Coach.Corp

FIRST LEGO League

FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is a robotics program for 9 to 14 year olds, which is designed to get children excited about science and technology -- and teach them valuable employment and life skills. In FLL, teams learn both through what we do (the Robot Game and the Project) and how we do it (the FLL Core Values).  In late August, FIRST LEGO League releases a new challenge that focuses on a different scientific topic or question.  Past topics have included nanotechnology, climate, quality of life for the handicapped population and transportation. The challenge has the following three parts:

1. Robot Game – Teams build and program an autonomous (no remote control) LEGO MINDSTORMS® robot to score points by performing mission tasks.  These missions will be inspired by the challenge theme.  Missions require the robot to navigate, capture, transport, or deliver objects on a printed mission mat.

2. Project – Teams learn more about the science behind the challenge theme. The students use their creativity to design a solution (or modify an existing solution) to solve a real-world problem.

3. Core Values – While FLL teams work on the robot game and the project each year, they are guided by the FLL Core Values.  The Core Values are part of what makes FLL so special, because kids compete like crazy but still respect their teammates, coaches, and even their competitors.  By embracing the Core Values, participants learn that friendly competition and mutual gain are not separate goals, and that helping one another is the foundation of teamwork.

At the end of the season, each team will participate in a tournament, where they will be judged on their project presentation, Core Values presentation, and robot design.  Teams will also compete in three rounds of the robot game.  Teams have the opportunity to win awards in each of these categories.

For more info, contact smistny@smistny.org.