West Colchester Consolidated School wins Lego robotic competition

TRURO - A group of Bass River students demonstrated their skills with Lego and robotics during a competition on Saturday. The West Colchester Consolidated team won the game section of the First Lego League competition, which was staged at the NSCC.
"I took part in the competition at Acadia (University) last year," said Neil Smith, one of the members of the WCC Robotics team. "It's a lot of fun. I like Lego. We only started working on this a couple of weeks ago so I'm really happy with how we did."
The students worked hard on the design of the vehicle once they decided to participate in this year's event.
"We worked on it until about 11:30 (p.m.) for a couple of nights," said Liam McCully. "We could practice on a course at the school and make adjustments to the vehicle."
He admitted that there were a few disagreements while working on the design.
During the competition the vehicles, built with a Lego Mindstorms kit, were challenged to moves such as climbing bridges and obstacle avoidance.
Three teams took part in the competition at the NSCC this year. Along with West Colchester there was the Rectronics, from Riverside Education Centre, in Milford, and Ecole de Beaubassin, from Bedford. Organizers plan to hold the event again next year, at a date closer to the Acadia competition, which will take place on Jan. 30.
"There were about 30 teams competing at Acadia last year," said McCully. "We were 14th."
The West Colchester team plans to take part in the 2010 event at Acadia.
"I think we will use basically the same vehicle, with a few adjustments," said Smith. "We will add some sensors."
West Colchester teacher Chad Peck was the coach for the Robotics.
"I had no idea how well we would do this year," he said.
"I'm very excited about this. I think it's one of the most exciting after-school activities.
"It's also very self-directed. I don't
do anything but supervise."

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