Meadowridge School will be hosting their first FIRST LEGO League Challenge on Sunday, welcoming as many as 400 people to the school.
Members of the Meadowridge robotics club will be participating in the competition themed City Shaper.
On Sunday there will be 32 teams, 10 students on each team, from Grades 5 to 8 competing in the challenge. This will include 36 FIRST LEGO League students from Meadowridge and around seven Junior FIRST LEGO League students, Grades 2-3, who will also be competing.
RELATED: Garibaldi robot taking on the world
In the competition students will have to identify a problem with a building or public space in their community, design a solution, share their solution with others and then refine it.
To complete the challenge they will have to program their LEGO MINDSTORMS robots to solve a set of missions on an obstacle course set on a thematic playing surface.
More than 310,000 children in around 100 different countries will be taking part in the competition that is taking place over the season spanning 2019 and 2020.
READ MORE: B.C. high school robotics team ranked first in the world for programming
FIRST LEGO League is an international program for children from around 9-years to 16-years old that was created by FIRST and the LEGO Group in 1998 to get children excited about science and technology.
FIRST is a not-for-profit charity founded in 1989 by American entrepreneur and inventor Dean Kamen to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology by designing accessible and innovative programs that motivate them to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math, while building self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills.
To design the challenge FIRST collaborated with experts in the fields of architecture, civil engineering, infrastructure, sustainability and urban planning, experts who make up the Challenge Advisory Team.
Teams will be judged in three areas: innovation project; robot design and core values. Top robot game scores will also be recognized.
This is the 21st year for the competition and FIRST LEGO League anticipates around 38,800 teams will be taking part in the hopes of participating at the FIRST LEGO League World Festivals, to be held in conjunction with the FIRST Championships in Houston and Detroit in April.
cflanagan@mapleridgenews.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
