Portola Valley boys win robotics award Portola Valley boys win robotics award (January 25, 2006)

They call themselves the RoboHobos: seven Portola Valley boys, ages 9 and 10, who have won the Judges Award at the sixth annual Northern California First Lego League Official Tournament. The event, Ocean Odyssey, took place January 14 at San Jose City College.

The boys -- Logan Lee, Roger Romani, Johnny Trudelle, Forrest Sill, Ty Dewes, Paolo Castro and Hayden MacArthur -- were some of the youngest kids in the tournament. Their team was one of only a few rookie teams to qualify for the event.

The boys formed RoboHobos last June and worked on the basics of robotics during the summer. They have been working towards the Ocean Oyssey Challenge since last September, meeting two and three times a week, says mom Leslie Lee.

She says three members of the Woodside Priory High School Robotics Team -- Mike Mellenthin, Daniel Berman and David Mandle -- have acted as mentors to the boys, getting the team off to a good start.

The youngsters advanced to tournament finals after winning the Research Award at the Pacifica Regional Tournament December 17. Their research project was "The Coastal Cleaner," innovative ways to clean beach sand after an oil spill.

There was one mishap. During the afternoon, the robot was accidentally dropped and broke into a number of pieces. Since it is made out of Lego parts, the team was able to put it back together in time for the robot design judging.

Of the 421 teams that started out competing last fall, 64 qualified for the San Jose event. Teams at San Jose were competing to represent California at the FLL World Tournament in Atlanta, Georgia, in April.

Should the two first-place teams be unable to travel to Atlanta, the RoboHobos will be one of 12 teams entered in a lottery to represent Northern California.

All the RoboHobos are in the fourth grade. All attend Corte Madera School in Portola Valley, except Johnny Trudelle who attends the Mid-Peninsula Christian School.

First Lego League was founded as a robotics competition to introduce children to solving real world problems by applying math, science and technology. This year's theme, "Ocean Odyssey" focused on managing the ocean's resources.

For more information on First Lego League, go to www.firstlegoleague.org.

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