Two local teams and their robots will square off at a regional science competition next month.

Competing for the regional title will be the reigning world champions, The Lego Guards of Meadow Vista, and the Peg Pals from Weimar.

The Lego Guards, a team of home-schooled students, won top honors for robot performance and robot design at Sunday’s First Lego League district qualifying tournament, reported Coach Heidi Buck.

Members are Faith Oakes, Andrew Wood, Drew Oakes, Owen Hurley, Bobby Huckins, Aydan Potts and Alejandro Vega.

The focus of their project was something that hit close to home — literally.

When the 49 Fire burned through Auburn in August, two of the team members’ homes were threatened.

Aydan Potts said when his family was forced to evacuate that his mother’s cell phone rang constantly. The lack of access to real time Internet service, however, limited their ability to obtain essential information, such as which roads were open or the locations of emergency shelters.

Following the fire, the team spent several months doing research on ways essential information could instantly be made available to the public during a disaster.

On Sunday, the team presented their solution: Sierra Earth (Emergency Access Real Time Hub), a software hub that could keep essential information automatically updated.

During an emergency, residents would be able to access the web site to obtain real-time assistance and information.

Last year’s Lego Guards won the international competition in Copenhagen with their Forest Guard project, which proposes placing cameras in the forest. These cameras connect to computers giving real-time pictures of forests, particularly during fire season.

As the winners of the competition, the team will be featured in a documentary produced by Sony Corporation, which is also developing a prototype of the camera.

The Peg Pals, a group of Weimar Hills fifth- to seventh-graders, earned second place honors in robot performance on Sunday, reported their coach Dave Parker.

For their project, the team devised three solutions to alleviate parking lot congestion before and after school at Sierra Hills School and Weimar Hills Schools.

The students have devised two solutions of utilizing nearby park and ride lots as drop off points for older students, who would then walk to the campus.

Parker indicated the students are also working on a long-term solution.

Students believe that four-wheel steering technology installed on larger school buses would have multiple benefits. The technology, already in use in Europe and on fire engines, would make it easier to maneuver a large bus through the school parking lot as well as on some of the tighter roads in the area.

Most importantly, Parker added, the buses would be less likely to tip over if the driver swerves to avoid an accident.

Members of the Peg Pals are Andrew Parker, Maya Longtin, Nathan Barton, Spencer Kane, John Longtin and Steven Parker.

The First Lego League holds annual robotics competitions throughout the world for students, ages 9 to 14. The competitions are judged in four categories: robot design, research presentation, teamwork and robot performance.

Each team is required to design, build and program a robot to accomplish a series of tasks using sensors, motors, gearing, general engineering principals, software and computers.