January 12, 2009... Approximately 40 teams of middle school students will compete in the FIRST LEGO League Lowcountry State Regional Qualifier tournament to be held at TTC’s Complex for Economic Development on Main Campus (7000 Rivers Ave., North Charleston, Bldg. 920) on Saturday, Jan. 31, sponsored by TTC’s Division of Industrial and Engineering Technology.

Students ages 9 to 14 have been busy designing, constructing and programming robots in keeping with this year’s theme, “Climate Connections.” This theme explores the Earth’s climate and links between science, people, resources and communities.

To prepare, students learn how to use LEGO bricks, sensors, motors and gears to construct and program robots. The robots must be able to carry out certain theme-related missions such asextracting an ice core sample, turning off lights and insulating a house.

“The kids gain hands-on experience with engineering and computer programming principles while having fun,” said Sam Speraw, instructor in the Electrical Automated Technologies program at Trident Technical College and regional event coordinator. “The primary focus of these tournaments is on teamwork, friendly competition and discovering new ideas. Students can even earn points with judges if they are observed helping other teams.”

The public is invited to observe the competition free of charge. Competitions and practice rounds will be ongoing from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., with a break from noon until 1 p.m., and an awards ceremony at 4:15 p.m. All participants and attendees are invited to bring nonperishable food items to donate to a local food bank. Last year’s food drive resulted in over 600 pounds of donated food.

Saturday’s event qualifies teams for the FIRST LEGO League state competition to be held at Clemson University on Feb. 21, 2009, where 80 teams will compete with one team advancing to the world competition, which will be held in Atlanta, GA, in April 2009.

LEGO Qualifier Schedule

9-9:30 a.m - Opening Ceremony
9:30-11:30 a.m - Performance rounds, technical presentations, research project presentations
12-1 p.m. - Lunch break (all activities suspended during break
1-4 p.m - Performance rounds
4:15 p.m - Awards presentation