LEGO In Schools
of the ring, ranging in size from LEGO Bricks to soda cans
as quickly as possible. While the length of a round is two
minutes, the goal of the competition is to knock all objects
outside of the ring in the shortest amount of time.
LEGO Drag Racing
The object of this event is simple: create a robot that
will race down the course at a high speed and outpace
your competitors. While there are certain programming
requirements (robots must wait five seconds after the
“RUN” button is pressed before moving down the course),
this competition is primarily an engineering challenge. It
offers an excellent opportunity to learn about gear ratios
and weight efficiency. The fastest (and often the lightest)
robot will win the race.
LEGO Shot Put
LEGO Shot Put is an event that will challenge
competitors in both engineering and programming ability.
The competing robot must navigate itself along a four foot
black line towards the shot put ring, and entirely into the
ring. At that point, the robot must pause for several
seconds to allow judges to inspect the robot’s positioning
and ensure that no part of the robot extends beyond the
edge of the ring. Finally, the robot turns 90 degrees to face
46 SERVO 05.2009
the landing zone and launches a ping pong ball as far as
possible. One point is awarded for every centimeter the
ball flies before hitting the ground for the first time.
Additionally, two points are taken away if the robot does
not pause for an adequate amount of time (approx. five
seconds) for the judges to inspect its positioning prior to
launching the ball. The LEGO Shot Put event is an excellent
event for all skill levels as it’s often the most creative design
that wins, not the most complex.
LEGO Magellan
Teams must design a robot to navigate a five foot by
five foot grid from one corner to the other. Along the way,
the robot must enter and exit a green box in the center of
the course from the one “open” side (three of the four
sides of the green box have black tape along them; the
one that doesn’t is considered the “open” side). The goal
is to complete the course in the shortest amount of time.
An additional time bonus is awarded to competitors who
trigger the release mechanism inside the green box,
releasing a balloon.
LEGO Woots & Snarks
Not a competition for the faint of heart, LEGO Woots
& Snarks is one of the most challenging competitions
currently planned for LERN. At the beginning of each
match, a team is assigned either “Woots” (black cans) or
“Snarks” (white cans). The object is to program your robot
to push your assigned cans out of the ring and to keep your
opponents cans in the ring. The winning robots are often
the ones who are able to capture opponents cans and carry
them along with them, while pushing out their own color.
LEGO Freeform
This is another one of those competitions that offers
a perfect opportunity for beginners to compete with
seasoned veterans. The object of LEGO Freeform is simple:
Create a robot or robots to complete a series of actions
based on a theme announced prior to the competition.
Examples of actions are spinning around, throwing an
object, moving an object, etc. The goal of this event is to
foster the creativity and imagination that LEGO is known
for and LEGO Freeform is a perfect place for it.
FLL (First LEGO League)
If between LERN and RoboGames, you still aren’t
getting enough LEGO robotics action, FIRST LEGO League is
another incredible opportunity to hone in on your skills, and
it happens every fall. FIRST LEGO League (or FLL) is a yearly
international competition for ages 9-14. Every September, a
• For more information on RoboGames:
http://robogames.net
• For more information on LERN:
http://legoedwest.com
• For more information on FLL:
http://firstlegoleague.org/
Resources