FLL Challenge Team Info
Jump To The Topics
We are very fortunate in the FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge and FIRST® LEGO® League Explore communities to have so much material available on the Internet. This page is broken up into various topics. We started by watching a few of them and putting them here. Just like FLL Challenge and FLL Explore, these are from all over the world. We also created a Google Form to allow you to comment on these in case we need to remove some or add ones that you found particularly helpful.
The beauty of this is you can start now and learn at your own pace. Team mentors can encourage students to look for videos or websites and take notes at home when not at team meetings. Please let us know if this is helpful. ([email protected])
Disclaimer: The presentation of these links or websites does not mean that FIRST Mid-Atlantic agrees with anything that is being presented here. If you find anything offensive that we should remove please let us know immediately and we will remove the link.
Topics
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| Coach's Required Reading | FIRST has a lot of materials available for these competitions. The items here are of particular importance so they are, in our opinion, required reading by all coaches. Please get a cup of coffee, sit in a quiet room and take the time to go through all of these to be sure you are ready for this season. |
| Teams Required Documentation | FIRST and FIRST Mid-Atlantic requires all youth team members (coaches, helpers and students) to to provide several documents each season. |
| Submerged Resources | FIRST is working with OceanX to provide resource for teams |
| Storing Your Challenge Table Pieces | This section discusses how you can use your FLL Challenge Field Box to store all your table pieces. They are secure and travel easily. |
| Coach Training | The season's updated version will be released about mid september to allow all the school teams to join. |
| LEGO Mechanical Mechanisms | Videos that will help your team dream up and build mechanical wonder bots!!! Great for helping to find that mechanical solution to take your robot to the next level. Have fun!!!! |
| FLL Project | This section is dedicated to discussions of the FLL Challenge Project. |
| MAR FLL Challenge Tools | This is topics related to the Mid Atlantic Robotics (MAR) Tool repository we are creating to help teams get a jump on the season. |
| MAR FLL Challenge Tools Spike Prime 3.0 2023 | MAR FLL Challenge Spike Prime 3.0 2023 Tools Update |
| MAR FLL Challenge Tools Spike Prime 2024 | MAR FLL Challenge Spike Prime 2024 Tools Update. See older Tool for demos of how the tools work driving. |
| Passive Attachments From BrickWise | Welcome to BrickWise! This channel is dedicated to sharing everything I have learned from my experience in FLL. |
| Spike Prime | Spike Prime was introduced to FIRST Lego League in 2020. While the EV3 is still useful for a long time, it will no longer be updated. |
Topic: Coach's Required Reading[back to Topics]
| Title Link | Description | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| FIRST has a lot of materials available for these competitions. The items here are of particular importance so they are, in our opinion, required reading by all coaches. Please get a cup of coffee, sit in a quiet room and take the time to go through all of these to be sure you are ready for this season. | ||
| Welcome Letter | A message from FIRST about the new season. Share with parents and students so they get a good glimpse of what this is all about. | Updated August 6, 2024 |
| Start a team | See your students grow up and shine though FIRST LEGO League. | |
| FIRST Participation Rules | These are the rules FIRST has set out for any team competing in a FLL Challenge Regional Qualifying Tournament or Championship. | Updated August 12, 2024 |
| FIRST Youth Protection webpage | Please contact us with any questions about Youth Protection guidelines, resources, screening or to report a concern. Youth participants are encouraged to reach out to Youth Protection for support and assistance if they have any concerns about their own safety and/or treatment or that of other participants in FIRST programs. | Updated August 3, 2023 |
| FIRST Youth Protection guide | Safeguarding youth is everyone s responsibility, so if you See something, Say something!" Anyone who observes something inappropriate or experiences something that makes them uncomfortable should report the behavior to a trusted adult; whether that is a mentor, coach, event volunteer, or FIRST Youth Protection. | Updated August 3, 2023 |
FMA-FLL PA-Act 153 Compliance | This applies to Adult Coaches, working with students, and Adult Volunteers at Pennsylvania Events. PA requires additional clearances. This document will guide you though the process. | Updated Sept 13, 2024 |
| FMA-FLL Event Participation And Registration Process (ver: v1.1) | This document describes team participation and registration for the FMA-FLL Official events including Explore Festivals, Challenge Regional Qualifying Topurnaments (RQTs) and the Challenge Championchips. | Updated Aug. 13, 2024 |
| FMA-FLL Event Official Registration Google Form For PA-East and NJ-North Events | Read the Participation and Registration Document (above) to know how the registration will work. This is still under setup for this season but you can try it out now if you like. It may blow up but so what we fix it. Send any suggestions to [email protected] | Updated Aug. 13, 2024 |
| FIRST Coach Check List | As a mentor or coach of a FIRST® team there is a lot to know about how to get started with your team as well as how to prepare yourself to be an effective FIRST volunteer. You don t know what you don t know. Research has proven that checklists can help improve processes and eliminate mistakes. | Updated Aug. 3, 2023 |
| FIRST Season Page | This is the first, one stop shop, for all FLL Documents related to the current season. Scroll down to Season Resources. Then select the FLL Challenge Program. | Updated August 6, 2024 |
| FIRST FLL Game and Season Page | This is the second, one stop shop, for all season and game details. Select what you want on the menu on the left. | Updated August 6, 2024 |
| FIRST FLL Challenge Table Building Instructions | This is how to build a competition table. This table will be 4x8 feet from a single piece of plywood and uses 2x3 walls. You can Google FLL Table Build Instructions to see many alternatives.
