FIRST Lego League
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The FIRST Lego League (also known by the acronym FLL) is an international competition[1] for elementary and middle school students (ages 9-14 in the USA and Canada, 9-16 elsewhere).[1] It is arranged by the FIRST organization (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Each year the contest focuses on a different real-world topic related to the sciences.[2] Each challenge within the competition then revolves around that theme.[2] The robotics part of the competition revolves around designing and programming Lego robots to complete many tasks. The students work out solutions to the various problems they are given and then meet for regional tournaments to share their knowledge, compare ideas, and display their robots.
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[edit] Competition details
There are four main facets to the competition. Firstly, students are interviewed by a panel of judges probing them for their teamwork. Secondly, the students must demonstrate that the robot that they built is designed appropriately for the task given. Thirdly, the students must do an independent project that relates to the topic and give a short presentation to a panel of judges on the investigative problem solving they completed. Finally, the students must use the robots they designed to complete a set of tasks on a playing field. This is a great learning experience for many students of different ages.
FIRST Lego League (FLL) teams use Lego Mindstorms kits to build small autonomous robots that traverse these Lego playing fields and complete the given tasks. Each robot is only allowed to use a certain number of sensors and motors. The organization is a partnership between FIRST and The Lego Group.
Time can vary for teams in different parts of the world for the time allotted to complete the construction of the robot, due to the varying date of qualifying tournaments. They go on to compete in FLL events, similar to the FIRST Robotics Competition regionals. In the 2006-2007 season, nearly 90,000 students in 8,846 teams from around the world competed. Each team has to compete in a local/regional qualifying tournament before advancing to the state/provincial tournaments. The 1st place Director's Cup/Grand Champion winners from each state/provincial tournament is then invited to the World Festival.[3] In 2007, 96 teams competed in the World Festival in Atlanta, Georgia on April, 12th-14th.[4]
The 2007-2008 Power Puzzle Word Festival will be held on April 17-19, 2008, again in the Georgia Dome and Georgia World Congress Center.
Teams are allowed to only win one of the following awards (two if the first award is one for Robot Performance).[5]
[edit] Regional Competition Awards
- Robot Table Performance
- Research Presentation Award
- Robot Design Award
- Teamwork Award
[edit] State Competition Awards
- Champion's Award - 1st Place
- Champion's Award - 2nd Place
- Robot Table Performance - 1st Place
- Robot Table Performance - 2nd Place
- Robot Table Performance - 3rd Place
- Robot Design Award
- Programming Award
- Innovative Design Award
- Research Quality Award
- Innovative Solution Award
- Creative Presentation Award
- Teamwork Award
- Rookie-Team-of-the-Year Award
- Team Spirit Award
- Judges' Award
- Outstanding Volunteer Award
- Outstanding Mentor Award
- Outstanding Costumes
[edit] Challenges
[edit] Table performance
The robots made by the teams perform at this event. The robot is autonomous and completes missions on a mat (where the missions are set up). The robot then has two and a half minutes to complete those missions. Two members of the team are allowed at the board during a match; however, they can switch out if needed. In the case of a serious problem, such as the entire robot breaking down, the entire team is allowed at the board for as long as the problem persists. Only one robot is allowed per team at the table; otherwise the team is disqualified.
The robot starts in an area marked as 'base'. This is a white area on one side of the table. In base, the team members are allowed to touch the robot and start programs. Outside of base, if the team touches the robot (due to robot malfunction), the team is deducted points. This is called a 'rescue' or 'retrieve'. The bot is not required to return to base; some teams have completed all their missions without returning to base during the time allowed to complete the missions.
[edit] Technical interview
Each team has a five minute interview with a team of judges to discuss the design and operation of their robot. Judges look for teams whose work stands out for its innovation, dependability, or both. To assess innovation, the judges watch the robots work, looking for actions that impress them. They also interview team members to reveal the less obvious unique and inventive ideas. To assess dependability, the judges interview the teams to learn what solid principles and best practices were used to reduce variability and errors.
[edit] Presentation
Prior to the competition, the teams complete research related to the topic of the year. For example, in 2007 the teams researched alternative energy, which included an energy audit on a building in their area and possible improvements to its existing systems. The teams then present this information within five minutes to the judges. The teams can use props in their presentation, such as models or powerpoints.
