The regular Lego® Robotics season is complete, but the teams that have earned spots to advance will be competing in January, according to Katie Meyer, coach of “The Shredders”, the Sherburne County 4-H Lego Robotics team. 

 

 The FLL (FIRST® Lego League) is about much more than just building a robot, Meyer said. It is also about building confidence so the kids can communicate with event judges to explain why they built and programmed their robot the way they did. It is also about the 4-H Core Values (Responsive to youth and families, inclusive and diverse, innovative and adaptable, accountable for actions and resources, collaborative and team focused, honest fair and equitable, respectful of health and well being of people and animals and evaluated and adjusted regularly), and trying to incorporate them in both the robotics program and in every-day life. Meyer said that the team has come up with some “amazing solutions” to this year's challenge, which was titled: “Trash Trek”.

 

 The Shredders are affiliated with Sherburne County 4-H, but members are not required to be in 4-H.  The team had success at a tournament in Duluth on Sat., Dec. 12, Meyer said, where the three competitors did an excellent job of talking with judges and operating the robot while showing a high degree of "gracious professionalism." 

 

Besides operating the Lego robots, teams compete in research projects and core values/team building tasks. The Shredders won the “Innovative Design” Award, as well as earning the top spot in the “Head to Head” competition. 

 

Other teams in the Sherburne County area include the “FLL Minions”, the “JP2 Rockslides” and the “JP2 Programmers”. The Minions did well at the regional tournament in December, Meyer said, winning the Project Award as well as placing high in all other categories. They will also be advancing to the Sectional tournament in January. The JP2 Rockslides won the Research Project at their tournament and are advancing to Sectionals as well. The JP2 Programmers made a strong showing at their regional tournament as well as winning the judges award for an overall strong performance in all categories. 

 

Central Minnesota currently has more FLL teams than anywhere else in the nation, Meyer said.