UTEP to Host FIRST Lego League Championship

February 2, 2015 | UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

What: FIRST Lego League Championship

When: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7

Where: Memorial Gym, UTEP campus

The University of Texas at El Paso's College of Engineering will host the FIRST Lego League (FLL) and Jr. FLL Championship on Feb. 7.

Both events are part of the annual FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) robotics competitions that give students real-world engineering experience. FIRST is known as a national nonprofit organization whose sole mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs designed to build science, engineering and technology skills.

This year's theme, World Class, will challenge elementary and middle school participants to investigate how people learn new things and how education can be enhanced. Each challenge will have three parts: the Robot Game, the Project and the FLL Core Values. Teams made up of 10 participants will work on a challenge by programming an autonomous robot to score points on the themed playing field, the Robot Game.

"The FIRST robotics competition is a fun way to get students interested in science, technology, engineering and math by using robotics," said Virgilio Gonzalez, Ph.D., associate chair of electrical and computer engineering at UTEP. "The tournament is much more than Lego robots solving challenges, it also includes professional research and community involvement."

The event is free and open to the public.