Berks gears up for FIRST LEGO League Challenge on Jan. 25
The innovators of tomorrow will practice imaginative thinking and teamwork at the FIRST LEGO League Challenge, set to run from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25.
The innovators of tomorrow will practice imaginative thinking and teamwork at the FIRST LEGO League Challenge, set to run from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25, with a snow date of Saturday, Feb. 22. This is the fourth consecutive year that the event will be held at Penn State Berks.
In FIRST — For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology — LEGO League, teams (up to 10 members, grades four to eight), guided by two or more adult coaches, research a real-world problem and are challenged to develop a solution. They must also design, build and program a robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS, and then compete on a tabletop playing field. Participants develop valuable life skills and discover exciting career possibilities while learning that they can make a positive contribution to society.
Some parts of the challenge are open to the public, including the opening ceremony at 8 a.m., the tournament table practice rounds at 9 a.m., the official robot competition rounds from 1:15 to 4:10 p.m., and the closing ceremony at 5:15 p.m., all held in the Beaver Community Center.
This year’s tournament will include six local teams from Berks County: Ninja Sloths, composed of community members from the Blandon area; High Point Eaglbots, from High Point Baptist Academy in Geigertown; OVES Lynx Leaders, from Oley Valley Elementary School; Oley Lynx Legends and Oley Lynx Unlimited, from Oley Valley Middle School; and Bots to New Heights, from Brandywine Heights Intermediate Middle School in Topton. The event will include 53 teams in total. A total of nearly 530 participants and coaches will be involved in this year’s event.
While five of the teams are from local schools, the Blandon area team is composed of children of faculty, staff and students from Penn State Berks. They are coached by Jill M. Guza Felker, laboratory manager for biochemistry and molecular biology and adjunct instructor in microbiology, biology and chemistry at Penn State Berks. She and her husband, Brian, coach the team during the evening in the college’s Gaige Technology and Business Innovation Building.
Kathleen Hauser, instructor in engineering at Penn State Berks, who is coordinating the project, explained that the challenge, based on a real-world scientific topic, has three components: the robot game, the project, and the core values. Teams of students participate in the challenge by programming an autonomous robot to score points on a themed playing field (robot game) and develop a solution to a problem identified by the challenge (project), all guided by the FIRST LEGO League Core Values.
This season's challenge is “CITY SHAPER.” For the project, each team will observe how cities and buildings grow, thrive and change. They’ll create new, innovative solutions to help shape an optimal future, using environment and modern-day tools and technology to make it last. They can use what they learn to help plan a strong, sustainable and inclusive FIRST City.
Nearly 100 Penn State Berks faculty, staff and students, as well as volunteers from the local community, will help to run and judge the tournament and referee the robot competition.
“Penn State Berks has always been interested in supporting the local community and engages in all types of activities that demonstrate that,” said Hauser. “Penn State Berks has the opportunity to give back to our local community while generating excitement about STEAM fields at the same time. We all benefit from these type of partnerships.”
Hauser said that Penn State Berks students will learn the value of sharing their time at an event that allows children to take part in the community in a STEAM activity.
“We are engaging our youth in the science, technology, engineering, arts and math fields and having a whole lot of fun doing it,” said Hauser.
