FLL stands for FIRST LEGO® League. FIRST is the provider of the annual FLL Challenge, which consists of two components: the Robot Game and Research Project. LEGO manufactures the hardware necessary to create the Robot and Mission models. MN FLL is supported by INSciTE (Innovations in Science and Technology Education), a non-profit organization with the mission of getting kids engaged in STEM education (science, technology engineering and math).
     
      FIRST LEGO® League is dedicated to providing a values based opportunity for children to work together on a theme based real world problem.  We believe that the creativity, persistence, learned skills,and cooperation needed to complete the FLL challenge will help participants become successful problem solvers today and in the future.
      We believe that each and every FLL participant is a winner when sportsmanship, cooperation, collaboration, and risk-taking are valued as part of the FLL problem solving experience. The full benefits of the program occur ONLY when kids can feel a sense of accomplishment from knowing that their FLL competitive efforts come 100% from their own minds and hands. This feeling of accomplishment and empowerment is what FLL is all about.
      FLL is a competitive, team-based program that works with the LEGO Mindstorms product to build and program robots. Each year, a challenge is announced by the FIRST organization in mid September. Teams earn points as they participate in three phases of competition:

      Robots have 2 minutes and 30 seconds to complete missions on a 4' x 8' playing field. Teams earn points based on the robots performance in each of these missions.
Technical Judging-
      Team members interact with judges to explain robot design and programming approaches. Judges ask questions to determine team member roles and their individual understanding of the technical process.

      A presentation topic is announced by the National FIRST organization. Teams research and prepare a presentation to execute in front of a team of judges. Judges ask a variety of questions to determine their understanding of the research topic. Teams are also judged on their teamwork skills and interactions. Communication, respect, responsibility, and problem solving skills are part of this competition.