FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an international youth organization that operates a few different robotics competitions, including the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Challenge, which I participated in this year.
FLL is aimed at 9 to 14-year-old students and uses Lego Mindstorms sets to build autonomous robots which compete against other teams. FLL is not just about robot design and building but also focuses on one problem and designing a solution. Each year there is a different theme and a research element that deals with real-world situations for students to learn. The 2022/23 season was The Super Powered Season, where students explore where energy comes from and how it is distributed and stored. The theme inspires kids to reimagine and innovate for a better future.
The six core values of FLL are:
We are stronger when we work together.
We respect each other and embrace our differences.
We apply what we learn to improve our world.
We enjoy and celebrate what we do!
We explore new skills and ideas.
We use creativity and persistence to solve problems.
At my school, grade 7 and grade 8 students compete in FLL. Unfortunately, because of Covid, there was no competition the previous year, so this would be the first time my grade 8 class competed in FLL. My school had two grade 8 teams, each with eight students. Starting in September, every Wednesday after school, the FLL teams met for 1.5 hours to prepare for the qualifying tournament in early December.
The theme for this year’s competition was energy, and our team came up with the idea of using waste energy to power homes. Team members chose different tasks like research, coding, building the robot and attachments, script writing, and creating the display board and props. Once the script and the display finished, there was never a moment we were not memorizing and rehearsing for our final presentation to the judges.
The tournament day finally arrived on a Saturday in early December. The day started bright and early when my alarm clock woke me at 6:30 am, and I was excited and nervous about what was to come, my first-ever robotics competition. The competition took place at a technical high school not far from where I lived and started at 7:35 am and lasted until 5:30 pm.
The morning had started, as expected, very hectic. Our team arrived on time, and we began setting up our project stand. Dozens of teams and hundreds of students from many schools wore their team T-shirts or hoodies. We used our time to rehearse the skit one last time, and those working on the robot portion of the competition were busy ensuring the code ran flawlessly. We also had time to explore the other team’s projects and learn new things.
We had multiple practice runs that morning, and our first official practice run for the robot was at 10:35 and lasted 2.5 minutes. This year there were two launch areas for the robot, and four technicians (students) were allowed to be at the competition table, two at each launch area. There were 15 missions for the robot to complete in 2.5 minutes. Not all missions needed to be completed, but the more missions completed, the more points earned. The robot started at one of the launch areas and was programmed to autonomously complete the missions on the board and return to the home area. In the home area, the technicians were allowed to modify the robot and change its attachments quickly, and the robot was then relaunched to complete more missions. The robot and all its attachments had to fit into the launch area and stay under 12 inches in height. Bonus points were gained if the robot and its attachments were small enough to fit in one launch area. If the robot started at one side of the table, it could drive to the home area at the other end, where the other technicians could modify the robot. Points were earned for completing missions, and contestants were judged on their gracious professionalism.
After lunch, the real robot competitions began. Each team had a total of three rounds, and the best score was used for the final score.
Our team coded the robot for nine missions, and we completed eight missions before running out of time. We placed 13th out of 32 teams in that portion.
Finally, the time arrived for the live presentation of our innovation project to the judges. Our presentation was a skit where we explained our innovation project. The judges asked questions about our innovation project and robot design, coding, and functionality. We told the judges how we worked together and used each team member’s unique skills.
After a few hours of waiting for all the presentations to be completed, the final results were announced. Although our team won no awards, the tournament was great fun, and we had a chance to show what we had done. We met other teams and saw what problems they tackled, and we were inspired for our next robotic competition.