Northern California FLL Tournaments, like all FIRST events, are Open to the public!


FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL) is an international program, created by FIRST and LEGO, designed to get children interested in and excited about science, technology and engineering.   Every year, FIRST releases a new challenge that engages the teams in hands-on robotics design and scientific research. The theme for the challenge is different each year, allowing teams to learn about a variety of subjects. Participants, ages 9-14, form small teams of up to 10 members.    Teams can form from any group: school, scouts, religious organizations, home school groups or even groups of friends.    After the challenge has been released, teams have a limited amount of time to design, program and build their robot, and prepare an in-depth research presentation related to the challenge theme. The LEGO Mindstorms robotics kit is used to build a robot capable of completing tasks autonomously on the playing field.  Team members can use any LEGO parts to build the robot – including parts they already own.

Each team’s hard work culminates in one day, high-energy, sports-like tournaments.  During the tournaments, teams have at least 3 rounds on the competition tables to get the best score possible.   When not competing with their robots, teams give their project  presentations, are interviewed about the technical design of their robots, and also how they work as teams.

The winner of the Champion’s Award, our most prestigious award, may be eligible to participate in a variety of post-season tournament opportunities both domestic and abroad on an invitational basis.

 

A goal of the program is to show that science and engineering can be exciting and fun by providing a spectator-friendly environment that has the feel of a sporting event combined with a rock concert!    Learn more about FIRST, the FLL program,   NorCal FLL program,  what is the annual challenge and specifically, more information about this year’s Challenge.

 

If you do plan to attend, we recommend coming in the morning for the Opening Ceremony  and then spending some time  visiting the pit areas and asking teams about their project and their LEGO robot and then watching the robot game rounds.

Our teams, volunteers, and tournament staff are friendly and will be happy to answer your questions!