Elementary school students build Lego robots to solve water problems

More than 400 elementary students, teachers, parents and supporters crowded into the Physical Activities Complex at the University of Waterloo Sunday for the First Lego League championships.

A total of 40 teams signed up for the competition, which had the students focusing on water.

"How we can source it, transport it, use it, dispose of it," said Dave Ellis, the director of First Lego League Ontario. "The teams had to look at those problems in the four categories and identify solutions for that."

Water safety concerns 

Prior to Sunday, elementary school students, age 9 to 14, from across the province, spent five months designing Lego robots to solve some of the world's water problems. 

Srijay Mundler, 14, is a member of the team Unresolved, made up of 10 students from Mississauga. 

"The name was pretty much found based on the fact that when we tried to pick a name, we kept on disagreeing," he said.

Mundler and his team designed a robot to solve the issue of water contamination in First Nations communities. 

After visiting communities at Lake Scugog near Port Perry and learning people there live with water-boil advisories, they decided to pick that issue as their cause. The team designed water filters that people in the community can put in their homes, and then demonstrated how it worked with their robot. 

The team's coach Jenan Abderrahman said the students led the project.

"This is something they felt really passionate about because they didn't realize that it affected such a huge population of people in a country with such clean water," Anderrahman said. 

'Girls should have the same opportunity' 

Abderrahman said she's been trying to recruit more girls onto the team, but so far, has been met with difficulty. 

"We've been really pushing for it by running workshops but for some reason the interest is not there," she said. 

"I'm not sure how we can combat that, but we're definitely trying as much as we can." 

On the other hand, the Water Cyclists, a team from Etobicoke, is an all-girls team made up of eight members, including 8-year-old Jesslyn Bach. 

"It feels great because I think girls should have the same opportunity that guys have," Bach said.

Allie Waddell, 16, served as a mentor for the team and said they didn't plan for the all-girl team.

"It's just that these girls are all really interested in technology, wanted to be a part of this team, and happen to know each other," Waddell said.

"I think it's great because it's important for young girls to be a part of this field."

The winners of the West Ontario championships will compete at the world championships in Houston or Detroit in April.