FIRST® LEGO® League South Africa - Challenge

The very first start

The event was crated in 1998 as part of an between FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and LEGO®. FIRST Robotics SA NPO, in collaboration with its network of regional partners, manages the Southern Africa FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge program, events and competitions.

Robot Game and Robot Design

In the Robot Game, teams build and program fully autonomous robots made exclusively from LEGO material. The robots must carry out missions on a special competition field (which is the same all over the world and changes every season), scoring the highest number of points in matches lasting *two and a half minutes *. The scores are assigned by the referees, while the design, construction and programming choices of the robots are evaluated by the judges.

Innovative Projects

Judges also evaluate the teams' Innovative Projects, which must research and design an innovative solution to a real-world problem that is relevant to the theme of the annual challenge.

The Core Values

Everyone who takes part in the FIRST LEGO League is expected to respect and implement the FIRST® Core Values:

• Discovery, new skills and ideas are explored;
• Innovation, creativity and perseverance are brought into play in solving problems;
• Impact, we use what we have learned to improve the world;
• Inclusion, we respect each other and accept differences in views;
• Teamwork, you are stronger if you work together;
• Fun, having fun and celebrating your achievements. These values derive directly from the philosophy of FIRST®, which is to express Gracious Professionalism® (the idea of competing with great passion, but at the same time treating each other with respect and kindness) and *Coopertition® * (the fusion of the words "competition" and "cooperation", to indicate the mutually supportive attitude of the teams that compete).