Excerpt from: MSU News (click for full article)
More than 240 elementary and middle school students will gather Nov. 10 at MSU to compete in the annual Spartan Challenge FIRST LEGO League – East Lansing Regional Qualifying Tournament.
Their goal: To demonstrate their innovative solutions designed to help senior citizens be independent, engaged and connected in their communities
FIRST, or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is a multinational, nonprofit organization; the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is the result of a partnership between FIRST and the LEGO Group.
Each year, FLL reveals a challenge that relates to a significant real-world issue. This year the teams will explore the topic of aging and how it may affect a person’s ability to maintain his or her lifestyle – solving issues such as health, mobility and communication.
Students have about 10 weeks to prepare for the competition. They work in teams of up to 10 students and are guided by at least one adult coach. Using NXT LEGO MINDSTORM Robotics Invention System kits, they build and program an autonomous robot capable of completing a pre-designed mission within 2 minutes and 30 seconds; analyze, research and develop a solution for a specific, assigned problem; and create a clever presentation about their solution to perform in front of a panel of judges.
For more details about the Nov. 10 event, visit http://www.egr.msu.edu/future-engineer/event/first-lego-league.
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