What I Wish I Knew Before Starting FIRST LEGO League Robotics

Vikash Nagrajan
2 days ago
2 min read

Phoenix, AZ

Walking down that aisle, we felt so triumphant, and my team and I walked away from the Western Edge International with both a First Place Robot Game and Finalist Award. However, I couldn't only hand credit to fancy engineering, but the things I wish I knew before starting the FIRST LEGO League.

First Lego League Challenge Logo

In case you aren't familiar with LEGO's robotic competitions, FLL is a tournament where teams are instructed to design an innovative project in order to provide a solution to a real-world situation and make LEGO robots to complete a series of tasks. There are four main criteria that judges grade you for: robot game, robot design, the innovation project, and core values.

Four-color circle diagram labeled Robot Design, Robot Game, Core Values, and Innovation Project. — The Four Pillars of FIRST LEGO League

The robot game is how well you complete the series of tasks given, while robot design is how innovatively you designed a LEGO robot with unique mechanics. A mistake I made was pouring all my attention into these two, but since all four criteria are weighted equally, it's important to give each one its fair share of attention if you want to qualify.

The innovation project is your team's proposed solution to a real-world problem, and core values are how you and your team act at the competition, including whether you work as a team, treat people with respect, and maintain a positive attitude when things don't go as planned. [1] Next is to never overlook core values. Neglecting them almost got us held back after the state competition. Things will rarely go exactly your way in a competition like this, but staying positive is what helps you and your team spring back.

And now it's time to focus on your judging session. This is where half of your team's score is decided through the robot design and the innovation project. [2] The main note here is to make sure to fit your presentation into the given time frame and get every point in the rubric, because most of the time, judges will cut you off if you go over your speaking time, and that can cost you the competition. Another thing is to be certain every team member speaks proportionally. After all, inclusion is one of the core values!

In the end, the FIRST LEGO League isn't about being the best engineering team, but rather about the most balanced. The teams that succeed are the ones that give their attention to each criteria and treat each other with respect even when the robot decides to stop in a match with thirty seconds on the clock. So take it from someone who's been there, what I wish I knew before starting the FIRST LEGO League is that the real win comes from balance, not brilliance.