The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge has announced a new date for its 2021 Cambridge tournament. The STEM challenge, funded by Qualcomm Incorporated and supported by the University of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, will now take place on Thursday 24 June.
The IET FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge Cambridge tournament is now in its fourth year and will be hosted virtually for the first time in June. Over the next three months, teams from across East Anglia will come together to work on a series of tasks designed to enhance their technology skills, all culminating in a one-day virtual tournament jam-packed with robot matches, project presentations and STEM-based fun.
FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge is a global initiative, with over 67,000 teams participating across 110 countries every year. For the Cambridge tournament, Qualcomm is sponsoring 12 fully funded places for primary and secondary schools from deprived areas across the county, including the provision of a LEGO robot. Other teams, which can be made up of up to 10 young people aged 9-16, from schools, youth groups or groups of friends, can also register to participate via the IET’s website: https://education.theiet.org/first-lego-league-programmes/register/fll/
The theme of this year’s FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge is RePLAY, which is based around the importance of play and being more active. Students are challenged to develop a number of key technology and life-based skills through the four tournament components: the Robot Game, Robot Design, Core Values and the Innovation Project.
For the Robot Game, teams are required to put their teamwork and creativity to the test as they design and programme a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® or SPIKE Prime robot to complete a series of missions on a unique LEGO® challenge mat. Teams have 2.5 minutes to complete as many missions as possible. As this year’s tournament will be held virtually, teams will be asked to submit two pre-recorded matches, and will put their robot to work in one live match that will be streamed to the judges on the tournament day.
The Robot Design aspect of the challenge involves teams presenting their robots to the judges and explaining their design process for building the robot and the code they have written to programme it.
The FIRST® signature set of Core Values lie at the heart of the competition: Inclusion, Discovery, Teamwork, Innovation, Fun and Impact. Teams are required to demonstrate these values throughout all aspects of the competition and will be given a special Core Values challenge during their allocated virtual judging session.
For the Innovation Project, teams must identify a problem connected to the annual theme, RePLAY, come up with a solution and then present their ideas to the judges at the tournament. This year, for example, teams could provide a solution to the challenge of ensuring more people in the community are keeping fit and active.
James Chapman, VP & GM, Voice/Music/Wearables for Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd., comments: “Despite all of the challenges the past year has brought, we are so excited to be able to proceed with running the Cambridge tournament in a virtual format this June. Designed to help young people develop a wide range of skills and capabilities needed in the world of work – such as coding, teamwork, creativity, and collaboration – we hope the FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge will provide some well overdue excitement for the rest of the school year, building up to the event day.”
FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge 2020-21 teams are welcomed from a range of backgrounds; from schools to youth or community groups, or just groups of friends who share a passion for technology. For more information on how to register please visit: https://education.theiet.org/first-lego-league-programmes/register/fll/.