-LEGO MINDSTORMS™ Empowers Youth to Be Tomorrow’s Scientists and Engineers-
FIRST
(For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology, partnered with the LEGO Group in 1998 to create FIRST
LEGO® League (FLL
).
FLL is an international program for 9 to 14 year-old children based on their common belief that fun and learning go hand-in-hand, and that an inspired mind can accomplish anything. Each September, FIRST
announces its annual Challenge to teams, engaging them in authentic scientific research and hands-on robotics design. Using LEGO MINDSTORMS™ bricks, motors, gears and software, children work alongside adult mentors to design, build, and program robots to solve real-world challenges. After eight intense weeks, the competition season culminates at high-energy, sports-like tournaments, where teams demonstrate their problem-solving skills, creative thinking, teamwork, competitive play, sportsmanship, and sense of community.
"Every FIRST
LEGO League challenge helps students discover how imagination and creativity combined with science and technology can solve real-world problems," says Dean Kamen, FIRST
founder.
FLL competitions are judged in five areas: research and presentation; robot performance; technical mechanics of the robot’s construction; teamwork; and gracious professionalism. The highest honor will go to the team that best exemplifies the spirit and values of the program.
FLL’s
seventh year (in 2005) was also its biggest season, with close to 7,700 teams – more than 70,000 students – from 30 countries competing in hundreds of qualifying events and tournaments. Regional winners have a will participate at the
FIRST
LEGO League World Festival, to be held in conjunction with the
FIRST
Robotics Competition Championship for high-school students, April 27-29, 2006 at The Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia.
TIMELINE
1998 Pilot launch with 160 teams
1999 "First Contact" Challenge; first official Tournament season with 950 teams
2000 "Volcanic Panic" Challenge
2001 "Arctic Impact" Challenge
2002 "City Sights" Challenge
2003 "Mission to Mars" Challenge
2004 "No Limits" Challenge Name
2005 "Ocean Odyssey" Challenge, 7,700 teams