors walk through the location each year from all around the globe. The property is an official project of “Save America’s Treasures,” a Florida Historic Landmark and a National Register Historic Site. The Edison Botanic Laboratory is a National Historic Chemical Landmark. The site is open every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and until 9 p.m. during the month of December for Holiday Nights.