FIRST Lego League Explore

Last updated
FIRST Lego League Explore
FLL Explore Logo v2.svg
Sport Robotics-related games
Founder Dean Kamen
First season2004
CountryInternational
Related
competitions		 FIRST Robotics Competition
FIRST Tech Challenge
FIRST Lego League Challenge
Official website www.firstlegoleague.org

FIRST Lego League Explore (FLLE) (formerly known as FIRST Lego League Jr.) is a non-competitive robotics program designed for children ages six to ten. It is one of the programs established by FIRST. [1]

Contents

FIRST Lego League Explore follows the same theme given to the FIRST Lego League Challenge. While FIRST Lego League Challenge teams conduct research projects and design autonomous robots specifically to carry out missions relating to the topic, FIRST Lego League Explore teams conduct much smaller projects and make models out of Lego elements to illustrate one part of the theme. [2] They may also use Lego Education SPIKE Essential set, [3] a programmable robotics kit, as part of their models.

Currently, the program is available in 33 countries. [4]

History

FIRST Lego League Explore started out as a pilot program in 2004 to encourage young children to have interest in science and engineering. In the first pilot year, the teams were provided with some specific Lego parts by FIRST, but that idea was dropped in later years. Teams now use any Lego elements that they have to build the models. The pilot years were done in three phases from 2004 to 2006. The program was officially launched in 2007 during the Power Puzzle season.

During the first five years, the program was not referred as a robotic program. The only requirements to build models out of Lego elements were to have some moving parts and include at least one simple machine based on a given topic of that year. FIRST has provided an option to purchase a FIRST Lego League Explore Base Kit that contains many Lego elements including gears, motor, and other Lego Technic elements. In 2009, with the new robotics kit by Lego Group, the program included Lego WeDo as an optional kit [5] which allows children to connect a motor and/or a sensor to other Lego bricks, gears and other technic elements. It also has drag-and-drop programming interface for children to write robotics programs. [6]

The number of participants has been increasing each year. [7] However, the program was limited to the United States and Canada until 2009.

Program details

FIRST Lego League Explore is designed to be a non-competitive and community-based program. The teams are formed within local community and participate in local events. FIRST provides guidelines to help coaches to run their teams and local organizers to run FLLE events. However, FIRST does not organize any FLLE events, unlike other FIRST programs.

The program is designed to be flexible; there are no specific dates for the program. Each team may decide when to start the activities and for how long as long as the registration is done within the season calendar which is from August to June each year. [8] A team consists of 2-6 team members. There is an age limit that team members must not be older than 9 as of January 1 of the year the Challenge is released. Although there is no lower bound on age, FIRST suggests that the program is intended for children 6 or older.

After registering a team, the coach guides students to do research by following the Challenge guideline. The team may have a field trip or visit experts to help children to learn more about the topic. Children will then work on their "Show Me" poster and Lego models to demonstrate their findings according to the instructions in the Challenge. The team may choose to use any Lego parts that they have at home to construct their models. Optionally, the team may purchase FIRST Lego League Explore Base Kit or Lego WeDo Kit to use. [9] [10]

Challenges

The FIRST Lego League Explore challenges align with the research project portion of the FIRST Lego League Challenge. [7] [11]

YearThemeNumber of ParticipantsNumber of TeamsNumber of EventsNotes
2004-2005No Limits375+1259The first pilot year. The challenge was to find ways to improve access for people with different physical abilities.
2005-2006Ocean Odyssey981+32727The second pilot year. The topic was related to learning about habitat of marine life
2006-2007Nano Quest3,500+ [12] 702 [12] 30The third pilot year. The challenge provided an opportunity for children to learn about the scale of nanometer.
2007-2008Power Puzzle6,000+1,004 [13] 40+Official launch. The challenge was on energy. Children needed to perform an energy audit and seek answers about the source of energy for everyday appliances.
2008-2009Climate Connections7,000+1,203 [14] 40+ [14] Learn about tools used to study climate.
2009-2010Smart Move1,448 [15] Relaunched as a robotics program. The first year to expand globally. The topic is about Transportation. [16]
2010-2011Body Forward2,100+ [17] Biomedical Engineering [18]
2011-2012Snack Attack18,000 [19] 2,985 [19] 90+ [19] Food safety [20]
2012-2013Super Seniors20,000 (est.) [21] 3,347 [21] 100+ [21] Improve the quality of life for seniors [22]
2013-2014Disaster Blaster24,000+ [23] 4,000+ [23] 100+ [23] Help master natural disasters [24]
2014-2015Think Tank34,000 (est.) [25] 5,653 [25] 250 [25] There's always something new to learn [26]
2015-2016Waste Wise48,000 (est.) [27] 8,031 [27] 300+ [27] Prepare to become Waste Wise! [28]
2016-2017Creature Craze64,000 (est.) [29] 10,655 [29] 400+ [29] About animals and the animal kingdom [30]
2017-2018Aqua Adventure99,000 (est.) [31] 16,425 [31] 450+ [31] Water use and water's journey [32]
2018-2019Mission Moon130,300 [33] 21,718 [33] 984 [33] Building a Moon base and living on the Moon [34]
2019-2020Boomtown Build163,000+ [35] 21,703 [36] [35] Explore the needs of a community and design a building for the town. [37]
2020-2021Playmakers67,872 [38] Improve the games and place spaces of tomorrow. [39]
2021-2022Cargo Connect115,600+ [40] First year since 2010 that had the same game name as FIRST Lego League Challenge. Explore how cargo is transported, sorted, and distributed. [41]
2022-2023Superpowered156,500+ [42] Teams will explore where energy comes from and how it is distributed, stored, and used.
2023-2024MasterpieceTeams explore the intersection of STEM and creativity.
2024-2025SubmergedTeams explore the layers of the ocean and bring their learnings and ideas to the surface as they “sea” into the future. [43]

