For the Ninth year, UMBC hosted the Maryland State FIRST LEGO League Championship on March 1st, 2014 in the RAC. This year, nearly 350 teams competed in 17 qualifiers around the Maryland area to earn one of the 72 championship slots. Teams performing well in all three judged areas (Project, Robot Design and Core Values) and scored in the top 40% of the Robot rounds at their qualifier, were invited to compete. Maryland FLL is currently run out of the College of Engineering and IT, Mechanical Engineering Department. Several Departments and scholar programs (Meyerhoff, CWIT, Sherman) continue to support the program through volunteering at many of the qualifiers and the state championship.
A video of the state championship can be found here.
FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL®) introduces young people, ages 9 to 16* (grades 4-8), to the fun and excitement of science and technology while building self-confidence, knowledge, and valuable career and life skills. FLL challenges kids to think like scientists and engineers. Alongside adult Mentors, FLL teams research and design their own solutions to a current scientific question or problem using engineering concepts, presentation techniques, and build autonomous LEGO robots. In this year’s challenge, NATURE’S FURY’S, students explored the awe-inspiring storms, quakes, waves, and more that we call natural disasters. Teams discovered what can be done when intense natural events meet the places people live, work, and play.
For more information about Maryland FLL, please visit www.mdfirst.org.
