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JBSA News
NEWS | Feb. 4, 2017

U.S. Army Environmental Command biologist assists students for robotics competition

By David DeKunder 502nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs

A biologist with the U.S. Army Environmental Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston recently lent his expertise to students at Fort Sam Houston Elementary School preparing for a robotics competition.

Lucas Cooksey, U.S. Army Environmental Command wildlife biologist and natural research specialist, talked to 16 members of the school’s Robotics Club in December. The schoolchildren, fourth and fifth-graders, participated in the First Lego League competition Feb. 4 at Corbett Junior High School in Schertz.

The competition included team projects on the theme of solving problems occurring in human and animal interactions. Four teams, each with four children, from Fort Sam Houston Elementary School, participated in the contest.

Cooksey said he enjoyed interacting with the children, listening to their team project presentations, answering any questions they had and providing technical expertise and feedback when needed.

“It was great,” Cooksey said. “They were super interested and super inquisitive in the whole process. It seemed like each group had taken ownership of their project and really wanted to refine it, or were thinking outside of the box on ways to do that.”

Cooksey volunteered his time with the children through the U.S. Army North Adopt-A-School program. As part of the program, volunteers with the U.S. Army Environmental Command participate in several activities with Fort Sam Houston Elementary students each year.

Laura Albasini, Fort Sam Houston Elementary School special education teacher and Robotics Club sponsor, said the teams earned points in the Lego robotics competition if they spoke to and had their project reviewed by an expert in the field they are researching.

Albasini is one of three sponsors of the club, which includes fourth-grade teacher Veronica Hellamns and first-grade teacher Amanda Hawthorne.

Besides talking to Cooksey, Albasini said the children also got feedback from Lt. Col. Lisa Barden, U.S. Army Medical Department Center and School, or AMEDDC&S, veterinarian, and Shannon Wyatt, AMEDDC&S Health Readiness Center of Excellence health statistician, who has a background in animal physiology.

“They gave the kids really good feedback,” she said. “They listened to each group present their problems and possible solutions. Each group was also given many different ways to enhance their solutions. They stressed that each group should add pictures or facts to their problems and solutions that explain why others should care too.”

At the Lego robotics competition, teams were judged in three criteria: building a set with Lego animals on a board and programming a robot to perform several tasks with the Lego animals, presenting a research project on a problem involving human and animal interactions which include current solutions to the problem and providing a different solution to the problem, and an activity that demonstrates how well the children work together as a team.

Albasini said the robotics and research projects are intertwined because the children will be using similar skills in each category of the competition.

“They relate because you need a little more than just programming to do that project,” Albasini said. “You have to be able to do research and demonstrate a certain skill. That’s why we like this competition the best.”

Each team picked a specific animal or insect and the problems that species has with human interaction for its research project. Team projects include butterflies and insects, coral reefs, sea turtles and deer and squirrels.

Dominic Gray, 11, is a member of the Coral Reef Cruisers team, which is researching how humans are contributing to the endangerment of coral reefs and what can be done to save them. Gray said he likes working on the robotics project because he has gotten to learn more about programming and teamwork.

“We have been learning skills on how to work together and to have fun,” Gray said. “You get to help others succeed.”

Isabella Parker, 10, is also a member of the Coral Reef Cruisers team. She said the team has come up with a solution for saving the coral reefs. That solution is putting artificial reefs in the oceans to allow coral to grow on so it can provide a habitat for animals and fish.

“I’ve learned that if we destroy little bits of coral, it endangers lots of animals and fish,” Parker said.

Parker said she has enjoyed participating in every aspect of the robotics competition, including the coding, building the robot and putting the obstacles on the Lego board.

During a Robotics Club practice in January, Caelyn Maddox, 10, was maneuvering a robot through a course on the Lego board to get to a cow attached to a circle. Her objective was to have the robot push a lever in the circle, making the cow drop a white Lego block, which represented milk coming from the cow and bringing the milk back to the starting place on the board.

Maddox explained how the Lego robot worked.

“We program it with three motors and we can make the robot turn, spin in a circle and go back,” she said.

Albasini said the children have put in many hours after school on Monday and Wednesday, when the Robotics Club meets, to work on their project and have done research on their own time.

“These kids are very independent,” Albasini said. “They do all their own research, they do all their own problem solving and they come and ask their own questions.”