Hundreds of Scouts throughout our council participated in several robotics programs. Our guest blogger today is Ron Colletti, a veteran Scout leader and a member of the council STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) committee, who shared a story about a successful collaboration with Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

​
The Phantom of the LEGOs, a FIRST LEGO League (FLL) robotics team made up of all Scouts, received an invitation to the FLL North American Open Championship May 18-20, 2012, at LEGOLAND California.

What makes the Phantom of the LEGOs interesting is that it is a diverse team of Scouts. The team members include Michael Colletti, Cub Scout (Bear), Pack 304; Matt VanVooren, Cub Scout (Bear), Pack 627; Ian Rosebrough, First Class Scout, Troop 627; Catherine Colletti, Girl Scout Cadet, Troop 4075; and Jaime Pack, Girl Scout Cadet, Troop 3953. The team is coached by Ron Colletti (adult Boy Scout and Cub Scout leader) and Teresa Colletti (adult Cub Scout leader and Girl Scout leader). The team mentor, Christopher Colletti, is an Eagle Scout with 4 palms in Troop 782 and is also a team member on a FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Robotics Team.

FIRST Robotics programs and Scouting are a perfect match with more and more Scouts joining robotics teams. The new Robotics Merit Badge (introduced in 2011) has sparked interest among Scouts to learn about this exciting field.  Ron Colletti is a Robotics merit badge counselor and has already worked with many boys to earn this merit badge. The introduction of the Scouting NOVA program this year will also serve to get Scouts more interested in science and technology. Robotics will be a part of the NOVA program.

Phantom of the LEGOs team members use many of the same skills in Scouting and robotics. The character traits emphasized in Scouting are put into practice by the robotics team members who have to cooperate and work as a team and strive to have a positive attitude even when the robot isn’t working as they would like. They show perseverance by working through technical issues. A big part of FIRST is its core values including community involvement and gracious professionalism. Team members have given many robotics demonstrations at schools, companies and even pack meetings. When competing, the team is also cheerful as they interact graciously with the other robotics teams. Scouting builds self-confidence and so does FIRST Robotics. This group of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts is an excellent team and works together well. This experience is preparing them for the real world of science and technology where men and women work on project teams.

The Phantom of the LEGOs earned the invitation to the North American Open Championship by competing in a St Louis Regional tournament where they received the Robot Performance award (highest score on the robot challenge) and the Champions award (top award of the tournament, given to the team that is the overall best in all three areas of the competition (project, core values and robot challenge). Next, the team competed in the Eastern Missouri State Championship where they won the Robot Performance award and the Best Robot Mechanical Design award. The team also competed at the “Robots in the Rotunda: Statewide FLL Scramble” in Jefferson City on Thursday, Feb. 16. The team received second place for robot performance in the competition. They also spoke with their legislators about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and its importance to students in Missouri schools.

FIRST LEGO League is part of the FIRST Robotics group which organizes robotics competitions to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. FLL tournament teams are judged in four areas: robot design and programming, robot game performance, research project presentation, and teamwork (core values). 

See stlfirst.org and usfirst.org for more information on FIRST LEGO League robotics.