FIRST Robotics Competitions

Over 250 youth came to campus on Nov. 17 and 18 to compete in the qualifying tournaments for the 2012-13 FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC) and FIRST® LEGO League (FLL). Twelve high school-aged teams from Illinois, Indiana and Missouri faced off in the second annual FTC tournament, with the 18-by-18-inch robot created by the Mecha-Hamsters from Martinsville, Ind., taking the tournament’s top prize. The inaugural FLL tournament brought 14 teams of 8-14 year olds to campus to compete with their LEGO Mindstorms robots. Three local teams advanced to the state championships in January - DA EX BOTS from O’Fallon, Ill.; Albers Elementary from Germantown, Ill.; and VX3 from Lebanon, Ill.