Event Description

FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge is a global STEM programme which aims to encourage an interest in real world themes and develop key skills in teams of young people that are crucial for their future careers. Partcipiants work together to explore a given topic and to design, build and program an autonomous LEGO® robot to solve a series of missions.

FIRST® LEGO® League is for students aged 9 – 16. At W5 the tournament targets Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 pupils. The competition is launched at the beginning of September and once registered, teams can begin preparing for the Tournament Day which this year takes place at W5 on 6th February 2024. The top teams from W5’s tournaments will go on to compete at the All-Ireland Finals in Dublin with further opportunity to reach an International Open.

Each year there is a focus on a different real-world topic related to the sciences. In teams of up to 10, students work together to research a topic area, complete a project and prepare a short presentation. The teams also design and program a LEGO robot to complete a series of related specific tasks. Points are given for each task the robot completes in a set time.

Schools from across Northern Ireland are invited to compete with up to 24 teams taking part each year in W5.

W5 hosts the competition with help from the Institution of Engineering and Technology and you can find out more from the IET’s FLL website.