When the three students from the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf beat out 79 teams to win second place at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Lego competition on December 6, 2008 at Shamrock Middle School in Decatur, they made history.

The students from the Clarkston middle school, who entered the competition as the Deaf Bots, used American Sign Language to "communicate" commands to a robot.

The award meant the world to team captain Andrew Brown.

"I'm glad we showed everyone that deaf kids could do it," said Andrew, who has been using Legos to design structures as high as seven feet tall since he was 7 years old.

While Andrew was enthusiastic about Legos from the beginning, it took awhile for his classmates to share his passion for the colorful building blocks. Once he won them over, Andrew and information technology teacher

Asume Bakari wanted to show them what they could really do with their new-found knowledge.

Bakari arranged a field trip to the FIRST Lego League World Festival at the Georgia Dome last year.

Teammate Anthony "A.J." Dowels said he had no idea what Legos were before he went to the competition. But after they saw the energy and team spirit, they were hooked.

It took the team nearly a year to build and program their Lego Mindstorm robot to do the specific functions required for the competition. Bakari introduced the new Lego NXT programming software to the team in January 2008. Once they understood the program's basic functions, he got out of the way.

"I let them do it themselves," he said. "One thing they stressed at the competition is that the mentors and coaches couldn't get involved and help them."

What began as a fun way to pass time quickly became an obsession for Andrew.

"I ate, drank and slept the program," he said. "I would come in every morning and work on it and I would have to tell myself, 'Breathe. Breathe.'"

The team entered the competition poised to win a trophy. Alex Pectu, another teammate, said the atmosphere was infectious.

"As the day went on, I was so passionate about what we were doing," he said.

The Deaf Bots competed in three head-to-head events. They earned points for getting their robot to perform specific tasks on a 10- by 6-foot board.

The toughest part of the competition came during the interview segment. Three judges asked the team specific questions about their robot, programming and what role each of them played.

Andrew said overcoming the language barrier was a challenge, but what really impressed the judges was the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation that teammate Keyonal Singleton designed before the competition.

The presentation explained their views on current climate conditions and how robots might be able to help us in the future.

Keyonal didn't attend the competition, but her teammates believe her presentation was the reason their team took second place.

Dr. Cynthia Ashby, the school's director, said all the students and teachers were very pleased with the Deaf Bots' performance in the competition.

"We're all so proud of what they've accomplished," she said.

Bakari said the Deaf Bots' success has inspired students who are already asking about next year's competition.

The Deaf Bots are planning to attend the annual FIRST Championship April 15 in Atlanta. They hope to move up to the highest level of the competition if they can raise $1,000 to purchase the larger Lego Terminator robot.

But for now, the Deaf Bots said they're just happy to take home a trophy.

The Atlanta Area School for the Deaf is at 890 North Indian Creek Drive, in Clarkston. For more information, call 404-296-6626.

Home