Next Sunday 27 January, the Montilivi Campus of the University of Girona will host a new edition of the FIRST LEGO League, an international robotics competition for young people aged between 10 and 16 years old in which they have to design and build programmable robots using LEGO. Competing in the qualifying tournament, which is co-organised by the UdG and the FPdGi, will be 22 teams from different towns in the counties of Girona, Maresme and Osona.
The newest feature of this year’s competition is that 19 teams of younger students –from 6 to 9 years old– will also be competing in a challenge of their own, the Junior FIRST LEGO League, which aims to foster creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and team spirit through an interest in science and technology.
In total, more than 300 children and young people will be presenting their projects at the Polytechnic College. This year’s participants come from Palafrugell, Girona, Lloret de Mar, Hostalric, Torroella de Montgrí, Figueres, Cassà de la Selva, Banyoles, Vidreres and Llers. Also participating will be a team from Pineda de Mar and another from Vic.
Major challenges for the elderly
In the young people’s competition (for those aged between 10 and 16 years old) the challenge is entitled ‘Senior Solutions’ and the participants have to develop a scientific project that proposes innovative and creative solutions to improve the quality of life of senior citizens.
In addition to defending their scientific project, the teams also have to complete exciting challenges against the clock with their programmable robots built using LEGO. The themed competition table will represent the daily challenges faced by seniors.
The qualifying tournament in Girona forms part of the total of 18 that will be held throughout Spain, in which the almost 350 participating teams, made up of some 3,500 students, will battle it out to reach the grand finale to be held on 17 March in Barcelona. The winners of the grand finale will have the opportunity to take part in international tournaments such as the World Festival in St. Louis (USA) and the Open European Championship. All over the world, more than 200,000 students from 61 countries have signed up.
The youngest participants in the Junior FIRST LEGO League will compete in a challenge called ‘Super Seniors’ and must present their projects in poster format. The participants have to find a ‘Senior’ partner to help them identify the challenges that older people must face in their daily lives.
A 15-year history
The FIRST LEGO League was launched almost 15 years ago as a joint initiative by the Danish company LEGO and the non-profit organisation For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), founded by the inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen. For the past seven years, the Scientia Foundation has been promoting this international programme in Spain, spreading it to new cities and increasing the number of participants year after year.
For further information: www.udg.edu/fllgirona
