MSU Building Robotic Knowledge with Lego

Lego League is one of the many Michigan State University programs being used to generate interest in robotics for school children. Children from fourth and fifth grades of various schools spend months designing and creating Lego robots which then participate in a grand interschool competition.

The Spartan First Lego League Challenge is now in its fifth year and as popular as ever. The participants of the competition are children in the 9 to 14 age group. The pre programmed robots are given a time limit of two and half minutes to accomplish a series of tasks.

These tasks include things as simple as opening a door, and as complex as placing a bone in a cast, besides something like kicking a ball into a goal. These children literally spend months getting their robots ready.

Teacher have found a great change in the children who are part of the robotics team competitions. They work harder in their classes, get better grades and even improve their social behaviour as a result of being part of the team. Not to mention opening up great possibilities for future careers as engineers.