For the first time this year, Hungary hosts the local rounds of the FIRST LEGO League competition, a joint initiative by FIRST, one of the world’s largest robotics communities, and leading global building toy manufacturer LEGO. The more than 90 teams registered for the competition participate in five regional qualifiers. The two winners of the national finals in Budapest will qualify for the global finals in Greece.
The teams need to design and build a robot capable of solving complex problems and overcoming various challenges. Everybody uses the same components, sensors and engines, but competitors can be creative about the looks and task-specific modules of their robots. The teams spent weeks finetuning their robots to make it proceed through the track as efficiently and as smoothly as possible.
The regional finals held in Tatabánya was won by the RoboGo 5vos team of Eötvös József Secondary School in Tata, the runner up was the ROBOKTAT team from Budaörs, while the third place went to the FRT team of Budapesti Fazekas Mihály Primary and Secondary School. The regional finals held in Zalaegerszeg was won by the EPYCTM team of II. Rákóczi Ferenc Primary School of Nagykőrös, the runner up was the KarDroidok team of Karolina School from Szeged, while the third place went to the BLMind team of Miskolci SZC Bláthy Ottó Secondary School.
“I’m always impressed by the creative solutions invented by the students and the joy they find in developing practical solutions to abstract tasks. The Hipersuli students of Nagykőrös winning the finals in Zalaegerszeg, for example, have rebuilt their robot three times from scratch and the fifth version became the final design. It was great to see how proud they were to complete the project together as a team while using basic physics and maths skills without knowing it. Collaboration, programming, planning and project-based thinking were all essential skills throughout the process to achieve such an outstanding result. This is what the HiperSuli program and the FIRST LEGO League competition have in common: they prove that you can learn and teach science subjects in a joyful and entertaining manner”, said Balázs Koren maths teacher, digital education expert and head of Telenor’s HiperSuli program.
The other regional finals will take place on upcoming weekends: from the finals in Budapest and Debrecen 3 teams each will get to the national finals on 28 and 29 May, while from the finals in Győr 2 teams will be selected for the national finals.
The main sponsor of the Hungarian rounds of the robot-building and problem-solving competition is Telenor Hungary, while its professional partner is Telenor’s HiperSuli digital education programme. Six teams of four schools participating in the HiperSuli program are enrolled in the competition including the winner in Zalaegerszeg, the EPYCTM team of Nagykőrösi II. Rákóczi Ferenc Primary School.
A summary compiled from the students’ videos is available at the YouTube channel of the HiperSuli program. For the detailed agenda of the competition please visit firstlegoleague.hu.
Short video spots about the competition:
• “Even robots deserve a hug sometimes” (Néha a robotoknak is jár egy ölelés) :) – Vernie, the cousin of the robots entering the competition had a walk in the city for some friendly hugs. This is how the man on the street responded to his request: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0nr1k02Vmw
• “Robotics in education” (Mit keres a robotika az oktatásban?) – A video about students preparing for the competition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbUVtNuRJjQ
About FIRST
FIRST® is a robotics community that prepares young people for the challenges of the coming decades through a suite of team-based robotics programs for ages 4-18 that can be facilitated in school or in structured afterschool programs. Being a leading global international non-profit educational organisation focused on science, engineering, technology and maths, FIRST runs programs combining experience-based education with team sports. Every year, there are more than 450,000 children joining First LEGO League competitions organized by FIRST and LEGO® in 110 countries worldwide. Learn more about the Hungarian competition at https://www.firstlegoleague.hu/