Merritt Island LEGO team delves into echolocation

Merritt Island LEGO team delves into echolocation
Florida Today - Melbourne, Fla.
Author: PAT CLAY
Date: Feb 9, 2011
Start Page: G.10
Section: NEWS
Text Word Count: 301
Document Text
FOR FLORIDA TODAY
The Legooners, a home-schooled group of middle-schoolers, honed in on
blindness as they delved into biomedical engineering advances in
overcoming disabilities.
The Legooners are a LEGO League robotics team under the auspices of
FIRST, an acronym For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and
Technology. FIRST K-12 competitions combine robotic construction and
performance with researching a topic of benefit to their community.
Jan. 22, the Legooners flew blind mobility trainer Daniel Kish in from
California for Sensory Awareness Day at Kiwanis Park on Merritt Island.
Drake Vorndran, 11, said, "Raising the money was a hard point we had
to figure out."
The Flash Sonar method Kish demonstrated is based on echolocation, the
same form used by bats, dolphin and whales. Using it, he is able to
climb trees and ride a bike.
Mary Compton, 13, was amazed when she tried echolocation. "When I
clicked (my tongue) and heard the sound come back from a pillar, I
thought I was going to hit it, but I was a long way from it."
Kish lost his sight to cancer as a baby and discovered echolocation
instinctively. As a toddler he climbed out a window and explored his
neighborhood. Now, 44, Kish says that it is his first memory.
Nicole McMillen, 13 said, "I learned different ways to cope with
blindness and how sight is connected to our brain."
Piet Oudejans, 11, said, "It was great to study this and to meet Daniel."
The Legooners competed with their LEGO robot in area regionals on Jan. 29.
Tim Compton, 11, said his favorite part of LEGO League is the
competition. "I like sharing my ideas with the team to come up with a
cool robot."
For more information about competitions go towww.usfirst.org.
For more about Legooners and their project, go towww.legooners.wordpress.com.