They are called the Piecemakers, and they are striving to make the world a better place, one LEGO at a time.

Orcas Christian School is participating in this year’s LEGO robotics program, which culminates in contests across the world in April. The Orcas team of third through seventh graders will participate in a competition in Walla Walla on April 11.

FIRST LEGO League is a global program created to get children excited about science and technology. Each yearly challenge has two parts: teams must build an autonomous robot to carry out pre-designed missions in two and half minutes as well as complete a community project that analyzes, researches, and invents a solution to a real world problem.

The Piecemakers are Christian Bailey, Elliott Claus, Skyler Gregg, Peter Kamin, Peter Miller, Robert Miller, Jeshurun Roach, and Cole Smith. The eight boys are led by four volunteer coaches: Paul Kamin, Steve Gregg, Scott Miller, and Beth Smith. They meet after school once a week.

“The kids are quite into it,” Paul says. “There is also a major focus on teamwork and gracious competition.”

Since October, the boys have been testing out robot designs. The Piecemakers use an engineering program called “LEGO Mindstorms” and must devise a strategy to earn the most points possible on the course.

“It uses LEGOs, so it’s pretty fun,” Peter Miller said.

For a local project, the boys weighed several possibilities, including improving oil spill response, a greener system for trash and recycling on Orcas, alternative vehicle fuels, a new fitness trail for the school, and reducing food transportation costs.

“There were no limits,” coach Scott said. “They were right out there.”

The team settled on a research project that explores ferry system improvements. Among the questions they will aim to answer: how current boats could be more efficient, what technologies might make future boats more efficient, how an Orcas ferry reservation system might work, and how to improve the passenger riding experience.

The team scouted a tournament in Bellevue earlier this fall to gave them a taste of things to come. The boys are looking forward to the competition in April, but the journey has been most of the fun.

“It’s creative and inventive, so I like it,” Roach said.