Students to Compete in LEGO League Regional Qualifier at Trident Technical College
January 20, 2010
NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – January 20, 2010 – Approximately 40 teams of middle school students will compete in the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Lowcountry Regional Qualifier tournament to be held at Trident Technical College’s Complex for Economic Development on Main Campus (7000 Rivers Ave., North Charleston, Bldg. 920) on Saturday, Jan. 30, sponsored by TTC’s Division of Industrial and Engineering Technology.
Students ages 9 to 14 have been busy designing, constructing and programming robots in keeping with this year’s theme, “Smart Move.” According to the FLL Web site, this theme is designed to transform the way the participants look at transportation. The key to the Smart Move Challenge is accessing people, places, goods and services in the safest, most efficient way possible.
To prepare, students learn how to use LEGO bricks, sensors, motors and gears to construct and program robots. The robots must be able to carry out certain theme-related missions such as gaining access to different places and avoiding and surviving impacts.
“The kids gain hands-on experience with engineering and computer programming principles while having fun,” said Sam Speraw, instructor in the Electrical Automated Technologies program at Trident Technical College and regional event coordinator. “The primary focus of these tournaments is on teamwork, friendly competition and discovering new ideas. Students can even earn points with judges if they are observed helping other teams.”
The public is invited to observe the competition free of charge. Competitions and practice rounds will be ongoing from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., with a break from noon until 1 p.m., and an awards ceremony at 3:30 p.m. All participants and attendees are invited to bring nonperishable food items to donate to a local food bank. Last year’s food drive resulted in over 1,000 pounds of donated food.
Saturday’s event qualifies teams for the FIRST LEGO League state competition to be held at Clemson University on March. 6, where 80 teams will compete with one team advancing to the world competition, which will be held in Atlanta, GA, in April.
