Legos get smarter
The students from Bradford Grammar School (Bradford, West Yorkshire, England) are taking part in the First Lego League Challenge. They secured their spot in the finals after beating competition from 900 other teams in the UK. The school’s head of Computer Science, Nadeem Asghar, who also runs the Lego Robotics club, said the victory in the UK finals was “completely unexpected.” “It’s just a lunchtime club,” he said. “It’s just a bit of fun, a bit of Lego, obviously doing the best we can, but the intention was never to get to the internationals.” The First Lego League Challenge is an international STEM competition that develops skills in coding, design and research. Teams were challenged to build and program a robot capable of carrying out a series of tasks within a set amount of time and then to complete a STEM-based innovation project. Harry, 16, a member of the team – known as the Incredilegos – said it was a “dream come true” to reach the final. “I never would have thought in a million years we would have been representing the UK at Lego robotics.” The pupils hope to repeat their project’s UK success in the USA.
A group of school pupils have flown to Florida to represent the UK in the finals of a Lego robotics competition. The competition involves moving the robot (right) around a board representing the ocean floor and moving objects within a set amount of time. For the second part of the competition, the students worked together to create a computer game, Ocean Quest, which teaches players about oceans. “You’re playing a game while learning about stuff,” said 13-year-old Aziza. The team had impressed the UK judges and hoped they would continue to impress in Florida. “They liked the design, the fact it’s compact and the fact it is so easy to take attachments on and off it. They like to see the problem solving aspects and that is what the team really managed to highlight and demonstrate.” The students have been refining their robot since their UK triumph ahead of the finals, which begin later. “We hope to make BGS proud in Florida, what a great year for Bradford,” Harry said. Teacher and coach, Aziza said winning had “meant so much to the team” and they were looking forward to representing the school in the USA.
FIRST Lego Challenge League Open Championships are robotics competitions held and bring Challenge teams from many states, regions and countries together to compete in host cities around the world. These are the highest level of FIRST Lego League competitions that are managed by organizations other than FIRST. There are usually multiple Open Championships each year. Both the videos below mark a great improvement in education technique and accomplishment.
Le-go of my joystick!
My on and off Lego girlfriend and I have been going strong for a while now.
But the last breakup we had, I was left alone to pick up the pieces.
Walking and LEGO manuals are basically the same thing.
There are too many steps.
Someone keeps dropping off random Lego blocks in front of my door every morning.
I …don’t know what to make of it.
“What did the Lego alien say?”
“I come in pieces.”
September 8th Birthdays
1972 – Brook Burke, 1979 – Pink, 1972 – Kennedy Montgomery, 1988 – Chantal Jones
1972 – Martin Friedman, 1972 – David Arquette, 1976 – Larenz Tate, 1925 – Peter Sellers