Events

Concept

The program encourages teams to go out and tell their story to others after they have completed the poster and the models. They may participate in one of the well-established FIRST Lego League Explore events, which are typically part of FIRST Lego League Challenge tournaments run by independent FIRST Lego League Challenge partners. Most of these events are called FIRST Lego League Explore Expos. [44] Alternately, they may host their own event in the neighborhood or at school to showcase their accomplishment.

At the FIRST Lego League Explore event, there will be "Reviewers" (the judges) to ask children some questions about what they have learned. They may be asked for details about the project and the models that they built. The FIRST Lego League Explore concept is that everyone is a winner, therefore, the event organizers are recommended to give an award to each team that participates in the event.

Awards

Awards are given out for the following: [45]

Notable events

Since the inception of the program, FIRST Lego League Explore events have been held by local organizers or official FIRST Lego League Explore partners in the participating countries, but not by FIRST headquarters. [46] FIRST holds an annual event called the FIRST Lego League Explore World Festival Expo each year as part of the FIRST Championship, in Houston, Texas.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lego</span> Plastic construction toy

Lego is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) that accompany an array of gears, figurines called minifigures, and various other parts. Its pieces can be assembled and connected in many ways to construct objects, including vehicles, buildings, and working robots. Assembled Lego models can be taken apart, and their pieces can be reused to create new constructions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lego Mindstorms</span> Hardware and software platform by Lego

Lego Mindstorms is a discontinued line of educational kits for building programmable robots based on Lego bricks. It was introduced on 1 September 1998 and discontinued on 31 December 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FIRST Lego League Challenge</span> Robotics competition

The FIRST Lego League Challenge is an international competition organized by FIRST for elementary and middle school students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FIRST Robotics Competition</span> International high school robotics competition

FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work during a six-week period to build robots capable of competing in that year's game that weigh up to 125 pounds (57 kg). Robots complete tasks such as scoring balls into goals, hanging on bars, placing objects in predetermined locations, and balancing robots on various field elements. The game, along with the required set of tasks, changes annually. While teams are given a kit of a standard set of parts during the annual Kickoff, they are also allowed and encouraged to buy or fabricate specialized parts. FIRST Robotics Competition is one of five robotics competition programs organized by FIRST, the other four being FIRST LEGO League Discover, FIRST LEGO League Explore, FIRST LEGO League Challenge, and FIRST Tech Challenge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lego Mindstorms NXT</span> Programmable robotics kit

Lego Mindstorms NXT is a programmable robotics kit released by Lego on August 2, 2006. It replaced the Robotics Invention System, the first-generation Lego Mindstorms kit. The base kit ships in two versions: the retail version and the education base set. It comes with the NXT-G programming software or the optional LabVIEW for Lego Mindstorms. A variety of unofficial languages exist, such as NXC, NBC, leJOS NXJ, and RobotC. A second-generation set, Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0, was released on August 1, 2009, with a color sensor and other upgrades. The third-generation EV3 was released in September 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FIRST Tech Challenge</span> Robotics competition

FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), formerly known as FIRST Vex Challenge, is a robotics competition for students in grades 7–12 to compete head to head, by designing, building, and programming a robot to compete in an alliance format against other teams. FIRST Tech Challenge is one of the six major robotics programs organized by FIRST, which its other five programs include FIRST Lego League Discover, FIRST Lego League Explore, FIRST Lego League Challenge, FIRST Robotics Competition, and FIRST Global Challenge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robofest</span> American youth competitive robotics league

