After months of intense preparation for this season's FLL robotics competition challenge dubbed "Food Factor," hundreds of North Texas youth came ready to compete at Saturday's fourth-annual North Texas FIRST LEGO® League (FLL) Regional Championship Robotics Tournament. Winning the 1st place Champion's Award was the XS NRG team, who will be invited to the World Festival in St. Louis, MO, on April 25 - 28. This is the first year North Texas has been selected to attend the World Festival. The hIPer G33ks received the 2nd place Champion's Award and will be invited to the FIRST® LEGO® League North American Open at LEGOLAND® California on May 18 - 20. Both Champion's Award teams were recognized for fully embracing the FLL Core Values while achieving excellence and innovation in the robot game and project.

Coached by Plano resident Sara Vale, the five-member team included Emma Rigler, Jake Rigler, Milena Djordjevic-Kisacanin and Vinjai Vale from Plano, and Jonathan Aberle from Richardson. Faced with this season's FLL challenge dubbed "Food Factor," team XS NRG's project proposed an idea of fabricating micrometer scale bio-sensors on to the surface of disposable plastic tongs and forks to detect contaminated salads at the time of serving. These sensors could detect pathogens such as E. coli, salmonella and Listeria in seconds.The tongs and forks would change color and would cost pennies if mass produced. They were inspired to pick this problem as there is no guaranteed solution to detect contamination today and unlike meat, salads cannot be thoroughly cooked. (They did try pasteurizing salads, and no one volunteered to even taste it.) The only way to keep them 100 percent safe is to detect contamination at the time of consumption.

Produced by the Museum of Nature & Science and presented by Lockheed Martin, the FLL competition placed 50 qualifying teams of young "engineers-in-training" against each other on a robotic obstacle course where the groups match wits with a coordinating research presentation. After spending months studying, dissecting and analyzing food safety, the teams built and programmed an autonomous robot using LEGO® MINDSTORMS technology to score points in 2.5-minute "mission" matches on a food safety-themed playing field.

In 2008, the Museum of Nature & Science became the affiliate and operational partner for the North Texas FLL region. The Museum coordinates and oversees all North Texas FLL events, the largest of which is the Regional Championship Tournament typically held in January. FLL continues to grow in North Texas, from 25 teams in 2008 to 155 teams registered for the 2011 season.

 

Download 2011 Award Winners

For information about 2012 please contact Kristine Cantu at kcantu@natureandscience.org

 

For information of 2012 sponsorship opportunities contact Megan Harrison at mharrison@natureandscience.org

Vote for 2011 2nd Place Champion Team "hIper G33ks" for the FLL Global Innovation Award!

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Sponsors, supporters and exhibitors:

Produced by the Museum of Nature & Science and hosted by The Hockaday School, the North Texas FLL Championship Robotics Tournament was presented by Lockheed Martin. Supporting sponsors were ExxonMobil, Raytheon, Rockwell Collins, and Time Warner Cable’s Connect a Million Minds initiative. Qualifier hosts are University of Texas Arlington (College of Engineering); UT Dallas (Science and Engineering Education Center); Parish Episcopal School; Billy Ryan High School; and St. Philips School and Community Center. FLL exhibitors included SMU Innovation Gymnasium, Dallas Personal Robotics Group, and Dallas Makerspace.

Challenge 2011