Bulacan robotics team to join Missouri competition

MANILA, Philippines - A robotics team composed of 10 high school students from Bulacan will represent the country in the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Lego League Food Factor World Festival to be held in St. Louis, Missouri next month.

The team from Dr. Yanga Colleges Inc. ruled the First Lego League (FLL) Philippines held at the Quezon City Interactive Science Center last weekend, besting 150 other students from 15 schools across the country.

Dubbed as the Blue Ocean 10, the team is composed of Trisha Carmela Santos, Gladys Leigh Malana, Dave Adrian Bien, Keight dela Cruz, Lady Alein Goleng, Tim Fabillon, Ramikurt Del Prado, Jules Martin Agsaoay, Jonathan Alejandro, and Michelle Alcanar.

“It’s a surprise. We never thought our team would make it to the FLL World Championships,” said Michael Yanga, director and principal of DYCI High School.

The Food Factor World Festival, to be held from April 25 to 28 at the America’s Center and Edward Jones Dome Convention Plaza in St. Louis, Missouri, will have competitors from 60 countries.

“I’m very proud of our students who have shown that we are really globally competitive, and Bulakenyos are truly prime movers of technology,” Yanga said.

The DYCI Blue Ocean 10 team ruled the FLL Philippines’ championship through the students’ invention called Meat’s Anti-Germ Inspection Solution (Magis) v.2.0, a machine that could keep people from eating a contaminated meat, especially pork.

Beryl Cruz, head coach of the DYCI Blue Ocean 10, said that Magis v.2.0, which the team worked on for two months, also has the capacity to detect botcha or double-dead meat.

Cruz is also the head coach of the DYCI Robotics team that ruled the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) held at the SM Convention Center in 2010, and placed fourth in the WRO held at the United Arab Emirates last November.

Cruz explained that FLL Philippines “is harder than the WRO competitions,” noting that it deals with real world problems like the botcha scare that hit Bulacan last year.

Participants in FLL Philippines created their invention based on the food factor theme given by FIRST that is based on their core values.

FLL Philippines was organized by Mylene Abiva of the First in Educational Learning Trends Always founded in 1966 by Felicito and Teresita Abiva, with the aim of providing the academe with instructional materials that answer the needs of the times.