As part of our outreach activities, Applied Physics Institute and Cyber Defense Laboratory helped to support the 2008
Kentucky FIRST LEGO League Robotics Tournament. The competition was held on January 19, 2008 at WKU’s Diddle Arena. This year’s theme was Power Puzzle – Alternative Energy. Teams were to build a Lego Mindstorms robot and program them to complete certain tasks concerning the theme. Each team is made up of 4 to 10 children between the ages of 9 to 14 years old.
Dr. Barzilov and Dr. Novikov were judges at the competition. Dr. Womble presented the Best Programming Award for the tournament.
Along with funding for the competition API and CDL sponsored a team called Creative Young Builders of Robotic Gadgets (C.Y.B.O.R.G.S) who are based out of Mount Washington, Ky. The C.Y.B.O.R.G.S won first place in the 2008 Kentucky tournament, and continued on to the
World FIRST Robotics Championship in Atlanta, Georgia at the Georgia Dome and Georgia World Congress Center on April 17 - 19, 2008
(see
NASA Web cast the event on the
Digital NASA TV).
The C.Y.B.O.R.G.S team did a great job in the competition representing Kentucky, and won "Against All Odds" Award
(read the letter from the C.Y.B.O.R.G.S to API and CDL Director Dr. Womble).
“I think that it is refreshing that young generations are interested in learning about robots and the technology behind them,” stated Dr. Womble. “The C.Y.B.O.R.G.S are a great team and we are proud to support them and the tournament.”
• C.Y.B.O.R.G.S team.
• C.Y.B.O.R.G.S wear t-shirts with API and CDL logos.
For further information, contact Katie Moore at 270-781-3859 or katie.moore@wku.edu.
