NREC Hosts Fifth Annual FIRST LEGO League Competition

Children will demonstrate their robots to help people with physical disabilities

Seventy teams of children, aged 9 to 14, will display the robots they've built and programmed to help people overcome physical disabilities in the FIRST LEGO League's (FLL) NO LIMITS Challenge this Saturday, Dec., 4, at Carnegie Mellon's National Robotics Engineering Consortium at 10-40th Street in Lawrenceville.

The robots, created by the more than 1,000 participants over the past eight weeks, are able to complete several tasks, such as serving a meal, picking up a CD off the floor, or reading signs. Through hands-on experience and working in teams, the students have learned how science and technology can help people with varying levels of physical abilities.

A panel of judges will review the robots and the winning teams will get the opportunity to participate in the FLL Invitational at Atlanta's Georgia Dome.

The challenge, which will also include timed exercises in robotics, will begin at 9 a.m. The awards ceremony will begin at 3:30 p.m.

Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology and engineering.

With the support of many of the world's most well-known companies, the non-profit organization hosts the FIRST Robotics Competition for high school students and the FIRST LEGO League for children 9-14 years old.

To learn more about FIRST, go to http://www.usfirst.org