The Minister of Education, Jokin Bildarratz, was in the final of the First Lego League of the Basque Country on March 5 at the University of Deusto. There, he was able to see first-hand the projects that students have developed and presented this year. Along with the Minister, the following attended the final: Ainara Basurko, Deputy of the Department of Economic Promotion of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia; Xabier Otxandiano, Bilbao City Councilor for Economic Policy and Citizen Services; and José María Guibert, Rector of the University of Deusto.

This year, the final of the FLL-Euskadi competition was played in three venues at the same time: Deusto, Donostia-San Sebastián and Mondragón. For the second year in a row, the final was held without crowds and in groups of bubbles to prevent congestion and to ensure that measures were taken to combat Covid-19.

First Lego League Euskadi is an educational program organized by the Basque Innovation Agency Innobasque, in collaboration with the University of Deusto, Fomento de San Sebastián and Mondragon University. It also has the support of the Department of Education of the Basque Government and the Provincial Councils of Alava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa. It is part of the Basque Government's STEAM Euskadi Strategy, which aims to increase students' level of scientific and technological knowledge, especially among women.

970 students, 118 groups, 44 schools

Nearly a thousand primary and secondary school students (aged 6 to 16) gathered on March 5 at three residence halls: a total of 118 groups from 44 schools. In recent months, they have been designing and programming a robot, as well as developing an innovation project to address an issue facing the challenge posed by the organization.

The challenge that FLL has set for students around the world this year is the transportation of goods and merchandise. Under the theme Cargo Connect, students worked on and presented future transportation projects with the goal of making transportation faster, safer, and more efficient.

The six winning teams (two teams in each residence) will take part in the state final on April 2 in the municipality of Torremolinos in Malaga. There they will present their innovation projects and their robots will compete to qualify for the world finals in Houston (USA). This world final will take place on April 23rd and 24th.

The jury's verdict was broadcast live on Innobasque's Youtube channel through the program; the program merged with three residencies, and the full list of awards was announced.

The winners were: teams from Bizkaia, Begoñazpi Ikastola, Stem Toki-Edurobotic and San Fidel Ikastola; From Gipuzkoa, Axular High School and Arizmendi Ikastola; and from Alava, Urkide Ikastetxea.

First Lego League

The FIRST LEGO League Challenge (known as the FIRST LEGO League) is an international competition organized by FIRST for primary and secondary school students (9-14 year olds in the United States and Canada, and 9-16 year olds in other countries).

Every year in August, the FIRST LEGO League Challenge teams are presented with a scientific challenge that addresses a real-world problem in which to focus and research. The robotics part of the competition consists of designing and programming LEGO Mindstorms robots to perform their functions. Students develop a solution to a topic related to the topic (which changes every year) and then meet at regional, state, and international championships to compete, share knowledge, compare ideas, and showcase robots.

FIRST LEGO League Challenge is a partnership between FIRST and the LEGO Group. It also has a robotics program for children ages 6-9 called FIRST LEGO League Explore.

Competition details

At the beginning of the competition season, FIRST sends a set of official competition materials to each registered team, a "challenging tablecloth", LEGO mechanical and electronic components and instructions and elements for building a tablecloth (known as the Challege Set, first Field Setup Kit). Teams are also given a list of tasks, called “missions,” to complete each model on the table mat (e.g., taking a loose piece from one model and placing it inside another). The FIRST LEGO League Challenge gives teams complete freedom to learn how to complete missions, consisting of a LEGO Mindstorms robot programmed without outside assistance. The robot has two and a half minutes to complete the missions; Called the Robot Game. Each team has a minimum of 8 weeks to study the challenge mat, design and build a LEGO Mindstorms robot, and schedule assignments as they see fit. The robot must be autonomous and can have only one LEGO Mindstorms programmable brick and a maximum of 4 motors.

In addition to the live Robot Game event, the competition has three additional qualifying sections to provide teams with feedback on their achievement of the FIRST LEGO League Challenge learning objectives. Teams work together and use the values ​​of the FIRST LEGO League in everything they do, including Inspiration, Teamwork, Friendly Professionalism, and Cooperation. In addition to discussing how their team displays these values, the team should also do a Cooperative activity, usually timed, to see how the team works to solve a new problem. In the second block, Robot Design, the team demonstrates the mechanical design, programming and innovation / strategy of its robot. The goal of this qualifying session is to see what the robot “would be”. Finally, students should give a 5-minute presentation on a topic related to the current challenge.