ITC To Host First Lego League Tournament

The National Park College (NPC) Innovative Technologies Center will host the First Lego League (FLL) Qualifying Tournament at 9 a.m. Saturday, December 14 in the Student Commons building on campus.

Middle school teams from the region have been preparing for the competition since the challenge was released in August. The challenge includes construction of a playing field, as well as a Lego Mindstorms robot that interacts with items on the playing field. The robot must be programmed to accomplish structured tasks during a timed run. Teams earn points based upon their robot's performance.

FLL teams this year have been challenged with a research project scenario that will identify a specific problem, research and develop a solution for that problem. Teams will provide a presentation to a panel of judges explaining their solution. Based upon each team's overall performance, awards will be given and a percentage of teams will receive invitations to attend The First Lego League State Tournament in January 2020.

The tournament agenda includes,

7:30 a.m. – Team set-up
8:00 a.m. – Coaches meeting
8:45 a.m. – Welcome, introductions and patriotic ceremony
9:00 a.m. – Teams will begin judging sessions in private rooms, practice robot runs on competition tables and visiting with core values judges at their display tables.
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. – Lunch Break
1:00 p.m. – Teams will begin their robot runs at competition tables. Each team will run their robot 3 times during the afternoon in an attempt to accomplish their highest score.
4:00 p.m. – Teams will pack up supplies.
4:30 p.m. – Award Ceremony

FLL team registration is closed. The event is free and open to the public.