Went over to RPI to check out the FIRST LEGO League Challenge (FLL). Sixteen middle school teams from around the Capital Region competed in the Ocean Odyssey Challenge. This year the FLL teams take action to ensure the health, diversity, and productivity of the world’s oceans for present and future generations.

Area children, ages 9-14, are among the record 63,000 students around the world who have risen to the 2005 FLL Ocean Odyssey Challenge to help solve mounting problems in the world’s oceans. To successfully complete the challenge, teams of young people must build and program a LEGO Mindstorms robot.

The game is played on a Challenge Field which is an obstacle course on a mat. The obstacles are called Mission Models, and the mat is called the Field Mat. Some of the challenges include Release the Dolphin, Deploy the Submarine, and Find and Recover Archaeological Artifacts.

The global competition is being brought to the region for the first time through a partnership between GE and Rensselaer. The tournament, which is supported by nearly 100 GE Volunteers and Rensselaer students, faculty, and staff, puts eight weeks of research, design, and programming to the test, giving local students the chance to participate at the FLL World Festival at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.