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01/21/2012 01:53 PM

CAMM: Students face off in Lego robotics competition

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Science is becoming the new team sport.

The gymnasium at Westlake High School was packed Saturday with about 600 middle school students from across Central Texas. They gathered to compete in the First Lego League, using home built robots made from Legos to navigate an obstacle course.

"The bigger the contest, the bigger the excitement,” robotics coach Norman Morgan said. “To these kids here, it’s very equivalent to what they would see in junior high athletics or junior high competition."

"It feels like a team sport because everyone has a job to do everyone has a task, and you have to collaborate to solve a problem," participant Alex Manchevsky said.

There are no remote controls for these robots. Instead they were programmed by the competitors to run on their own.

"It's good to prove yourself that you can do really good and that you and your team can work together to solve even the most difficult challenges," Manchevsky said.

The winning team will head to St. Louis to compete in the World Festival this April.

The event was part of Time Warner Cable’s Connect a Million Minds initiative. For more information, visit ConnectaMillionMinds.com.