GMS’s ‘Jurassic Sparks’ head to state LEGO League competition

Ten of Greybull Middle School’s finest inventors will venture to Casper to compete in the First LEGO League state competition on Saturday, Dec. 6. For this year’s competition, with the archaeology-centered theme “Unearthed,” LEGO Leaguers are asked to attack issues like excavation and preservation with the help of modern technology. Greybull’s team name is Jurassic Sparks, and they plan to bring the heat. 

“The innovation (project) really opened my eyes about how many problems we have in the world that can be solved so simply,” eighth grader Lyla Thomas said. She has been in LEGO League for two years now and thinks their project this year will blow last year’s out of the water. 

The Jurassic Sparks came up with an AI-powered drone system, dubbed Fossil Finder 2000, that would use 3D imaging to map archaeological sites. While the drone doesn’t actually fly (“It’s just LEGOs”), sixth graders Joseph Cauffman and Sawyer Yarborough built the Greybull team’s first-ever prototype and the Jurassic Sparks ran a test on a grid system, where half the team hid artifacts and the other half worked to find them. 

“They truly amaze me,” head coach Michelle Stebner said.

Archaeologist George Miller of Center of the West in Cody agreed. He met with the team last month and reported that using AI to compare dig sites is a brilliant idea. Jurassic Sparks hoped their drone would be able to scan a gridded dig site, locate hidden artifacts, generate a virtual map and even lower down tools to reduce human traffic on a delicate dig site. 

“I think it makes a lot of sense with the LiDAR and the other technology we used to put into this it could actually help a lot of people,” Thomas said. 

At state, the team will have 20 minutes to present their innovation project to a panel of judges, science fair-style, and also compete in two-minute robot coding missions in two-person groups. 

Greybull’s LEGO League team has grown over the roughly eight years it has been in place, with 13 total team members this year, grades six through eight.

“Some of these guys are pretty quiet in school and they really shine and we get to see them come to life in here, so it’s fun to see,” coach Tara Pouska said. 

The kids bring some coding knowledge from their computer science classes at school but also teach themselves. Mattix Myers, an eighth grader, is a lead coder for the team. 

“First year, in sixth grade, I was kind of behind everybody… Then I just started becoming one of the main coders last year even and this year I’m helping, especially with the sixth graders because they have never done something like this before,” Myers said. He has seen tremendous growth in the younger kids, and they have even taught him a few things. 

LEGO League promotes the core values of teamwork, innovation, discovery, kindness, fun and “cooperation” – cooperation in competition. They value learning more than winning and can even get extra points for helping other teams. 

“I think it gives people the opportunity to be creative but also this is a safe space to just kind of be ourselves,” Thomas said.