Who are we?
Team Igutech is a group of nine 3th to 8th graders in the Lehigh Valley in Eastern Pennsylvania (USA) that share strong enthusiasm for robotics and programming and a lot of passion for just being together as a team. Igutech was founded in 2009 with a group of friends and has since then participated at three national robotics competitions and a number of local (Lehigh valley, PA) science events. The team is registered with the FIRST Lego League (FLL), a non-profit organization that conducts annual science and engineering competitions for worldwide more than 19,000 teams and 200,000 students age 9 through 14.
2012 is Igutech’s overall fourth season, however, for more than half of the team members this is their first or second year. The 2012 FLL season starts with the worldwide release of the new challenge ‘Senior Solutions’ on Aug 28 and then runs for 3-5 months depending on how far a team gets… This year, FLL teams research the question how they can improve the quality of life for senior citizens plus they develop an autonomous robot that competes against other team’s robots in a obstactle course.
The Igutechs were very fortunate to have extemely dedicated and creative team members with lots of different interests and skills. This enabled the team to successfully compete in local, regional and national FLL tournaments and win a number of recognitions. One of the highlights of the 2011 season was being invited to the North America Open Tournament at the Legoland resort in Carlbad, CA.
The Igutechs meet two to three times a week in the basement of the coach’s home and that’s also where they design Lego robots, do the programming, work on their science project or simply enjoy a good pillow fight. They also love to play ‘Foxtain Football’ in the backyard (their own invention) or ride the zipline. (they call it team building exercise…)
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TILMAN |
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I am so excited about the team. I really like inventing and creating – or to disassemble things to find out how they work. I love to design electronic circuits and build things out of wood and I recently got to use a milling machine for metal working. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I go to Karate – I’m a Black belt, which makes me Sensei after 6-7 years. I can speak German fluently and go to Germany every year. Costa Rica is also one of my favorite destinations; I enjoy the lush rainforest and the wildlife. I also really love reading and computer programming (including but not limited to Lego NXT, Labview, and Java). I am 13 years old and my birthday is on 11-11th. I play the piano and I am in 8th grade at Orefield Middle School. My little brother is called Adrian and he is 8 years old; He also loves Legos and is now on the Igutech team! My role in the Igutech team is to be the robot team leader, which means that I have to coordinate everything and make sure that our robot is BEAST!!! |
Team Leader |
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MICHAEL |
| Creative Designs | |
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SYDNEY |
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Hi name is Sydney! This is my fourth year on team Igutech. I have enjoyed participating with my team-mates to create presentations for the FLL research projects and have enjoyed all the great team-building activities. Last year’s Food Safety project was my favorite. We explored many factors of food contamination. My interests are softball, painting, horseback riding and reading. I also volunteer at a nonprofit animal rescue facility. I have 3 pets a cat, bird, and dog. I am excited about this year’s team Igutech FLL activities.
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Project |
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KEVIN |
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My name is Kevin and I am very excited to be in the Igutech team this year. I am a programmer for Igutech with Tilman, Henrik, and Justin. I am in 6th grade and am in the gifted program at my school. I have an NXT at home and I love to build and program robots (mostly programming though). I enjoy learning about outer space and looking at planets with my dad’s telescope. I was even lucky enough to view the final space shuttle launch 2 summers ago with my family! I have a dog named Maggie and a brother and sister who are twins. I play the piano and the trumpet at school this year. I am in Orcestra, Jazz Band, and Marching Band at school. I like riding my bike, riding my scooter, reading (especially The Maze Runner series), and going fishing, but most of all, I love to build and program with the team!
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NXT Program Coordinator Programmer |
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HENRIK |
| Hi, my name is Henrik and I am a 8th grader at Eyer Middle School. I am 13 years old and I was born in Germany. I love reading, drawing, and fun new adventures! I fluently speak German and I go to Germany twice a year. I don’t just do IguTech – I also swim in the winter and summer and I play the piano. I also take German class with my best friend Tilman. I don’t have any siblings but I do have a scardy cat cat named Ashley. I enjoy doing creative things on the computer. While I am at IguTech meeting I work on programming our robot with mainly Tilman and Kevin. I think this season will be great! |
Programmer |
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COLE |
| Hi my name is Cole and I’m a 6th grader at Eyer middle school, also I’m 11 years old. To add on to that, my birthday is on May 13. A few of the things that I like to do are swimming at the pool because I’m on the Macungie Bears swim team, and I like to play soccer and golf. My family has a big yard, almost 7 acres! The pets that I own on the land are 6 fish, 2 hermit crabs,1 cat, a dog, and 6 chickens. Another thing that I enjoy doing is jumping on my trampoline. I spend a lot of time building legos, and like to ski and snowboard in the winter. |
Tool Specialist Builder |
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ADRIAN |
| Hi I’m Adrian and I’m 8 years old. My school is Schnecksville Elementary. I chose to be on the Igutech team because it looked like a lot of fun. I would like to learn how to program robots. I like to play soccer and drive my remote controlled car – FAST! | |
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STEWART |
| My name is Stewart. I am in 8th grade. I am a builder on Team IguTech. I help the other builders build the robot and other attachments. I enjoy being on the team because it’s fun and a challenge, that’s for sure! I enjoy riding my electric scooter in my back yard. I also enjoy playing airsoft, fishing, hunting and yard work. I have many pets – 2 dogs, 1 cat, 1 hamster, several reptiles and amphibians (leopard gecko, water frogs and fish). I like loud music like AC/DC. I play piano and sing in the chorus at my school. I like camping, hiking and traveling. Last summer I got to travel to France and fished from the world’s 2nd oldest aqueduct bridge! | Chief Builder |
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SAHIL |
| Hi I’m Sahil. I’m 10 years old and I’m going to East Hills Middle School. My birthday is on August 31st. I’m new to the team and I’m hoping to be a programmer, but I also enjoy building. I play clarinet and violin for the school band and orchestra. | |
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JUSTIN |
| Assistant Coach |