Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Flying Monkeys

No, not unbelievably cute fabric.   Unbelievably cool girls though.  The Flying Monkeys are a team of local junior high age Girl Scouts who competed in this year’s First LEGO League competition.  Half the competition involves LEGO robotics, but the second half, where these girls have really made their mark, is a challenge to come up with a solution to some real life problem. 

The Flying Monkeys designed and built a prosthetic device that allows a three year old girl born with no fingers on her right hand to hold a pencil in her right hand for the first time.  As I understand it, the Bob-1 as they call it is a device that is adjustable and can grow with her to some extent.  Not a bad accomplishment for a group of 6th and 7th graders! 

Here’s where you come in.  The girls are competing for the First LEGO League Global Innovation Award.  This award comes with a cash prize to be used towards patenting their invention and making it available to others.  They have already had enquiries from people who feel this invention could help them in their daily lives.  If you would like to encourage the girls along, please vote for them at  http://fllinnovationaward.firstlegoleague.org/teams/flying-monkeys/submission/bob-1-hand-device. You can vote every day until March 18, from as many IP addresses as you have access to.

Go Flying Monkeys!  Go Girl Scouts!

6 comments:

  1. What an accomplishment for anyone; not just a group of girls! Way to go! I hope the Flying Monkeys get the most votes! I voted today, and will try to remember to vote everyday! ---"Love"

    ReplyDelete
  2. Such an incredible idea, but done by kids? Boy do I feel like a slacker! I've voted and will do my best to remember to do it every day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is so neat! I will try to vote everyday, too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I voted, set a favorites and moved it to right under my Blogger Dashboard setting so I won't forget to vote everyday. Those girls deserve a big pat on the back. Who says today's youth lack imagination?

    Liri

    ReplyDelete
  5. Flying Monkey CoachMarch 13, 2011 at 9:38 PM

    THANK YOU ALL!! The Flying Monkeys just noticed that you posted this about our Girl Scouts!!!! KEEP VOTING!!! It's open till March 18!

    New tidbit: We were invited to participate in the FIRST North American Open Championship in California along with 75 other teams from North America! We will be representing our region!

    And also appropriate for this venue: the girls will be sewing some "Official Flying Monkey Pillows" this week! Yes, they're getting out the sewing machines, too!

    Visit us at flyingmonkeys1.weebly.com a website set up and run by the girls. Or visit us on Facebook (Flying Monkeys Lego League Team), too!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting. I truly appreciate your comments and will try to reply to comments by email if your commenting staus is not set to "no-reply".

If you have a question, emailing me directly at joanne@canuckquilter.com will ensure I have your address to respond. I promise I will not share your email address and I will not use it for any purpose other than replying to your message.