Pupils building a water-wise message

WATER-wise pupils at Geelong Lutheran College have designed a Lego robotic show about reusing household shower run-off that is in the running for a national award.

The Grade 6 robotics team is targeting the water that goes down the drain as people wait for their shower to warm up before getting in and getting wet.

For the past six months, the group has been planning, designing, researching and finessing their Lego robot YASHEK during their lunch breaks and on Sundays.

The First Lego League contest at Swinburne University earlier this month saw the GLC team up against 40 competitors from across the state.

“We won the Presentation Award for our project,”

GLC teacher Jane Hollett said the team won the Presentation Award for their project and was one of four teams chosen to represent Victoria at the National Competition in Sydney on December 2 and 3.

“The team is very excited and looking forward to their next adventure.”

The team put the Lego Mindstorms EV3 robot through a course with various missions to solve across a range of water-related challenges.

“The competition includes us having to design and program robots, as well as completing a project about hydro-dynamics,” pupil Emily Langton said.

“We have identified a problem about the way people use water – particularly in the way people use water in showers.”

They found the average household waste totalled 129.5 litres per week and brainstormed ways to save water such as bucket collection, greywater hoses, shower heads and shower timers.

The robotics team worked with Barwon Water in honing their work and their competition pitch, and also demonstrated YASHEK to staff at Villawood Properties’ Club Armstrong.

Villawood assistant development manager Will Nickholds was impressed by not only the grasp of science the GLC team displayed but also by their confident presentation skills.

“Where they say how we won’t be getting any new reservoirs highlights the need to use our valuable water resources much more carefully,” he said.

“Villawood takes sustainability very seriously. It’s fantastic to see young people taking the message seriously and delivering such important work while also having fun.”