(This is a press release for West Essex Tribune. More posts on LRC FLL teams are coming in the near future.)

The FIRST LEGO League (FLL) robotics competition encourages teams of young budding engineers and scientists to think about and help solve a real world-problem. Teams research projects, build teamwork skills and develop robot performance, design & strategy. This year, 10 teams from Livingston Robotics Club (LRC) are among 32,000 teams from 88 countries to participate in the competition. This year’s theme of “Hydro Dynamics” is about identifying and solving problems of human water cycle from water sourcing, delivery, conservation, to treatment.

In preparation for the Hydro Dynamics challenge, many teams from LRC visited the Livingston Township water and sewer plants to understand the challenges faced in the water cycle. Each of the teams identified a problem in the human water cycle, researched and developed an innovative solution for their team project. “We learned about how much water people use in their everyday activities and how long the world’s supply of fresh water would last if this trend continues” said Revant Maridi, one of the team members of Team Spongebot. “Our team found that in the average home, showering is the third largest water consumption activity. So, we decided to highlight the importance of water conservation by monitoring water usage and notification using a real-time feedback of possible overuse,” added team members Guang-Lin and Anlin Wei. The team built a working prototype called ‘HydroLite’, which is a smart shower head that provide user a feedback about their water usage per shower. “The water conservation idea behind ‘HydroLite’ is an intersection between technology and psychology,” said Coach Prapop Rattanasoontorn. “The team’s idea behind HydroLite is to measure water usage and provide simple and real-time feedback to urge the consumers not to use more water than what is necessary.”

Team Promethio is also focusing on water conservation for their project. “We’ve developed a water flow sensor using Arduino technology and an app that helps people measure their water usage on any water source and then transfers the data via the cloud so that users can track their usage in real time, through a customized app.” Said, Logan Slavin. “In addition to seeing your own usage, our app allows you to set usage limits, compete with friends and neighbors on water conservation –almost like a fitbit for water conservation. By providing motivation and education, we are confident we can make a difference and help people conserve water”, said Promethio team member, Raina Batra.

Meanwhile, Team Adroits has developed a process with a prototype – they have named the filtering process as “AquiPlenish”. The problem the team is trying to solve is: (1) Reduce the water going to water sewer from homes by 40%, (2) Filtering of Grey Water through “AquiPlenish” that comes from Bath shower, bathroom and Washing Machines, and (3) Release the water in the backyard or use it for garden use which in turn helps replenish Aquifers.

All of the 10 LRC teams participated in regional qualifying tournaments across the state in November with the hopes to advance to the State Championship. At Mt. Olive Qualifier, two LRC teams, RoboRocks and Spongebot, participated in the event. The two teams competed for the highest score and ended with the first place and second place in Robot Performance Award respectively. At Sparta Qualifier, Team Promethio won 1st place in the Robot Performance Award. At the Bridgewater Qualifier, Robot Nation came home with the Robot Design and Strategy award. In other qualifiers, Team Adroit won the Core Values Award, and Team Venombots received the highest scoring Rookie award and 5th place Robot Performance Award.

The qualifications to advance to the State Championship take into account of all 4 areas: research project, robot design, robot performance, and teamwork. Four of the LRC teams RoboRocks, Spongebot, Promethio, and Adroit will advance to the State Championship that will be held at Mt. Olive High School this Saturday, December 9th. You can follow the progress of LRC teams at www.livingstonrobotics.org.

Adroits members are (from left to right): Natasha Ahlawat, Srishti Dhurandhar, Aalok Dhurandhar, and Neil Ahlawat.

Promethio: Raina Batra, Aryan Bansal, Logan Slavin, Daniel Tavera, Haeinz Manoj.

RoboRocks: Hannah Shi, Isabelle Gao, Valentina Zheng, Grant Zhou, Shining Wang.

Robot Nation: Alexander Howden, Rahul Shah, Rahul Jadav, Connor Bender, William Getts, Jake Ferrara and their robot: SANIC.

Spongebot: Revant Maridi, Tien Rattanasoontorn, Ton Rattanasoontorn, Guang-Lin Wei, Paxton Nithikasem, Peter Molzer, Anlin Wei and Collin Eagen.

Venombots: (1st row) Rishab Bamzai (Livingston), Aum Shah (Parsippany), William Tsai (Boonton), Hendry Xu (Millburn), (2nd row) Kodey Freeman (Livingston).