The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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    Robo Legos

September 14, 2007

Lego pros

Robotics teams compete in St. Peter

By Brian Ojanpa

ST PETER — Matt Borowy is an architect, Roger Guimond is an engineer — and they were taken to school Friday by some tech-savvy students who don’t even shave yet.

“The kids are definitely teaching us. You should hear them talk programming language. It’s insane,” said Borowy as he and his teammates went about piecing together a robot made of Legos.

The occasion was part of a fundraising effort for a St. Peter Lego robotics teams comprised of six boys in fifth through eighth grades.

The friendly competition at St. Peter Community Center pitted teams representing Bolton & Menk and Paulsen Architects, both of Mankato, and MICO Inc. of North Mankato.

The teams had about three hours to build and program robots to perform a series of designated tasks in 21⁄2 minutes.

The challenge was daunting.

“We came into this blind,” Guimond said. “We built Legos as kids, but nothing like this.”

The St. Peter Lego squad is one of more than 5,000 Lego teams worldwide that perform in competitions culminating with an international meet.

St. Peter team coach Deb Johnson said the local companies sponsoring the adult teams Friday donated a total of $1,000 to the St. Peter squad, which needs to raise $3,500 for upcoming competitions in and out of state.

Friday’s event was designed to give the Lego team members a chance to watch the “pros” in action, but early on it was clear the student-teacher dynamic decidedly flowed from youth to adult.

“We’re teaching them,” 10-year-old Aaron Shoemaker said matter-of-factly.

Meantime, Borowy said he was getting the hang of it, even though he had to shake off a lot of rust.

“The last time I played with Legos was when I was about 12, but I’ve worked with gears and motors before, so this is right up my alley.”

Two members of the St. Peter team moved to Florida during the summer, but they continue to build and program robots with teammates via Webcams.

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