Seven teams of students who participated in the national robotics competition, FIRST LEGO League (FLL) will present their work during the “Ambassadors of Innovation” day to be held Wednesday, June 4th between 9:00 and 13:00 at the U.S. Embassy in Santiago. The FIRST LEGO teams who will be participating in the event include teams from Punta Arenas, Valdivia, Diego de Almagro, Pitrufquén, Concepción and Quilpué.
FIRST LEGO League is the one of the largest robotics competitions of the world. Each year 250,000 young people between the ages of 10 and 16 from 70 different countries participate in competitions in which they must program and build their own robots using LEGO Mindstorms in order to provide a creative solution to a given topic. This year’s theme focused on the development of creative solutions to protect against natural disasters.
In Chile, the FIRST LEGO League is organized by the SparkTalents Foundation and sponsored by INACAP and Bechtel. The organizations host competitions in Calama, La Serena, Valparaíso, Santiago, Concepción, Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas, where around 1,500 kids participate each year. This is the second year that the Embassy of the United States is organizing the workshop “Ambassadors of Innovation,” a joint effort between the U.S. State Department and FIRST LEGO League to highlight the potential kids have in developing innovative solutions to real-life problems.
This year is especially important, because for the first time a team of kids from FIRST LEGO League-Chile was selected for one of the three best projects in the world international category “Global Innovation Award.” The Chilean team will receive their award on Tuesday, June 3rd in the patent office in Washington D.C.
The U.S. ambassador to Chile, Michael Hammer, will open the “Ambassadors of Innovation” program which will also include the participation of prominent figure Benjamin Cohen, director of TOH a company that specializes in the sustainable supply of water to communities that have been affected by natural disaster.
During the event, guest will be able to walk and see the different team’s booths where teams will explain their projects and answer questions. Guests will be able to build a LEGO robot alongside the teams and participate in a mini robotics competition at the end of the event.
