LINCOLN, Neb. – More than 600 youth and 90 teams competed at the Nebraska FIRST LEGO League State Championships held at the UNL Campus Recreation Center.
The students, who were between fourth and eighth grade, competed on Friday and Saturday, March 21-22. The competition was held in conjunction with the Robotics Expansion Event organized by Nebraska 4-H.
With free admission to the public, attendees experienced an exciting showcase of innovation and creativity in robotics and technology. In addition to the youth competition, the Robotics Expansion Event featured hands-on learning experiences and demonstrations by community and industry partners.
The Northeast Community College iHub team hosted a walk-up activity featuring several hands-on experiences for youth to learn about robot programming, conditional logic statements, and various types of sensors. Approximately 250 individuals visited the booth from noon to 5 p.m. on March 21.
Facilitating the activities were Henry Goeden, Robotics trainer, and Brandon Sohl, Machining & Manufacturing Automation instructor.
“It was great to see so much excitement around robotics technology, and to allow students to be creative and explore it in a fun way,” Goeden said. “Our activities included a robotic arm which students could physically move and program, as well as some microcomputers and LEGO robotics kits set up with different challenges.”
Other learning experiences at the Robotics Expansion Event included various robot programming activities, engineering design challenges, and a robot dog demonstration.
The top three FIRST LEGO League teams from Nebraska will be invited to compete at an international tournament later this year.
FIRST LEGO State Championships
Brandon Sohl, Machining & Manufacturing Automation instructor, demonstrates how to move the robot to a youth at the Nebraska FIRST LEGO League State Championships held at the UNL Campus Recreation Center. (Northeast Community College)
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