Robofest is an autonomous robotics competition for 4th - 12th graders. It is similar to FIRST Lego League (FLL), but while FLL limits the student's robots to Lego Mindstorms robots, Robofest allows the student to use any robotics system, parts, materials, or even custom electronics, in some of the events. Note that FLL students are required to use parts manufactured by Lego only, preventing the use of such aids as string or glue. Another important difference is that Robofest games have UTF components. Students must solve the unveiled tasks and factors within 30 minutes work-time without external help. Lawrence Tech's Robofest was founded by Computer Science Professor Dr. Chan-Jin Chung in 1999–2000 academic year and is sponsored by Lawrence Technological University and other sponsors. LTU's Robofest is also held internationally, in countries including Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, England, France, Ghana, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Macau, Malawi, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Jordan, and UAE. Teams who win their regional event are welcome to participate at the worldwide tournament held at Lawrence Technological University in Michigan. ROBOFEST is a registered trademark of Lawrence Technological University. Robofest is one of the largest University led robotics competitions in the world for pre college students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nano Quest</span>

Nano Quest was the name of the 2006–07 challenge theme of FIRST Lego League. It revolved around the emerging field of nanotechnology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FIRST Championship</span> Annual student robotics championship

The FIRST Championship is a four-day robotics championship held annually in April at which FIRST student robotics teams compete. For several years, the event was held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, but moved to the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Missouri in 2011, where it remained through 2017. In 2017, the Championship was split into two events, being additionally held at the George R. Brown Convention Center and Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. In 2018 and 2019, the Championship was held in Houston and Detroit, Michigan at the TCF Center and Ford Field. The event comprises four competitions; the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship, the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship, the FIRST Lego League World Festival, and the FIRST Lego League Junior World Expo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Planetarium Science Center</span>

The Planetarium Science Centre (PSC) is a department in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina located in Alexandria, Egypt. It promotes science centers as an educational tool.

Lego Education, formerly known as Lego Dacta, is a specialized Lego theme created for educational purposes in schools. This theme, introduced in 1999, includes a variety of sets that cater to different educational needs.[2] These sets often focus on Duplo and Technic themes and typically contain a larger quantity of blocks. By incorporating these sets into the classroom, educators can provide students with hands-on learning experiences that enhance their understanding of various subjects, from basic building concepts to advanced engineering principles.[1]

Livingston Robotics Club (LRC) is a robotics club in Livingston, New Jersey, that provides a community network to introduce Livingston area youth to robotics design and real-life science research, consistent with the vision of FIRST. LRC is known for its member teams as winners at state, national, and international FIRST LEGO League (FLL) competitions.

FIRST Lego Challenge League Open Championships are robotics competitions held and managed by FIRST Lego League Partners to bring FIRST Lego League Challenge teams from many states, regions and countries together to compete in host cities around the world. These are the highest level of FIRST Lego League competitions that are managed by organizations other than FIRST. The FIRST-managed global competition for FIRST Lego League is the FLL World Festival. There are usually multiple Open Championships each year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smart Move (FIRST)</span>

Smart Move is the name of the 2009-10 FIRST Lego League challenge, released September 3, 2009. It is centered on transport and how to make new and more efficient forms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology</span> Engineering societies based in the United States

For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) is an international youth organization that operates the FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST Lego League Challenge, FIRST Lego League Explore, FIRST Lego League Discover, and FIRST Tech Challenge competitions. Founded by Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers in 1989, its expressed goal is to develop ways to inspire students in engineering and technology fields. Its philosophy is expressed by the organization as Coopertition and Gracious Professionalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food Factor</span>

Food Factor is the FIRST Lego League (FLL) competition for 2011-12; released on September 2. It focuses on food safety and methods to prevent contamination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Body Forward</span>

Body Forward is the 2010-11 FIRST Lego League competition. The project and missions revolve around biomedical engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocean Odyssey (FIRST)</span>

Ocean Odyssey is the 2005-06 FIRST Lego League challenge theme. It centered on topics relating to the world's oceans and oceanography. The challenge was developed with the collaboration of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No Limits (FIRST)</span>

No Limits is the 2004-05 FIRST Lego League challenge theme. It focused on solutions for aiding people with physical disabilities. The year's theme was introduced by the story Late for Lunch by James Patrick Kelly, which the described the life of a disabled child.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydro Dynamics (FIRST)</span>

Hydro Dynamics is the name of the 2017/18 FIRST Lego League challenge. It focuses on the water cycle and the ways in which humans can influence it. Each event consists of two main portions: the project and robot gameplay. Teams have fewer than ten weeks to prepare for their competitions.

