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FIRST LEGO League is a partnership between [[FIRST]] and The [[LEGO Group]]. It also has a scaled-down robotics program for children ages 6–9 called [[Junior FIRST Lego League|Junior FIRST LEGO League]].
FIRST LEGO League is a partnership between [[FIRST]] and The [[LEGO Group]]. It also has a scaled-down robotics program for children ages 6–9 called [[Junior FIRST Lego League|Junior FIRST LEGO League]].

The state winner for 2010 was the antidisestablishmentarianistic fishtank of hostile unicorn poo
==Competition details==
==Competition details==

Revision as of 16:31, 17 November 2010

Participants build robots with kits such as these.

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 and Australia).[1] It is arranged by the FIRST organization.

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 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.

FIRST LEGO League is a partnership between FIRST and The LEGO Group. It also has a scaled-down robotics program for children ages 6–9 called Junior FIRST LEGO League.


Competition details

There are four main sections of the competition. Firstly, students are interviewed by a panel of judges, measuring their teamwork. This is called the teamwork activity. Secondly, the students must demonstrate that the robot that they built is designed appropriately for the tasks given (they look for effective design, use of sensors, etc.). This is called the technical presentation. Thirdly, the students must do a research project and give a short presentation to a panel of judges on the investigative problem solving they completed. This is called the research project. Finally, the students must use the robots they designed to complete a set of tasks on a playing field.

Each Team can only have three motors per robot and one robot(at a time) at the robot competition table. You are not even allowed to have a fourth motor sealed in its package in your pocket. Of the four sections of the competition, the robot performance is the only one set in stone, for time of competing. The technical is usually after one of the rounds of robot performance, with the others being fit in sufficiently large time windows.

FIRST LEGO League (FLL) teams use LEGO Mindstorms kits, and one of two graphical based programming languages: NXT G, the programming software that comes with the kit, or Robolab, a software language, that was originally built using, and designed to be like a real language used by professionals called Labview, to build and program small autonomous robots that traverse these LEGO playing fields and complete the given tasks. Each robot is only allowed to use up to four sensors total(which ones and how many depend on the year) and up to 3 motors.

Teams in different parts of the world have different times allotted to complete the construction of the robot, due to the varying date of qualifying tournaments. They go on to compete in FLL tournaments, 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 largest single-day regional qualifying tournament is hosted by First State Robotics and First State FIRST LEGO League in Wilmington, Delaware. Taking place every January, this event holds FIRST LEGO League (FLL), Junior FIRST LEGO League (Jr.FLL), and FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) competitions under one roof at the University of Delaware's Bob Carpenter Center. also(FRC) and robot sumo competition, Teams from Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland (among other regions) attend this tournament to make it that largest single-day FIRST event in the world.[3]

The first place Champions Award winners from each state/provincial tournament (only if that state/provincial tournament has won the lottery to send teams) is then invited to the FLL World Festival.[4] In 2007, 96 teams competed in the FLL World Festival in Atlanta, Georgia on April, 12th-14th.[5] The 2007-2008 Power Puzzle FLL World Festival and the 2008-2009 FLL World Festival on Climate Connections were held again in the Georgia Dome and Georgia World Congress Center.

Additionally, the Champions Award winners from each state/provincial tournament may participate in one of the Open Championships which are organized by FLL Partners. The eligibility criteria may differ.

Awards

Awards are intended to be spread equitably among deserving teams. As such, teams are normally allowed to win only one core (judged) award. Teams can win an additional award based on their robot's performance during the robot game competition portion of the tournament.[6]

Competition Awards

The following are FIRST's recommended awards:

FLL Core Awards (potentially 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for each, based on tournament size) The winner for tasmania in 2010 was the antidisestablishmentarianistic fish tank of hostile unicorn poo

  • Champion’s Award – this award is optional for qualifying tournaments
  • Robot Design Award
  • Robot Performance Award
  • Project Award
  • Teamwork Award

Optional Awards

  • Against All Odds Award
  • Rising Star Award
  • Team Spirit Award
  • Judges’ Award
  • Local Awards (also see below)

Special Recognition Awards

  • Outstanding Volunteer Award
  • Adult Coach/Mentor Award
  • Young Adult Mentor Award

Additionally, some tournaments may offer additional awards that are not specified by FIRST. These can include

  • Programming Award
  • Innovative Design Award
  • Research Quality Award
  • Innovative Solution Award
  • Creative Presentation Award
  • Rookie-Team-of-the-Year Award
  • Outstanding Costumes
  • Good sportmanship award
  • IEEE award (money and only in some competitions)

Challenges

Table performance

The robots made by the teams perform at this event. The robot is autonomous and completes missions on a mat or board (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. Members are not permitted to bring board items from other practice tables to the board during competition.

