Who are we?
We, the IguTechs, are a team of nine 5th to 7th graders in the Lehigh Valley in Eastern Pennsylvania (USA). We started out in the spring of 2009 because we love technical challenges and building Lego robots. We are part of the FIRST Lego League (FLL), a non-profit organization that conducts annual science and engineering competitions for worldwide more than 12,000 teams and 200,000 students age 9 through 14.
This is our third year for the Igutechs, however, for two team members this is their first FLL season. The FLL challenge has a different topic each year but there are always two parts to it:
- The Robot Game
- The Project
For the Robot Game, our team designs, builds and programs an autonomous robot that performes a series of tasks, or missions on a 4′ x 8′ playing field. For the science project, we research the FLL topic for three months and then create a presentation to show our research and innovative solution to a problem we can choose ourselves. 2011 it is all about food safety and food contamination.
We successfully competed in the 2009 state qualifier tournament against 40 other teams from our area and managed to move up to state “championship level”. At the Championship Tournament on Jan 31, 2010 the 47 best teams from Delaware, Eastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey competed. Team Igutech received the “Judges’ Award” for overall top-level performance.
The IguTechs meet once or twice a week in the basement of our coach’s home and that’s also where we build our Lego robots, do the programming, work on our science project or simply enjoy a good pillow fight or ride the zipline… (we 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!!! |
Robot Team Leader Builder |
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JUSTIN |
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My name is Justin and I am 12 years old and going into 7th grade. My favorite sport is soccer. I am on the St Thomas Moore travel soccer team. I am in enrichment classes. I ride a bike and possibly may get a longboard soon. I have one pet…. a 3 year old Yorkie named Kaylyn. If I don’t have a friend over she’s the one I hang out with. I have an 18 year old brother, Jake, who is attending Penn State. He is my best friend. I like to explore the web and I like to watch videos on soccer and music on You Tube. My favorite band is Bon Jovi. I like to play mini golf with my family and watch movies…..and play games. I am in choir with Tilman and Stewart. I am the computer programmer with Tilman, Henrik, and Kevin for Igutech. I enjoy being on Igutech because I get to be with my friends and have fun, but I also like being on Igutech cause it’s challenging and makes you think.
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Project Team Leader Programmer |
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SYDNEY |
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♥I’m Sydney but all my friends call me Syd. I am 12 years old and I’m in 7th grade at OMS (Orefield Middle School). I enjoy and play several sports. I play softball on the Schnecksville travel team and I like field hokey. I like to watch football and my favorite team is the Steelers. I have three pets: Miner, my cockitale; tiger, my fat cat, and Sadie, my lovable dog. My bird flew away for a year – throughout that time we had three other birds. Surprisingly, Miner came back after one year and had only a small injury. I love all types of art. But abstract is my favorite type. I enjoy sketching myself. I also love law enforcement shows likes Bones and NCIS. On the team, I work on the script and the research project. I look forward to this year’s competition.
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Teamwork Coordinator Project |
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KEVIN |
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My name is Kevin and I am very excited to join the Igutech team this year. I am a programmer for Igutech with Tilman, Henrik, and Justin. I am in 5th grade and am in the gifted program at my school. I have an NXT at home and I love to build and program robots. 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 this summer with my family! I have a dog named Maggie and a brother and sister who are twins. I play the piano and am learning how to play the trumpet at school this year. I play baseball and also swim on a summer swim team. I like riding my bike, riding my scooter, reading (especially Harry Potter), 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 7th grader at Eyer Middle School. I am 12 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, play soccer 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 also enjoy doing creative things on the computer. While I am at IguTech meeting I work on programming our robot with Justin, Tilman, and Kevin. I think this year will be great! |
Material Manager 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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FERDINAND |
| My name is Ferdinand; I’m 12 years old, and I am a seventh grader at Orefield Middle School aka OMS. I was born in Austria, and I am fluent in German. I have one pet, a beagle named Franz. He is two years old. I love playing soccer (I’m on the 98 FC Lehigh team) By the way, favorite MLS team is Real Salt Lake and my favorite European team is Real Madrid. I also enjoy archery, racing with my Laser Radial dingy and riding my bike. I love to make models out of both plastic and wood (boats, airplanes, tanks…). I read a lot, and my favorite books are either by Clive Cussler or by Bernard Cornwell. My two preferred magazines are Fine Scale Modeler and The Red Bulletin… I love loud music, especially when it is live. One of my favorite bands is ACDC. I enjoy being on team Igutech a lot. The weeks in the fall right before the competition are the best in the whole Igutech season! Go team Igutech!!!!!!! |
Chief Designer Programmer |
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STEWART |
| My name is Stewart. I am in 7th 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 and hunting. I have many pets ? 2 dogs, 1 cat, several reptiles and amphibians (leopard gecko, house gecko, tree frog, anole, water frogs and fish) I like loud music like ACDC. I play piano and sing in the chorus at my school. I like camping, hiking and traveling. This past summer I got to travel to France and fished from the world’s 2nd oldest aqueduct bridge! | Chief Builder |