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January 18, 2007
Middle Schoolers to Compete at UMBC in LEGO Robotics Event on Saturday, Jan. 20
CONTACT:
Mike Lurie
Office: 410-455-6380
Cellphone: 443-695-0262
mlurie@umbc.edu
Jan. 18, 2007
BALTIMORE -- More than 500 middle-school youth and their families are expected to participate in the FIRST LEGO League State Tournament, a competition that builds students’ ability to design and program LEGO robots, on Saturday, Jan. 20 from 9:30 a.m. until 5 p.m.
UMBC is providing faculty and staff support, coordinated by Dr. Anne Spence, assistant professor of mechanical engineering.
Teams of 9-to-14-year-olds must build LEGO robots that can perform functions such as removing pizza molecules from a paper plate.
Judges will evaluate the teams on their ability to program robots to achieve tasks relevant to nanotechnology, a scientific frontier focused on achieving advances in medicine and computers through research into particles 100,000 times smaller than the thickness of a single strand of hair.
The match finals, which begin at 3:30 p.m., will determine a winner.
The tournament is free and open to the public. Registration/check-in for participating teams opens at 8 a.m.
For details about FIRST LEGO League, see: www.usfirst.org/4vol/FLLresourcectr/index.html
Posted by mlurie at January 18, 2007 11:32 AM