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. If the team touches the robot while it is outside of base, points are deducted from the team's score. This is called a 'rescue' or 'retrieve'. The robot 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. In fact, in the 2008/09 and 2009/10 challenge, points were awarded if the robot was in one of two specified areas at the end of the two and a half minute challenge.

However, each year, especially the 2007-8 season, due to the large number of perfect scores, the level of difficulty increased dramatically for the 2008/09 season. There were still a few perfect scores, so they once again drastically increased the difficulty, and for the 2009/10 season, navigation was made really tough by making sharp twists and turns, as well as adding obstacles, and requiring straight driving, something that is surprisingly hard.

Technical interview

Each team has a timed interview (usually 5 to 10 minutes) 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.

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 during a timed presentation to the judges. This is followed up by a timed question and answer period (typically, these are 5 minutes each). The teams can use props in their presentation, such as models or PowerPoints.

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.

Competition Themes

The challenges for FLL are based on several different themes:

Year Theme Number of Participants[7] Number of Teams[7] Notes
1999 First Contact[8] 9,500 975 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[9] 15,000 1,540 In this challenge, robots had to complete challenges prior to the eruption of a volcano, such as rescuing a stranded scientist, barricading a village from lava rocks, deploying a gas sensor, and retrieving crates of samples, among other volcano-related tasks.
2001 Arctic Impact[10] 18,500 1,902 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.[11]
2003 Mission Mars 42,000 4,331 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.[12]
2004 No Limits (Disabilities) 50,000 5,859 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.[13]
2005 Ocean Odyssey 60,000 7,501 Involved marine-themed tasks such as mapping a sunken ship, deploying a research submarine, and cleaning up a shipping spill.[14]
2006 Nano Quest 90,000 8,808 The challenge is developing anything using nanotechnology that improves or makes life easier from medicine to computers to the environment.[15]
2007 Power Puzzle 109,410 10,894 The challenge is on alternative energy and features tasks such as moving powerlines, fuel sources and planting trees.[16]
2008 Climate Connections 12,944 The challenge focuses on the Earth's past, present, and future climate. Students must research a climate problem occurring in their area, find a solution, then share it. They also have to research another area which has the same problem as their area. Featured moving balls, bicycles, computers, setting up levees, etc.[17][18]
2009 Smart Move[19] 14,725 The challenge centrals around efficient transportation and teams are to solve a particular problem with the mode of transportation that they have chosen. The robot game includes activating access markers, collecting loops, toggling a lever to move a truck, avoid warning beacons, parking at one of two specified locations, etc.
2010 Body Forward[20] 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.
2011 Food and water safety

Recent developments

A robot built with the NXT set.
A RCX programmable brick.

In August 2006, LEGO released a new Mindstorms kit called the NXT. LEGO is no longer selling the original RCX Mindstorms kits to the general public. In 2006 and 2007, teams using the RCX could earn "fairness bonus" points based on the fact that the RCX was less technologically advanced.[21] However, the "fairness bonus" was discontinued for the 2008-2009 season because tournament experience proved that the RCX teams were competitive and did not need it.

See also

Template:Wikipedia-Books

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Welcome to FIRST LEGO League". FIRST LEGO League. Retrieved 2009-04-15.
  2. ^ a b "What is FLL?". Archived from the original on 2008-01-11. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
  3. ^ "First State FIRST LEGO League". Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  4. ^ "World Festival". Retrieved 2009-04-15.
  5. ^ "NanoQuestWorldFestivalTeamRoster5.pdf" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-04-22. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  6. ^ "FLL Awards". Retrieved 2009-10-03.
  7. ^ a b "Past FLL Challenges". Retrieved 2009-04-15.
  8. ^ "FIRST LEGO League / 1999". Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  9. ^ "FIRST LEGO League / 2000". Archived from the original on 2007-08-07. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  10. ^ "FIRST LEGO League / 2001". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  11. ^ "FIRST LEGO League / 2002". Archived from the original on 2007-06-10. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  12. ^ "FIRST LEGO League / 2003". Archived from the original on 2007-06-30. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  13. ^ "FIRST LEGO League / 2004". Archived from the original on 2007-08-08. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  14. ^ "FIRST LEGO League / 2005". Archived from the original on 2007-06-10. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  15. ^ "FIRST LEGO League / 2006". Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  16. ^ "FIRST LEGO League / 2007 Challenge". Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  17. ^ "The Project". Retrieved 2009-04-15.
  18. ^ "Welcome to Climate Connections!". Retrieved 2009-04-15.
  19. ^ "Transforming Transportation - Launched September 2009". Retrieved 2009-10-03.
  20. ^ "2010 Season Topic". Retrieved 2009-04-15. [dead link]
  21. ^ "2007 Power Puzzle Challenge: Missions, Rules, Field Set Up, Project" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-12-06.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=FIRST_Lego_League_Challenge&oldid=397327607"