Cincinnati State to Host Ohio’s Largest FIRST LEGO Robotics Tournament
Cincinnati State to Host Ohio’s Largest FIRST LEGO Robotics Tournament
More than 1,500 men, women, children and robots are scheduled to visit the Cincinnati
State campus Dec. 13 and 14 as part of what is shaping up to be the largest
competition of its kind in Ohio this year.
Cincinnati State’s gymnasium will be converted into a field of play for teams from
Cincinnati area teams participating in a regional FIRST LEGO robotics tournament.
The tournament will find more than 300 students from 35 elementary, middle school and
neighborhood teams putting student-designed tabletop robots through an identical
challenge: saving a model house from a simulated flood.
For the last three months, students (age 9 to 14) on these teams have been designing
and building robots from LEGO kits. The machines are being programmed to perform
such tasks as closing shutters, operating windows and building a levy. All told,
organizers have incorporated 18 separate robotic tasks into the challenge.
But there’s more to it than the robots’ performance. The FIRST LEGO League teams
will also be evaluated on how well they plan and program their robot; their teamwork;
and how well they respond to a separate challenge (one that doesn’t involve robots) to
address an environmental problem related to climate.
The tournament will also feature more than 200 Junior FIRST LEGO League
participants, ages 6 to 9, from Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana schools. Each team may
have up to six students and one adult mentor. On Dec. 14 the teams will present their
LEGO creations and display projects related to climate research.
For both the younger and older students, the organizers’ goal is the same: nurture an
interest in science, technology, engineering and math.
The tournament at Cincinnati State is just one in an international series of events
organized annually by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and
Technology), a non-profit organization founded by Dean Kamen, the inventor of, among
other things, the Segway Human Transporter.
The FIRST LEGO tournaments, designed for elementary and middle school students,
are expected to attract more than 135,000 students from 12,000 teams in 40 countries.
FIRST also sponsors competitions involving full-size robots for high school teams.
The regional FIRST LEGO competition Dec. 13 and 14 will be hosted by Cincinnati
State and iSpace, a Cincinnati-based non-profit that encourages students of all ages to
learn more about science, technology, engineering and math.
Sponsors include Cincinnati State, Great Oaks Institute of Technology and Career
Development, Champion Window Manufacturing, Duke Energy, Procter & Gamble
Engineering Technology Labs and Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc.
The events Saturday, Dec. 13, held from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., are for teams only.
The events Sunday, Dec. 14 will run from noon to 5 p.m. and are free and open to the
public. Competitions will be held in the gymnasium in the Main Building at Cincinnati
State Technical and Community College, 3520 Central Parkway, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45223.
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?name=Cincinnati+State+Tech+Cmnty&city=Cinci…
Food and refreshments will be available in the cafeteria of the Advanced Technology
Learning Center (home of the Midwest Culinary Institute) adjacent to the Main Building.
Free parking will be available in both the Central Parkway Garage and the Ludlow Garage.
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