Wesley International Academy’s Lego robotics team, the Phoenix Bots, won first place for its overall score at the FIRST Lego League Pre-Qualifying Competition last Saturday.

They now advance to the regional robotics tournament on Jan. 12 at Clayton State University along with a number of other teams throughout the state of Georgia.

Funding for the Phoenix Bots was courtesy of a grant from Georgia Tech’s The Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) and Boeing.

The Bots are all fifth-graders and meet three times a week.

The Bots are:

• Sonali Bello
• Zoe Crook
• Carlysle Devane-Schneider
• Sarah Haas
• Bryce Johnson
• Jassiem Konrad
• David Lee
• Terrance Parker
• Sterling Strohauer
• Skylar Walker

This year’s competition theme, Senior Solutions, required all of the student teams to develop a solution to helping the elderly to be independent, engaged, and connected to their community.

The Bots created a therapeutic glove, the AGlove, for those suffering from arthritis. It incorporates hot and cold therapy, aromatherapy, and acupressure. The glove is form fitting to help with blood circulation with pockets of lavender-scented flaxseed along the top knuckles and under the thumb. For heat therapy, the glove can be heated in the microwave. The scented flaxseed retains heat and the lavender scent can be soothing. For cold therapy, the glove can be stored in the freezer to chill the flaxseed. Small beads are sewn in the glove that will apply pressure in specific acupressure points, helping to relieve the discomfort of arthritis.

The next step for the team is to copyright the glove and submit the prototype and documentation to the Arthritis Foundation’s Ease-of-Use Commendation for feedback on their innovative solution.

Using Lego the Mindstorm Robot kit, the team competed at a lego table with a robot they created and programmed. The Phoenix Bots won first place for the highest score in the Robot Game.

Dr. Melanie Dukes, WIA fourth-grade boys teacher, is the team captain, and team parents getting the assist in the win are Josh Crook, Kerry Devane, Allison Haas, Erica Jong, Max Schneider and Lisa Strohauer.