The FIRST Robotics Northern Nevada State Competition took place Saturday at the University of Nevada, Reno. Two dozen teams battled out their skills in robotics at the first Lego League Championship.
Under strict rules, time and resources, “teams of high school students are challenged to build industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game in alliance with other teams, while also fundraising to meet their goals, designing a team ‘brand,’ and advancing respect and appreciation for STEM within the local community,” according to the organization’s website.
For the youth on hand Saturday, it was also the FIRST Lego League Explorer meeting, which is more like a “celebration; a science fair kinda thing,” according to the Northern Nevada First Lego League Coordinator, Caroline Hanson.
In this league, which precedes the high school Challenge Level, kids build a Lego model and code a little robot. The Explorer League is typically grades 1 through 3, while the other students typically range between grades 4 through 8.
The event also focused on creating an innovative project related to a theme. This year the theme was “masterpiece,” and teams had to identify a problem and create a solution, using, in part, a set of core values.
“The robot game is what they do, the core values is how they do it: teamwork, discovery, impact, inclusion and innovation,” Hanson said.
Members of Team ‘Paws’itive Robotics from Kate Smith Elementary School said they created a stop motion video, mixed with real life, to help with a problem they identified as “kids not getting outside enough to play.”
Yahir Arellano said his team “found a problem in the USA with kids spending more time indoors and on technology than being outside, so we created a video telling kids about the fun activities you can do outside.”
First and second-place team winners from Saturday’s event will advance to the World Championship and International Invitational held in Houston, Texas, and Wooster, Massachusetts, respectively. More information on the event and national championships can be found on First Nevada’s website.
