The Ely Elementary LEGO team learns about choosing reliable sources in research for their innovation project. Starting at the back, clockwise, are Lela Kramer, Owen Roberts, Beckett Welk, Quinn Nelson, Mason Bohl and Assistant Coach Gail Heilman.

A team of five fourth-through-sixth graders comprise Ely Elementary’s LEGO League and are participating in the Full Steam Ahead LEGO Robotics Tournament in Minot on Saturday, Jan. 25.

The event has two main events: the robotics competition and the innovation portion.

In the robotics portion, the goal is to program their robots, which the students build out of LEGOs, perform certain tasks and challenges like “lifting things, pushing things and turning levers,” according to Jill Roberts, the team’s coach. Then they compete their creation against 17 other teams from around the area. Each team gets three chances to complete the tasks, Roberts said, and the best score is counted.

The students have been learning to use Scratch, which is a simplified programming “language” using blocks and words to program commands, according to Roberts.

Her 11-year-old son and member of the team, Owen Roberts, said the system lets them program a series of commands all at once, then they are able to “click a button and sit back and watch it do its thing.”

While the system is straightforward, Jill Roberts said, “It’s not as easy as telling the robot to turn left. You have to tell it where its wheels are, you have to tell it how fast to go, you have to have very specific instructions for it because robots are smart, but they’re actually kinda dumb, they can’t intuit (work out things by instinct).”

The challenge, she said, is figuring out how to use the program correctly. Often, the students, having made a mistake, will watch their robots either sit still and do nothing, or do things like spin themselves in circles, she said.

During the second aspect of the tournament, the innovation portion, the students are asked for an innovative solution to a real-world problem. This year’s theme is “submerged,” which Jill Roberts said is all about ocean exploration and the problems explorers face.

The team at Ely chose to take on the challenge of shark’s investigation ROVs, or remotely operated underwater vehicles, which are used worldwide for various explorations and other tasks.

“They do (their investigating) with their teeth,” said Jill Roberts, and this can prove problematic due to the expense of the equipment. In order to combat this challenge, she said the team devised the idea of “shark treats,” which would be shot into the water like a decoy.

Owen Roberts said he was part of the idea process to come up with the idea of luring sharks away from the vehicles. He said the team was focused on distracting them from the ROV, and “treats” for the sharks would offer a relatively inexpensive distraction. He said the team is still figuring out exactly what the recipe would be.

The event is “kind of like a science fair, a little bit, where you get to go around and look at other people’s innovation projects,” Jill Roberts said.

This gives the chance to see other team’s projects, see what ideas they came up with and make connections with their peers.

She said the LEGO league was something her son wanted to get into, and she joined with him, becoming the assistant coach last year, then this year taking the lead.

“It’s a really great opportunity for kids to learn the basics of engineering, and it really encourages kids to really lead the learning which can be challenging but I think that’s the best way to learn is when kids are curious and the program really encourages that,” she said.

She said it’s really fun to see the students having a good time problem solving together as a group and getting excited about it.