Note: While 2x3 and 2x4 walls are both legal, it is best to use 2x3 to be sue you robot will work if it uses the wall as a guide! | Updated August 3, 2023 |
| SubmergedSM Challenge Updates & Clarifications | FIRST pdf updated regularly with all changes in the game. It is a good idea that you make it the job of the students to check this every time you meet. | Updated by FIRST During Season |
| Adding Parents and Students To Your Team Roster (5:27) | This is a quick video that shows you how to add your parents and students to your team's roster. | Link Added Nov 9, 2023 |
| FLL Team Info Sheet | Use this fillable PDF to tell the judges who you are. You are aloowed to hand the judges a single sheet of paper to describe your teams. | Updated Nov 10, 2023 |
| FIRST Event Hub Guide for Coaches | This guide shows the workflow for using the Event Hub. If you do not currently have access to Event Hub, you will receive it the first time you are invited to an event. | Updated Nov 10, 2023 |
| FIRST Consent and Release Form 2024-24 ENGLISH Can be used for 8-year old Challenge Team members. | Please use this only if you cannot register on your team's FIRST roster or your child is 8 years old, on an FLL Challenge Team. | Link Updated Oct. 30, 2024 |
| PRIMER Formulario de Consentimiento y Liberación 2024-25 ESPAÑOL Puede usarse para miembros del equipo Challenge de 8 años. | Utilice esto solo si no puede registrarse en la lista FIRST de su equipo o si su hijo tiene 8 años y está en un equipo de desafío FLL. | Link Updated Oct. 30, 2024 |
Topic: Teams Required Documentation[back to Topics]
| Title Link | Description | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| FIRST and FIRST Mid-Atlantic requires all youth team members (coaches, helpers and students) to to provide several documents each season. | Aug. 2, 2022 | |
| FIRST Youth Registration System | FIRST requires all youth team members (coaches, helpers and students) to register. Youth Team Members who have not registered will not be permitted to participate in FIRST remote and in-person team meetings, events, or competitions. This page includes the new Express Enrollment process for coaches and parents. | Updated Sept. 29, 2023 |
| View Express Enrollment Coach/Mentor Instructions | The new Express Enrollment application is available now for coaches/mentors in the United States and Canada with completed FIRST Youth Protection Screenings and provides a simplified experience on mobile and desktop to register and accept youth to FIRST teams. | Updated Sept. 29, 2023 |
| View Express Enrollment Parent/Guardian Instructions | This site is intended for parents or guardians who wish to register their youth under age 18 to participate inf FIRST programs. | Updated Sept. 29, 2023 |
| Getting Additional Adults (Mentors, Coaches, and Chaperones) through FIRST YPP | This describes how other team parents or adult helpers can get FIRST background checked. This can be helpful in case a coach cannot attend an event. FIRST requires 2 Youth Protection Program cleared adults to be with the team at events. FMA is very concerned about the safety of our students. We further encourage additional parents sign up a mentors but act as Chaperones for the team at events. | Updated Sept. 29, 2023 |
| FIRST Mid-Atlantic Release Forms | This form is no longer needed as all the informaiotn is in the FIRST C&R Form. | Reviewed Sept. 7, 2023 |
| Draft Note to Parents to Register their child (Word Doc) | This is a draft of a note you can send to your parents asking them to register their kids for Robots. Is is in a DOC format so you can edit it as you see fit. Please add your team name and number in the appropriate places. I hope this helps you a little to get some of this done. Thanks for all you help. Frank Larkin FMA-FLL Director | Updated October 2021 |
| FIRST Consent and Release Form 2024-24 ENGLISH Can be used for 8-year old Challenge Team members. | Please use this only if you cannot register on your team's FIRST roster or your child is 8 years old, on an FLL Challenge Team. | Link Updated Oct. 30, 2024 |
| PRIMER Formulario de Consentimiento y Liberación 2024-25 ESPAÑOL Puede usarse para miembros del equipo Challenge de 8 años. | Utilice esto solo si no puede registrarse en la lista FIRST de su equipo o si su hijo tiene 8 años y está en un equipo de desafío FLL. | Link Updated Oct. 30, 2024 |
Topic: Submerged Resources[back to Topics]
| Title Link | Description | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| FIRST is working with OceanX to provide resource for teams | ||
| SUBMERGED Career Connections Videos Playlist | SUBMERGED Career Connections videos are available for teams seeking inspiration for their Innovation Project on the FIRST® LEGO® League YouTube channel. This season, we collaborated with OceanX to highlight careers related to ocean exploration. More videos will be coming soon. | Updated Sept. 5, 2024 |
Topic: Storing Your Challenge Table Pieces[back to Topics]
| Title Link | Description | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| This section discusses how you can use your FLL Challenge Field Box to store all your table pieces. They are secure and travel easily. | Update Sept. 13, 2023 | |
