What is FIRST LEGO League?

FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is a robotic competition developed for middle school age students.  There are two primary activities: Build and program a small robot to accomplish various challenges and investigate a research topic and present findings at the tournament.

The FLL challenge is different each year and draws upon some real life situation.  One year it was an Arctic research station that was serviced by a robot, another year it was a simulated city.  In 2003 the destination was Mars and the robot is needed to build, maintain and repair the Martian colony.

The robot challenges are the most visible aspect of the competition.  The robots are built and programmed to perform some eight to twelve different tasks, or challenges.  The playing surface is a 4x8' printed vinyl playing mat and specialized LEGO parts that represent the various tasks the robot must perform.  Typically teams build a table with borders to place the mat upon.  Each year a different playing mat and specialized LEGO parts are used.  All other parts and the table can be reused from year to year.

An equally important aspect of the competition is the research topic.  Like the robotic challenges, the research topic has some connection with the overall FLL theme.  Students are given several topics to choose from, or instructions on how to develop their own topic.  Then they research the topic, propose a solution to a problem they have identified, and then develop a presentation that covers their research and defends their conclusions.

The final challenge, for the team, is the State Tournament.  Here is where it all comes together.  At the tournament the team will meet with qualified judges several times: once for a technical review of their robot and its capabilities, once for the research presentation and once for an assessment of teamwork and spirit. And the team will have three opportunities to show everyone what their robot can do on the tables.

Rather than being a "winner takes all" competition, the tournament provides an exciting opportunity for teams to learn from each other and share their excitement. 

Web of information

There is a huge amount of information available for you to learn more about FIRST LEGO League. Rather than overwhelm you, we have collected a series of PDF files and a select list of websites you might like to start with.

Some brochures

The following brochures contain good information about FIRST LEGO League, and can be used to help convince school administrations to support you, and also can be used to find sponsors to help with the money. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader for these files.

Some Websites

There are a number of websites dedicated to FLL and FIRST.