DECATUR, Ill. — Building robust infrastructure and promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization was the theme of this year’s FIRST LEGO League challenge. Macon County 4-H Scream’s FIRST LEGO League (FLL) robotics team accepted the challenge and qualified to compete at the Illinois FIRST LEGO League Tesla State Championship.
The six-member team designed and programmed a robot that autonomously completed missions on the competition field. Their robot’s performance at the Illinois Championship set the highest table run score, which earned the team the Robot Performance Award.
The FIRST LEGO League challenge also required teams to identify a real-world problem and develop a solution. This year the focus was on improving the transportation of goods. The Macon County 4-H FLL team addressed forklift accidents and examined how to reduce the number. Their innovative solution detected dangerous situations such as bad weather, collisions, poor conditions, and more. Judges recognized the team’s excellence in core values, robot design, and their project with the FLL Champions Award, the highest judged award given at competitions.
The 4-H robotics team has been invited to FIRST Championship in Houston, where they will present on their team’s project management system, Agile Development. They will compete in the FIRST LEGO League Razorback Open Invitational in Fayetteville, AR., in May.
Robotics team members include Zedekiah Auten, Dawson Caldwell, Ben Elven, Jack Elven, Maisey Elven, and Jacob Knuppel. Jeremy and Nicki Auten, and Amanda Elven coach the team. For more information about this team, please email Auten@flipsidehobbies.com.
FIRST ® LEGO® League Challenge is the oldest of three divisions of FIRST LEGO League, created to inspire youth to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding, and design skills through fun hands-on STEM learning and robotics. All FIRST ® programs are built on a foundation of Core Values, celebrating discovery, impact, inclusion, innovation, teamwork, and fun.
WRITER: Maria Lightner, Marketing and Communications, University of Illinois Extension
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