The “Green Machine,” a Girl Scout robotics team from the West Windsor and Plainsboro area, competed against 50 other regional champions and placed first place in the Eastern Pennsylvania Division of the FIRST Lego League. FIRST (For inspiration of science and technology) is a robotics program for 9 to 14 year-olds designed to get them excited about science and technology.
Each year, teams around the world compete in a themed-contest with a robot built using Lego Mindstorms. Ten Girls Scouts from six different troops have been practicing every weekend and during most holidays for events that are judged in the four categories of core values, research, robot design, and robotics.
The WW-P team includes Christina Rancan, 13; Anisha Amurthur, 13; Caroline Cardinale, 13; Sarah Gillars, 12; Julia Hu, 12; Sanjana Ravichandar, 11; Elizabeth Jean-Jacques, 11; Susan George, 10; Drishti Devnani, 9; and Elsa Moroney, 9.
Senior Girl Scouts Hunter Rendleman and Caitlin Simone, both 15, are mentors. The coaches are Girl Scout leaders Jan Cardinale, Cheryl Rowe-Rendleman, Helen Rancan, and Andrea Mandel. Last year the team won first place trophies in core values at the competition.
As the first place winner of the Green Machine is invited to the World Festival in St. Louis, Missouri, from April 25 to 28. The Green Machine will represent Girl Scouts USA and Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey, while competing with other champion award winners from 31 states, three Canadian provinces, and 44 foreign countries.
This year the theme of the competition is food safety, and the team has already entered its innovative idea about a tomato that turns blue when exposed to salmonella in the First Lego League Global innovations contest. The team has also applied for a provisional patent with the United States Patent Office to protect its idea. If the team wins the prize money associated with the Global Innovations Award, they plan to use the funds to work with researchers at the University of Florida and Monsanto, Heinz, or DuPont to help prevent salmonella poisoning from raw vegetables.
