Robotics

FLL is the middle school component of the FIRST Robotics Competition, an international contest that teams professionals and young people to solve an engineering design problem in a competitive way. Over an eight-week period, teams work to build, test, and program an autonomous robot using a LEGO ® MINDSTORMS® set to solve missions on an obstacle course.

“Each team aims to discover and present innovative solutions to long- du- ration space travel to three different panels of judges, while also testing their programming and building skills at the robot competition table. This is a highenergy STEM event that brings the best out of students by demanding they do all the work with only the guidance of a coach,” Jordan Vener, who serves as program manager for interactive technologies in the Rensselaer Center for Initiatives in Pre- College Education(CIPCE), which works with area teachers and students to promote the use of robotics in the classroom, said.

The tournament was supported by 60 volun- teers, including Rensselaer students, faculty, and staff, along with area students from high school robotics teams. The teams of judges and referees were comprised of students from Rensselaer’s Science Ambassadors and Engineering Ambassadors organizations, along with longtime friends of CIPCE and FIRST.

FLL is a partnership between the LEGO Group and FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), which was founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen to motivate young people to pursue careers in science, technology, and engineering.