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About FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge

FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge is a global STEM programme for teams of young people, to encourage an interest in real world themes and develop key skills that are crucial for their future careers.

Young people 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 Challenge in the UK and Ireland

FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge can be delivered in two ways:

Regionals

Teams work towards competing at a regional event with the opportunity to qualify for national or international finals.

Go to Find a tournament near you!

Class Pack Tournament

Teachers deliver a class pack tournament within the curriculum or as a large group, working towards an in-house event.

Go to Challenge class pack

At events, teams will be assessed on each of the four parts of FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge:

Robot Game

Teams build a robot using a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® or SPIKE™ Prime kit that they program to autonomously complete a series of missions on a specialised field to score as many points as possible.

Go to Robot game

Innovation Project

Teams must research the annual theme as detailed in the Challenge Document. After exploring different ideas, they will identify one problem related to the theme, design a solution to solve it, and develop a presentation to communicate that solution.

Go to Innovation Project

Core Values

Whilst competing, the teams need to demonstrate the FIRST® LEGO® League Core Values which include innovation, teamwork, and inclusion. Being respectful and having a great time are central to what makes FIRST® LEGO® League so special.

Go to Core Values

Robot Design

Teams must explain the process of designing, building, and programming their LEGO® robot they are using with the Robot Game.

Go to Robot design

How we make a difference

Together with our education partners, we’re engaging children in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) subjects, encouraging them to pursue these at school and beyond. We’re showing children how these subjects can be fun, creative and have practical applications which help solve real world problems.

Crest Award

The British Science Association runs the CREST Award scheme. It is a nationally recognised accreditation scheme for STEM project work with 40,000 young people in the UK gaining awards each year. Team members can complete Bronze CREST Award whilst competing in the FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge.

Go to https://www.crestawards.org/

Industrial Cadets Accredited

The Engineering Development Trust (EDT) run the Industrial Cadets Awards. The Industrial Cadets experience includes a structured set of activities that develop employability skills in young people. All team members competing at a regional FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge tournament will automatically receive an EDT Industrial Cadets Silver Award.

Go to https://www.etrust.org.uk/industrial-cadets

FIRST® Tech Challenge in the UK and Ireland

Take part in the next step after FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge with FIRST® Tech Challenge.

Go to https://www.firstuk.org/

Frequently asked questions

If you’re new to FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge, you probably have a lot of questions about how the division works.

Go to Frequently asked questions