LEGO League Challenge comes to MCC Dec. 11
FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology, brings its biggest-ever annual FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL®) season to Marshalltown with the 2010 “Body Forward™” Challenge on Saturday, Dec. 11, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the Babe Harder Gym on the Marshalltown Community College (MCC) campus, 3700 S. Center St., Marshalltown.
This year’s Challenge calls for teams of 9 to 14 year-old children to research and present their own creative solutions to one of today’s most relevant topics: how engineering mixes with traditional biological and medical sciences to advance healthcare. This weekend, at Marshalltown Community College, eight weeks of research and design will culminate in the FLL Qualifying Tournament where 28 teams of children and coaches will demonstrate their problem-solving skills, creative thinking, teamwork, competitive play, sportsmanship, and sense of community.
Students from Ames, Boone, Grundy Center, Iowa Falls, Jewell, La Porte City, Marshalltown, Maxwell, Nevada, and Ogden will be competing in their colorful and sometimes wild team uniforms. There are also 24 MCC students plus many volunteers who assist to make this day of competition enjoyable for everyone.
With missions including bone repair, rapid blood screening, bionic eyes, nerve mapping, object control through thought, teams will have to program their LEGO MINDSTORMS® robots to explore the growing questions around how to repair injuries, overcome genetic predispositions, and maximize the body’s potential, with the intended purpose of leading happier and healthier lives.
“Body Forward” was developed with the input of Biomedical Engineering experts to provide a practical and realistic challenge project and robot missions. This year’s Challenge Advisory Team included:
Scott Cummings, Prosthetist and Orthotist, Next Step Prosthetics and Orthotics;
Dr. Lisa Freed, Senior Technical Member, Draper Laboratory – Biomedical Engineering Group
Dr. Marie Johnson, Director, University of Minnesota – Center for Medical Devices; and
Dr. Tom Skalak, Chairman and Professor, University of Virginia – Department of Biomedical Engineering.
This weekend’s Marshalltown Championship Tournament is being sponsored by MCC, Rockwell Collins and ISU College of Engineering.