FIRST LEGO League puts the passion in traction in a Barcelona Final
The nerves, shouts of support and faces straining with emotion which were present at the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) tournament in Citilab were present again last Sunday in Barcelona, amplified by the importance implied by being at a big Final for the whole country. Youngsters from 10 to 16 from all around Spain were concentrated at a centre for scientific learning in the city to demonstrate that they aret he most ingenious creators and programmers of mobile models built from pieces of LEGO Mindstorms and from many hours of dedication. More than 600 people attended this event of an International Tournament.
The high level that the participants demonstrated in Cornellà looked to make it a very competitive Final and full of emotion. And that is how it turned out. The 24 teams of schoolchildren from Navarre, Barcelona, Cornellà, Madrid, Albacete, Ibiza, Andalucia, Extremadura and Basque Country taking part in the final stages showed a degree of preparation que havien assolit en les anteriors proves superades. This final brought together the best, and it was clear right from the first moment when the youngsters activated their robots and they started to move with agility around the games table. But although it was keenly fought, evidently, there had to be some winners.
The best of the best of FLL
The rollcall of honour contains many different categories of prizes, measuring different aspects for which the teams have had to prepare, like the design of their machines, teamworking, preparing the projects, etc. Furthermore, there had to be an absolute champion who achieved the best points tally in the four basic categories for the competition: design of the robot, scientific project, competition on the track and team-work. Blau La Vall, formed in Barcelona, were in this case`proclaimed the absolute champions.
Two sides from Cornellà, Inmaculada and C Montse Team, were among the 10 prize-winners in the final which is the last step before competing on the world stage. Adding the other three teams from Barcelona who also won awards, the region scooped half of the prizes on offer.
ROLLCALL OF HONOUR - 2009:
- GMV Prize to the absolute Champion of Spain: Blau la Vall (Barcelona)
- GMV Prize innovation and creativity robot design: Institute
Hermógenes Rodriguez (Madrid)
- IMEB Prize best scientific research project: Legolásticos (Navarra)
- Prize for the best robot: Inmaculada (Cornellà)
- Prize runner-up best robot: Robocracks (Barcelona)
- Prize Cosmocaixa for teamwork: Overclock axular (Sant Sebastian)
- Prize design for all: Superduper (Madrid)
- Scientia Foundation Prize for promise: Argonautes (Barcelona)
- Lego Prize for best team spirit: Bideluze (Andoain)
- Cimne Prize for best coach: C Montse Team (Cornellà)
FLL 2009 continues around the world
The FIRST LEGO League is the most important competition for programmable robots on an internacional scale. Imagination, creativity, science and technology aret he principal tools with which more than 146,000 schoolchildren from 53 countries work hard to make transport more sustainable and efficient. This year the challenge around which FLL hinged was Smart Move, or Transport Intelligent.
After this Spanish Final there remain a series of world tournaments which close the present competition. This year’s champions now have to choose the international tournament they wish to attend: World Festival (Atlanta 15-17 April 2010), Open European Championship (Istambul 22-24 April 2010) or Open Asian Championship (Taiwan 6-8 May 2010). The rest of the prizewinners have a week to opt for the vacant places which would be decided by a draw.
