$2000 Payoff For Heaviest Coyote

Albinia Grabas

By MARK GUYDISH markg@leader.net
 Saturday, January 11, 2003 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 3A 





WILKES-BARRE TWP. - It seemed like a reasonable question. Why do you need a
Lego robot with a dumper? &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``To dump the food loops!'' several of the GigaDivas said as though it were
obvious. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Dump food loops? Ah, that would be one of the tasks their little automatons
- snapped together out of colorful Lego bricks - must perform today during the
fourth annual ``FIRST Lego Robot Challenge'' at Philadelphia's Franklin
Institute. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Two teams of area girls have spent months designing, building and
programming robots to do eight tasks - each intended to roughly mimic work
necessary for city living on a small scale. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 One of those duties is to collect and transport dangling loops representing
food. Others include moving ``toxic barrels,'' manipulating a switch to repair
a bridge, turning on a windmill and clearing ``rocks'' from a field. It's a
lot to ask from a couple robots you can hold in your hands. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But you might be wondering more what a GigaDiva is than why Legos need food
loops. Fair enough. They are girls who have shown a strong interest in
computers and math, and who get together regularly to explore that world -
especially during summer camps organized by Peggy Sullivan. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The camp, held at Wilkes University, is for girls in their pre- or early
teens ``to try to keep them interested in math and computers at an age when
girls tend to lose interest,'' Sullivan said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The camps started three years ago with some grant money and expanded into
winter this year when Sullivan heard about the annual robot competition. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Grant money has run out, but the effort goes on - although Sullivan
concedes they had to start charging for a camp that was previously free. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Friday afternoon the GigaDivas - nine in all - met in the Wyoming Valley
Mall parking lot to caravan to Philadelphia. The teams took advantage of an
invitation for contestants to sleep in the institute Friday night. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 This was an eager bunch, gladly crouching to show off their creations on
the parking lot. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``That's for rotation! It's not supposed to come off!'' Catherine Sullivan
- Peggy's daughter, said as another girl accidentally popped a piece off a
robot. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Although it can be tricky designing the robots - one used treads, the other
ran on wheels - it's at least as challenging to program them, Sullivan said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The machines include little computers, and the kids must write, test and
rewrite programs until the robots do their duties by themselves. On the plus
side, the Lego programming language is very visual: Lego bricks on a computer
screen represent various functions for the robot. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 None of the GigaDivas seemed very competitive. Asked if they were going to
win in Philadelphia, they either laughed or shrugged. But that doesn't mean
they don't value their work. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 After demonstrating their robots, Catherine Sullivan pulled one from
Samantha Ruppert's hands. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``I don't trust you with this,'' Catherine said with a laugh. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 For more information on the GigaDivas, go to http://www.gigadivas.org on
the Web. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Mark Guydish, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7161. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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