MSU to Host Fifth Annual FIRST LEGO League Tournament
Teams will again be vying for points, the crowd will be cheering at a deafening level, and referees will be shouting to be heard above the din this Saturday on the MSU campus. But this time the venue will not be Spartan Stadium. It will be K-12 students participating in a robotics competition in the IM Circle Building at the corner of West Circle Drive and Kalamazoo Street.
Michigan State University is hosting its fifth annual Spartan Challenge FIRST Lego League East Lansing Regional Qualifying Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 13, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a multinational, nonprofit organization; the FIRST Lego League (FLL) is the result of a partnership between FIRST and the Lego Group.
"We're trying to make learning science, technology, engineering, and math as much fun for kids as competing in sports," said Drew Kim, assistant to the dean for recruitment, scholarship and K-12 outreach in the College of Engineering. "It is one of our favorite events and what makes it unique is that all of the judges and volunteers are MSU faculty, staff and engineering students invested in our future engineers and scientists. The tournament generates a lot of interest and excitement about the STEM fields for these students while they have fun competing against other teams. The College of Engineering has been involved with the FIRST Lego League since its inception, and over the years we have seen a number of these participants go on to become quality scientists and engineers."
With the help of NXT Lego Mindstorm Robotics Invention System kits -- which consist of bricks, motors, sensors, gears and software -- elementary and middle school students, ages 9 through 14, learn engineering and computer programming principles as they design, build and program fully autonomous robots that are capable of performing specified, theme-related tasks.
Each year, FLL reveals a Challenge that relates to a significant real-world issue. For this year's Challenge -- Body Forward -- competitors will explore the cutting-edge world of biomedical engineering to discover innovative ways to repair injuries, overcome genetic predispositions, and maximize the body's potential, with the intended purpose of leading happier and healthier lives.
Students had about 10 weeks to prepare for the competition. Working in teams of up to 10 students and guided by at least one adult coach, they built and programmed an autonomous robot capable of completing a pre-designed mission within 2 minutes and 30 seconds; analyzed, researched, and developed a solution for a specific, assigned problem; and created a clever presentation about their solution to perform in front of a panel of judges.
"The students come up with some amazing ideas for solving the problems and completing the robot missions they are presented with," said Robert Watson, K-12 robotics program coordinator in the College of Engineering. "During the ten weeks the students spend preparing for this competition, their growth in technical knowledge and their ability to work as a team to research and put together a creative presentation is inspiring."
During the competition, the teams earn points in four categories: project, robot technical interview, core values, and robot game. The top five teams will advance to the state tournament on Dec. 11 in Flint.
More at http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/fll/content.aspx or http://www.egr.msu.edu/future-engineer/event/first-lego-league.
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