[edit] Teamwork
Observation judges watch each team in action and also interview the team to discuss how the team functioned. Judges identify teams that best demonstrate enthusiasm, spirit, partnership, respect to their own teammates and others, and gracious professionalism.
[edit] Competition Themes
The challenges for FLL are based on several different themes:
| Year | Theme | Number of Participants[6] | Number of Teams[6] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | First Contact[7] | 9,500 | It focused around a group of astronauts stranded in a space station, missions included pulling a lever to allow the astronauts into a chamber and delivering oxygen (foam balls) to different sections of the playing field. | |
| 2000 | Volcanic Panic[8] | 15,000 | ||
| 2001 | Arctic Impact[9] | 18,500 | Robots had to complete tasks on an arctic themed board such as retrieving medicine barrels, and rescuing minifigure scientists from polar bears. | |
| 2002 | City Sights | 27,009 | 3,001 | Robots completed tasks such as clearing rocks off a soccer field, harvesting and delivering food loops, collecting toxic barrels, activating a windmill, and other city-related tasks.[10] |
| 2003 | Mission Mars | 42,000 | 5,000 | Inspired by the year's Mars Rover mission, competing teams had to design and construct robots to solve a number of problems like removing rocks from a 'solar panel' to ensure a Mars base energy supply, collect 'soil/rock samples' from the Martian desert landscape, etc.[11] |
| 2004 | No Limits (Disabilities) | 50,000 | 6,000 | Centered around various robotic assistant systems for disabled persons, robots demonstrate how the systems are (hopefully) able to solve the given problems in a satisfying way.[12] |
| 2005 | Ocean Odyssey | 60,000 | 7,460 | Involved marine-themed tasks such as mapping a sunken ship, deploying a research submarine, and cleaning up a shipping spill.[13] |
| 2006 | Nano Quest | 90,000 | 8,846 | The challenge is developing anything using nanotechnology that improves or makes life easier from medicine to computers to the environment.[14] |
| 2007 | Power Puzzle | The challenge is on alternative energy and features tasks such as moving powerlines, fuel sources and planting trees.[15] | ||
| 2008 | Climate Connection | The challenge will focus on the earth's past, present, and future climate.[16] |
[edit] Recent developments
In August 2006, LEGO released a new Mindstorms kit called the NXT. The RCX, the previous kit, was still allowed to be used in competition in 2006 and 2007 (RCX users received a "fairness bonus" in points because the RCX was less advanced.[17] Lego is no longer selling the original RCX Mindstorms kits to the general public.
In 2006, nearly 8,846 teams and 90,000 children participated in the event, with the topic Nano Quest. In 2007, approximately 106,000 children and 10,600 teams participated worldwide.
Registration for the 2008 season, "Climate Connection", opened on May 1, 2008. More than 10,000 teams are expected.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- FLL Open European Championship website
- USFIRST.org/What FLL is
- USFIRST.org/FLL community
- Hands on Technology/FLL
- HighTechKids.org
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b About FLL International (HTML). FIRST Lego League. Retrieved on 2008-02-04.
- ^ a b What is FLL? (HTML). Retrieved on 2008-02-08.
- ^ FIRST LEGO League / World Festival. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
- ^ NanoQuestWorldFestivalTeamRoster5.pdf (PDF). Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
- ^ >Awards. Retrieved on 2008-03-02.
- ^ a b FIRST LEGO League / Challenge History. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
- ^ FIRST LEGO League / 1999. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
- ^ FIRST LEGO League / 2000. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
- ^ FIRST LEGO League / 2001. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
- ^ FIRST LEGO League / 2002. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
- ^ FIRST LEGO League / 2003. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
- ^ FIRST LEGO League / 2004. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
- ^ FIRST LEGO League / 2005. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
- ^ FIRST LEGO League / 2006. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
- ^ FIRST LEGO League / 2007 Challenge. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
- ^ USFIRST.org
- ^ First Lego League mission list.. Retrieved on 2007-12-06.
[edit] External links
- Official FIRST website
- Official FIRST LEGO League website
- FLL-Freak Website and home of the FLL UFAQ
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