300 kids compete in Lego robotics tournament in St. George

ST. GEORGE — Thousands of Utah middle school students are gearing up for the statewide tournament season of Utah’s First Lego League.

A St. George event will take place Jan. 10 from 8:15 a.m.-3:30 p.m. in the Gardner Center at Dixie State University. Adhering to the theme “World Class,” students will compete by building robots and creating new ideas to explore the classroom of the future.

The tournament season kicked off in September 2014. In the fall, teams worked diligently to prepare their Lego robots and project presentations for regional competitions coming up on Jan. 3, 10 and 17. The state championship will take place at the University of Utah on Jan. 31.

The St. George tournament on Jan. 10 is full for players and volunteers, but the event will be open to public spectators. More than 300 Washington County kids are expected to compete, and approximately 1,000 are expected to be in attendance at the Gardner Center. The St. George tournament will follow the schedule below:

Opening ceremonies:  8:15 a.m.
Robot game matches:  9 a.m.
First Tech Challenge presentation:  1:45 p.m.
Teams randomly drawn for project presentations:  2:10 p.m.
Awards ceremony:  2:30 p.m.

Utah’s First Lego League program, also known as FLL, is headquartered at the University of Utah’s Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at 105 Fort Douglas Building, No. 604 in Salt Lake City, an interdisciplinary division of the David Eccles School of Business. The Lassonde Institute organizes the program to promote an interest in innovation and entrepreneurship among Utah children.

The students that compete in First Lego are our future inventors, scientists and business leaders,” said Anne Bastien, the Utah operational partner for First Lego League and a program manager at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute.

“Through this program, they learn how to solve challenging real-world problems using creativity and teamwork,” Bastien said. “They also gain the motivation to pursue a meaningful education and career path.”

During each of the championship and qualifying tournaments, the center stage consists of teams taking turns running their robots through a variety of challenges on thematic playing fields — but the robots are only part of the FLL events. The teams also compete for robot design, innovation project presentation and core values awards. FLL core values include: “What we learn is more important than what we win;” and gracious professionalism.

This year’s theme, “World Class,” enables students to explore the future of learning. Students work on teams to redesign how knowledge and skills are gathered and skills in the 21st century. Teams then teach adults about the ways kids need and want to learn. Each team prepares an innovative solution and presents it at the competitions.

Event details

  • What: Lego Robotics Tournament
  • When: Saturday, Jan. 10, beginning at 8:15 a.m.
  • Where: Gardner Center, Dixie State University campus, 225 S. 700 East in St. George

Resources

  • Utah’s First Lego League website
  • Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, University of Utah website

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1 Comment

  • Anurag January 3, 2015 at 8:15 am

    sir,
    i am interested to know much more about robotics as i am interested in opening training center here in my city.

    thankyou,
    regads
    Anurag Gupta

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