Local children were at the recent For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology Lego League Robotics Tournament.

FIRST was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers with the aim to inspire young people into STEM --- Science, Technology, Engineering and Math --- fields, according to a release from Education Empowers Inc.

The QC Smart Bot Builders, a Queen Creek-based Boys & Girls Club robotics team, made an impressive showing at the :City Shaper," the release states.

The FIRST Lego League Chandler qualifier tournament was held on Nov. 16 at Intel Corp. in Chandler. Twenty four teams --- which came to about 200 kids from all over Arizona --- participated in the tournament, according to the release.

"Congratulations to the QC Smart Bot Builders team members --- Theodore Beltron, Kyler Scott, Teron Newberry, Landin Nicholson, Amara Bogle, Christina Douglas, Nikki Nguyen, Horlonn Westerman, Salvatore Sanfillippo, Jade Mata, Nathan Davies-Venn --- for an impressive performance," the release states.

Each week for 12 weeks, QC Smart Bot Builders met with their Intel coaches Emile Davies-venn, Minal Lee, and Jhoanna Mata – along with teen mentor, Serenah Lee a senior at Hamilton High School. The club is at 22557 S. Ellsworth Road in Queen Creek.

"They learned to program their LEGO EV3 robots and research challenging project topics. On Tournament Day, the teams had to present their research projects in front of an expert panel of judges and compete in robot games," according to the release.

For their innovative research project, centered on improving a public space in their community, the children focused on the Queen Creek parks.

"The QC Bots wanted to increase accessibility to kids with various types of abilities. They investigated various topics including the Americans with Disability Act, the current status of the various parks, equipment designs for accessibility, how disabilities effect kids abilities to participate in recreational activities," the release states.

"As a result, they came up with recommendations on how parks around Queen Creek could be improved to meet the needs of disabled kids. They contacted Mayor Gail Barney of Queen Creek and arranged a meeting where they presented their recommendations. The mayor listened to their presentation and further inquired about the ideas. He promised to invite the kids to a City Council meeting when such topics comes up for discussion," the release states.

According to Anna Prakash, an engineer and co-founder of Education Empowers Inc., participating in robotics tournaments enables children to gain real-life experiences in team work, collaboration, programing skills and engineering problem solving skills, and prepares the next generation to enter STEM careers.

Education Empowers Inc. is a U.S.-based nonprofit promoting STEM, robotics and sustainability education for local children. Go to .educationempowers.org.