SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - Two groups of students from St. Ambrose School won awards last month for their creations at a Lego event in Delaware.
The 13 local students, ages 10 to 14 in grades five through eight, competed at Delaware State University in the First Lego League, a robotics tournament, on Jan. 19 against 18 teams from eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware.
Each team was also required to have a workable idea that would solve a problem that senior citizens face to continue their independence.
The students then competed Jan. 26 against 42 other teams at the First Lego League's Championship Tournament in Dover, Del.
Ed Johnson, an engineer with PPL Electric Utilities, Allentown, and coach for the St. Ambrose students, said the youngsters had fun.
During the Jan. 19 event, the St. Ambrose seven-member white team won for its robot made of Legos. The small robot - about 6 inches high - consistently completed missions such as turning a flag and other assignments, he said.
The school's six-member red team won for its invention, a wooden stick with a plastic handle and small metal hook that can lift footrests on a wheelchair to help seniors. It's called a HALO design. The students came up with the idea after speaking to family members, therapists and residents of Rest Haven nursing home, Schuylkill Haven.
"Right now, we have a prototype," Johnson said.
The device is about two feet long and can be attached to wheelchairs with hooks.
The white team developed a help board where seniors could practice hand coordination for items they might use on a daily basis, such as pill bottles, a door handle and a light switch. However, this wasn't a winning idea at the event.
Both teams also went to the Jan. 26 event, where the red team won the "Innovative Solution" award in the research category at the championship tournament.
Johnson said he would see what is needed for the students to obtain a patent for the HALO design.
"I think it would be really neat for the kids to have a patent in their name," he said.