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# Robots Attack Sheepshead Bay: Nerd Herd Rejoices!
- URL: https://bklyner.com/robots-attack-sheepshead-bay-nerd-herd-r-sheepshead-bay/
- Published: 2009-03-27T18:48:02.000Z
- Updated: 2017-03-24T21:31:47.000Z
- Author: Ned Berke
- Tags: ave t, robots, #API-Imported

![Nerd Herd from Sheepshead Bay](/content/images/3438/3390333166_018cf32bd0.jpg "Nerd Herd from Sheepshead Bay")

A team of Sheepshead Bay’s four coolest youths, dubbed the Nerd Herd, is gearing up to take Atlanta’s Robotics World Festival by storm next month. Their early-model [Johnny 5](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short%5FCircuit?ref=bklyner.com) robot, named “Thingamajig”, will soon be set with the task of destroying global competitors in a [battle-to-the-death arena](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2USpoqnO8A&ref=bklyner.com)…

Okay, the robot won’t really be smashing up other robots, nor will there be [AI-style Flesh Fairs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.I.%5FArtificial%5FIntelligence?ref=bklyner.com) involving exploding mecha and robot rights violations. But can’t a boy dream?

In reality – and not the movie wonderland of my sick, twisted imagination – the St. Edmund School (2474 Ocean Avenue & Avenue T) students will be competing with other Lego-based robots to complete a series of complicated tasks, such as moving and stacking more Legos.

This all comes after the quartet – Gregory Chin (12), Daniel Alvarez (14), Simon Shkreli (12) and Benjamin Kelk (12) – dominated the New York City FIRST Lego League Robotics Championship on March 7\. Since their victory, the students have been winning hearts across the city, trying to raise $7,000 to cover the trip. When the bake sale results were tallied earlier this week to a scraggly $800 – not even enough for registration – the boys got wise about their fund raising strategy.

Their decision? Cookies are for chumps and muppets. They’re engineers; gods to the robots. So they took the kiddie gloves off, strapped on some man-sized media manipulating mittens – and blamo! – they got [some ink in the Daily News](http://www.nydailynews.com/ny%5Flocal/brooklyn/2009/03/26/2009-03-26%5Fbklyn%5Fnerd%5Fherd%5Fwins%5Fny%5Flego%5Frobot%5Fconte.html?ref=bklyner.com).

Yesterday the Daily News reported on the chic geeks’ fundraising struggles. Their principal was quoted as saying she’d stop at nothing to get the boys there. “If I have to take a loan out, I don’t care,” Jean McEvoy [told the News](http://www.nydailynews.com/ny%5Flocal/brooklyn/2009/03/26/2009-03-26%5Fbklyn%5Fnerd%5Fherd%5Fwins%5Fny%5Flego%5Frobot%5Fconte.html?ref=bklyner.com). “The kids are going.”

McEvoy wont need to take out a loan. After the article ran, [donations started pouring in](http://www.nydailynews.com/ny%5Flocal/2009/03/27/2009-03-27%5Fdonations%5Fpour%5Fin%5Ffrom%5Fnews%5Freaders%5Fto%5Fg.html?ref=bklyner.com). It was floating around $3000 until this morning, when British vacuum cleaner exec James Dyson sealed the deal by donating $5000 to the cause.

[http://www2.myfoxny.com/video/videoplayer.swf](http://www2.myfoxny.com/video/videoplayer.swf?ref=bklyner.com)

This is great news for the community, but terrible news for ninjas, aliens and ninja aliens from Sheepshead Bay to Atlanta. Congratulations, Nerd Herd! We’ll all be rooting for you!