Christine Grimard
Northern News Services
Friday, February 2, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Yellowknife's team KCTC took third place out of 28 teams in a Lego robotics contest in Alberta last weekend.

The team, made up of five students from Ecole St. Joseph and Weledeh, employed their math and engineering skills to earn a high finish at the Lego League Alberta Championships at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Edmonton.

"We were really happy and so proud," said Pooja Chugh, 13, a Grade 8 student at Ecole St. Joseph.

It was the first time a team from Yellowknife competed. With just half as many participants as most of the other teams, and having started training just a few weeks ago, the third-place finish was not expected.

"I would have been proud if they had been 27th or 28th," said Allyson Stroeder, co-ordinator of the Kimberlite Career and Technical Centre. "Some of these kids (from the other schools) had been practising for months."

The KCTC team was put together a few weeks ago by Brent Currie, an instructor of mechanics and robotics at the centre.

"What they've done in the short time we've had is incredible," said Currie prior to the competition.

The event required the team to program a robot to complete a series of tasks while travelling along a set path.

Although they left for Edmonton in high spirits, the team never expected to place so well, said Pippa Kennedy, 11, a Grade 6 student at Weledeh Catholic school.

She said colourful lights and cheering crowds set the mood for the competition.

"It was overwhelming," said Kennedy. The students had placed seventh for their prior research before the robot competition began.

The team had three chances to get the robot to complete its tasks, and the judges marked the best try of the three.

Although their first and second tries weren't successful, the third went perfectly said Kennedy.