References

  1. ↑ "About | FIRST LEGO League". www.firstlegoleague.org. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  2. ↑ The Junior FIRST Lego League Archived 2009-10-11 at the Wayback Machine , FIRST - accessed December 23, 2009,
  3. ↑ "Cost & Registration". 6 August 2015.
  4. ↑ FIRST LEGO League Jr. Country List - accessed January 22, 2018
  5. ↑ Junior FIRST LEGO League Event Guide Archived 2010-06-13 at the Wayback Machine , FIRST - accessed December 23, 2009
  6. ↑ WeDo Concept [ permanent dead link ], LEGO Education - accessed December 23, 3009
  7. 1 2 Impact Archived 2009-09-06 at the Wayback Machine , FIRST - accessed December 23, 2009
  8. ↑ 2009 Jr.FLL Smart Move Season Schedule Archived 2009-09-06 at the Wayback Machine , FIRST - accessed December 23, 2009
  9. ↑ Junior FIRST LEGO League (Jr.FLL) Coaches’ Guide [ permanent dead link ] - accessed December 23, 2009
  10. ↑ Products and Pricing Archived 2010-06-12 at the Wayback Machine , FIRST - accessed December 31, 2009
  11. ↑ Junior FIRST LEGO League - Challenge History Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine , FIRST - accessed December 23, 2009
  12. 1 2 "FIRST 2007 Annual Report" (PDF).
  13. ↑ "FIRST 2008 Annual Report" (PDF).
  14. 1 2 "FIRST 2009 Annual Report" (PDF).
  15. ↑ "FIRST 2010 Annual Report" (PDF).
  16. ↑ Smart Move Archived 2010-02-09 at the Wayback Machine , FIRST - accessed December 23, 2009
  17. ↑ "FIRST 2011 Annual Report" (PDF).
  18. ↑ 2010 CHALLENGE OVERVIEW Archived 2009-12-29 at the Wayback Machine , FIRST - accessed December 23, 2009
  19. 1 2 3 "FIRST 2012 Annual Report" (PDF).
  20. ↑ Snack Attack Logo and Teaser Archived 2010-12-02 at the Wayback Machine , FIRST - accessed November 29, 2010
  21. 1 2 3 "FIRST 2013 Annual Report" (PDF).
  22. ↑ 2012 Super Seniors Challenge Archived 2012-06-14 at the Wayback Machine , FIRST - accessed June 4, 2012
  23. 1 2 3 "FIRST 2014 Annual Report" (PDF).
  24. ↑ Archived 2013-08-19 at the Wayback Machine , FIRST - accessed August 19, 2013
  25. 1 2 3 "FIRST 2015 Annual Report" (PDF).
  26. ↑ Archived 2015-01-02 at the Wayback Machine , FIRST - accessed January 2, 2015
  27. 1 2 3 "FIRST 2016 Annual Report" (PDF).
  28. ↑ Archived 2015-02-08 at the Wayback Machine , FIRST - accessed February 8, 2015
  29. 1 2 3 "FIRST 2017 Annual Impact Report" (PDF).
  30. ↑ "Jr. FLL Spectator's Flyer" (PDF). FIRST Inspires. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  31. 1 2 3 "FIRST 2018 Annual Impact Report" (PDF).
  32. ↑ "Aqua Adventure Challenge" (PDF).
  33. 1 2 3 "FIRST 2019 Annual Report" (PDF).
  34. ↑ "MISSION MOON Challenge" (PDF).
  35. 1 2 "At A Glance". FIRST. 2015-08-21. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  36. ↑ "FIRST 2020 Annual Impact Report" (PDF).
  37. ↑ "Boomtown Build Challenge" (PDF).
  38. ↑ "FIRST 2021 Annual Impact Report" (PDF).
  39. ↑ "Playmakers Challenge" (PDF).
  40. ↑ "FIRST 2022 Annual Impact Report" (PDF).
  41. ↑ "Cargo Connect Challenge" (PDF).
  42. ↑ "FIRST 2023 Annual Impact Report" (PDF).
  43. ↑ "2024-2025 FIRST DIVE presented by Qualcomm". info.firstinspires.org. Retrieved 2024-04-20.
  44. ↑ What Events And Teams Are In My Area? Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine , FIRST - accessed December 23, 2009
  45. ↑ https://www.first-lego-league.org/en/get-to-know/explore
  46. ↑ Event Guide Archived 2012-03-24 at the Wayback Machine , FIRST - accessed March 24, 2012
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.