The FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge, delivered by The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), is making its biggest comeback ever this year, celebrating its return by sponsoring 17 teams of students, aged 9 – 16, from disadvantaged areas across Cambridgeshire, to take part in the popular LEGO® robotics competition. Qualcomm Incorporated is again a sponsor of the IET FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge Cambridge tournament.
The FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge is a unique global science and technology tournament. From October to January, teams have the chance to apply their STEM skills and critical thinking to build and program a LEGO® robot, before competing in an exciting, mission-based robotics game.
For the first time since the pandemic, students will be coming together for the exciting culmination of the Challenge in person, at a thrilling tournament day at University of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, on Tuesday 17 January 2023. The tournament is considered the highlight of the season, which sees around 250 young people let their LEGO® robots loose on a Challenge board to complete tasks in fast-paced Robot Game matches.
The theme for this year’s FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge is ‘Superpowered’. Drawing on their creativity and research skills to tackle the theme of energy, teams are required to work on an Innovation Project that offers a solution to improve how energy can be stored, used, and transferred.
Going beyond just science and mathematics, the students are also encouraged to embody a range of important values throughout the season – from Inclusion and Discovery to Fun and Impact – which they will be asked to demonstrate when they present their research solution and Robot Design to a panel of industry judges at the tournament.
James Chapman, Vice President and General Manager, Voice/Music/Wearables, Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd., comments: “We’re very much looking forward to welcoming the full-scale return of the FIRST® LEGO® League tournament to Cambridge, following a few seasons where we were forced to run some elements virtually. Qualcomm continues to sponsor the event to ensure that a lack of access to equipment is not a barrier for talented young individuals who wish to enter the tournament.”
“This tournament allows students to develop skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) while competing as a team and, most importantly, having fun. This is great preparation for careers in STEM industries.”
For more information on how to register a team please visit: https://education.theiet.org/first-lego-league-programmes/register/ or email elle.roberts-nissen@consciouscomms.com for information on sponsored places.
