WKMS Robotics team wins regional award and competes for national Innovation Award | News

The White Knoll Middle School Robotics team, also known as Generation NeXT, recently won first place in the Research Project presentation at the FIRST® LEGO® League’s Lexington Regional Competition for their Senior SolutionsSM  invention. They will compete in the state competition on Saturday, February 23, 2013, at White Knoll High School against 80 other teams.

In addition to competing at the state level, the team has submitted their idea for consideration for the FIRST® LEGO® League Global Innovation Award. Winners of the award can win up to $20,000 in prize money to further develop their invention and support their robotics team activities.

The FIRST® LEGO® League Senior SolutionsSM challenge asked the teams to identify and learn about a problem faced by seniors, create an innovative solution to the problem they identifed and share their problem and solution with others.

Team Generation NeXT created the Automatic Laundry Folder (ALF). ALF is designed to assist seniors with the everyday task of folding laundry. Because seniors have difficulty with laundry folding due to joint stiffness and pain, the ALF is designed so that seniors can fold laundry easily with the push of a button.

The ALF uses three LEGO® motors and a programed NXT to move three different flaps to easily fold laundry into a perfect square each time. The team designed and built an actual ALF working prototype and collaborated with a senior partner who was able to provide feedback and test their invention.

WKMS is asking for help to win the Innovation Award. Anyone can cast unlimited votes online until March 1, 2013. Click here to vote for White Knoll Middle School’s robotic team, Generation NeXT.