UTEP to Host FIRST Lego League Championship

February 18, 2016 | UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

The University of Texas at El Paso's College of Engineering will host the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) and Junior FLL Championship for local kindergarten through 8th graders Feb. 20 at Memorial Gym. The event, which is free and open to the public, begins at 8:00 AM.

Alongside watching up-close as students preparing their robots for competition, attendees are invited to play in the LEGO Pit and build their own creations.

Both championships are part of the annual For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology (FIRST) family of robotics competitions. FIRST is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire young people to become scientists and engineers by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs.

"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 provides students with an objective to get them to work together, think critically, build research and technical skills, and gain the ability to deal with real-world problems."

This year's theme "Trash Trek" will challenge elementary and middle school participants to explore the hidden but fascinating world of trash from collection to sorting to smart production and reuse. Participants will invent a solution to help the world's trash problem and create their own LEGO Mindstorms robot to complete themed missions on a playing field.

For more information, please visit http://engineering.utep.edu/plaza/robotics/FLL.html