FIRST Lego League

City Scraper (2019-2020)

In 'City Scraper', students will build and program a robot to complete multiple tasks which may arise during the design, construction, and utilization of a city landscape. This includes buildings, bridges, roads, and other municipal infrastructure.

Additionally, students will identify and research a physical or social problem faced during the process of designing and building the city landscape, and how various difficulties are overcome. This will lead to a proposed solution to be designed and presented by the students.

Further information please see this year's Kick-Off video at the following link: https://youtu.be/y_mTQZQ8Kzc. Please also contact the BISD LEGO League Team for additional information at legoleague@bisdmail.net.

Into Orbit (2018-2019)

Last year, "Into Orbit", students built and programmed a robot to complete multiple tasks which might arise in space exploration. This included assembling a space station, producing food, setting satellite orbits, handling meteoroid threats, releasing a lander module, and traversing craters, among many other tasks (15 in total).

Additionally, students identified and researched a physical or social problem faced by humans during long term space exploration, leading to a proposed solution to be designed and presented by the students.

Resource Library

FIRST Robotics maintains a resource library. Here, you will find Team Management Resources, Challenge rubrics and other documents, volunteer information, officiating information, and much more:

Click Here to be taken to the resource library on the FIRST Inspires website

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: When are the regional qualifiers for the 2018-2019 season?

A: There are currently 14 regional qualifiers scheduled as set forth below. Please note that there are no 2nd Round Regional Qualifiers this year.

November 16, 2019

Adamson High School, Dallas ISD

Hillsboro Junior High, Hillsboro ISD

Parish Episcopal School, Dallas

Williams High School, Plano ISD

November 23, 2019

Kaufman ISD (no word on host campus yet)

Conrad High School, Dallas ISD

November 30, 2019

UTD FIRST Alumni, University of Texas, Dallas

December 7, 2019

Nolan Catholic High School, Ft. Worth

Cleburne ISD (no word on host campus yet)

Adamson High School, Dallas ISD

Allen STEAM Center, Allen ISD

December 14, 2019

Mesquite ISD @ Eastfield College

UME Preparatory Academy (either Dallas or Duncanville campus)

Williams High School, Plano ISD

Q: Are there any costs to participate?

A: BISD pays for the cost for team registration, for equipment to participate, and for each team to participate in the Regional Qualifier, the Tournament Championship, and the World Championship. Teams typically chose to have custom t-shirts, banners, and flair made, and the team is responsible for these costs.

Q: How much programming knowledge is required?

A: No prior programming knowledge is required to participate in FLL! The Lego EV3 Integrated Development Environment is graphically based, so programming is as easy as a drag and drop of pictures. For a brief introduction to the software, please see this video by LEGO Discovery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81hctQt6Cp8

Q: Where do I download the software to program the Mindstorms EV3 brick?

A: The EV3 software is available on the LEGO Education website here: https://education.lego.com/en-us/downloads/mindstorms-ev3/software. When prompted, it is advisable to select Teacher Edition rather than Student Edition. Please download the Teacher Edition as it provides extra tips to help students learn the software.

Q: How long is each Robot Game?

A: Each match between the two FLL teams is 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

Q: What are the other competitions?

A: Teams will compete in 3 other categories at the Regional Qualifier: Core Values, the Innovation Project (described above), and the Robot Design.

Q: How can I be aware of any changes or notices regarding the challenge?

A1: FLL Challenge Updates are posted to the FLL program website on the Challenge Resources page (please see second link): https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/fll/into-orbit-challenge-updates-and-resources. They are also found halfway down the Global FLL Challenge page within the resource table (the update link is highlighted in red): http://www.firstlegoleague.org/challenge.

A2: Many FLL announcements are also posted to the North Texas FLL Google Group and the Roboplex. Additionally, checking these webpages and subscribing to the group will allow you to receive emails when other coaches have questions, and also allow you to ask questions to other coaches. However, you should not rely on any 3rd party methods for notification of official FLL Challenge Updates, always check the FLL website for these notifications.

Q: Who is required to pass a background check through the FIRST Robotics Youth Protection Policy?

A: Every adult member of every team is required to pass the YPP background check - including Mentors, Coach/Mentors, and Parent Guardian Volunteers. Even if you have already passed another background check through a school district or federal entity, you are still required to submit the YPP background check and Consent & Release forms. The background check is free, and completing both forms takes less than 2 minutes to complete.

Q: How do I apply for the YPP Background Check and become a documented member of a team?

A: The Team Administrators (the staff of Academic Innovation) will input team coaches and mentors into the FIRST Dashboard. Team coaches and mentors must then SIGN UP on the FIRST Robotics website using their email. Once an account has been created, your user dashboard will have an invitation to complete the YPP Background check and accept the invitation to become a team member and receive access to the team’s Dashboard.