What is the FLL Tournament Challenge?
A panel of leading educators, engineers and scientists design the annual international FLL Challenge. Briefly, the challenge consists of two parts: the robot game and the research assignment. In the months leading up to the tournament, teams design and build a robot and program it to compete on the challenge board for the robot game. The challenge board is a 4′ x 8′ printed mat with LEGO structures placed in specific locations. The structures are the challenge missions. The robot will push, pull, and lift to deliver and retrieve items to and from the structures in a set time limit. In addition, the team prepares a 5-minute research presentation on the challenge theme. Last year the theme was Mars exploration; in 2004 it was about assuring access for people with physical disabilities. In 2005 it is about the world’s oceans. Additional information about the FLL Challenge is located at www.firstlegoleague.