| Preparing the FLL Challenge Field Storage Box | This is optional, just a suggestion!!! This describes how to convert your Challenge Field Kit into a storage box for your seasons parts. | Update Sept. 13, 2023 |
| Saving Submerged game parts to Challenge Field kit Box | Update In progress: This is optional, just a suggestion!!! This describe how to put your Masterpiece parts in your Challenge Field Kit Box for safe transport and storage between meetings. | Updated Aug. 5, 2024 |
Topic: Coach Training[back to Topics]
| Title Link | Description | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| The season's updated version will be released about mid september to allow all the school teams to join. | Updated Aug. 5, 2024 | |
| 1- FMA-FLL New Coach Training | FIRST Mid-Atlantic FLL Challenge New Coach Training Part 1. (PowerPoint slides exported as a PDF.) Gets a new coach oriented where they are and where they need to get to. | Updated Aug. 26, 2024 |
| 1- FMA-FLL New Coach Training Video Recording (1:05:16) | This video follows the FMA-FLL Challenge New Coach Training Part 1 document above. | Updated Sept. 13,2024 |
| 2 - FMA-FLL Overview Robot, Core Value, Project | FIRST Mid-Atlantic FLL Challenge New Coach Training 2 (PowerPoint slides exported as a PDF.) Covers core parts of the challenge including, Innovation Project, Robot Design and, Core Values. | Updated Aug. 26, 2024 |
| 2 - FMA-FLL Overview Robot, Core Value, Project Video Recording (26:59) | This video follows the FMA-FLL Challenge New Coach Training Part 2 (deeper dive) document above. | Updated Sept. 13,2024 |
| Get started NOW while waiting for challenge kit to be delivered. | Haven t received your Challenge Set yet? You can still get started on your Innovation Project by researching architecture and architecture-related problems in your community. | Updated 2019 |
| FLL Tutorials (website) | This website is powered FRC Team Not the Driods You Are Looking For whose members are are MINDSTORMS Community Partners, founders of EV3Lessons, and the 2018 World Festival Champion's award winners. Numerous topics including advanced mechanical base designs. | |
| ROBOT DESIGN JUDGING WITHOUT A ROBOT GAME TABLE | Many regions around the world, including World Festival, are moving towards eliminating the FIRST LEGO League game table in the Robot Design judging room. You should be able to talk to the judges about your engineering design process, and how you came up with your ideas and decisions, without the use of the table. | Updated 2018 |
Topic: LEGO Mechanical Mechanisms[back to Topics]
| Title Link | Description | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| Videos that will help your team dream up and build mechanical wonder bots!!! Great for helping to find that mechanical solution to take your robot to the next level. Have fun!!!! | Added Oct. 2023 | |
| 20 Mechanical Principles combined in a Useless Lego Machine (7:20) | Useless machine that utilizes different mechanical principles. Enjoy! Note: it has an index so you can jump to different parts very easily. | Added Oct. 2023 |
| 5 Useless but Satisfying LEGO Mechanisms (5:00) | Hi, here's a small collection of a few Lego Technic mechanisms that I stumbled over, but don't really have a direct use. Enjoy watching, Note: Has differet ideas from the other 2. | Added Oct. 2023 |
| 40 Satisfying MECHANICAL Principles in LEGO (8:35) | Note: A few too many ads for my taste but still a way to get the idea juices flowing. This is a great video for a new or even veteran coach. It shows you 40 great ways to up your machanical capabilities for your LEGO robot. Wonderful ideas to get you students build impressive robots. | Added Oct. 2023 |
Topic: FLL Project[back to Topics]
| Title Link | Description | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| This section is dedicated to discussions of the FLL Challenge Project. | ||
| FIRST LEGO League Project How-to: What is the Project? (Part 1 of 3) (3:44) | New to FIRST LEGO League? This is the first video in a three-part series to help you understand and tackle the Project component of the annual Challenge. | Published on Sep 2, 2015 |
| FIRST LEGO League Project How-to: How to Have a Successful Project Experience (Part 2 of 3) (5:14) | New to FIRST LEGO League? This is the second video in a three-part series to help you understand and tackle the Project component of the annual Challenge. This video will highlight the three essential components of the Project. | Published on Jun 13, 2016 |
| FIRST LEGO League Project How-to: Present Your Project (Part 3 of 3) (4:08) | New to FIRST LEGO League? This is the third video in a three-part series to help you understand and tackle the Project component of the annual Challenge. This video will discuss preparing your presentation for a FIRST LEGO League tournament. | Published on Mar 12, 2019 |
| FLL Project Ideas and Brainstorming Guide from the Llamas. (7:29) | Thanks so much for watching this video. Stay tuned for our other guides the Project portion of FLL and maybe other things in the future! | Published on Nov 12, 2017 |
| FLL Project Tips! (The Quintessential Quad)
(3:05) | This video has some tips to help your team get past mental blocks and come up with a great project for FLL! | Published on Aug 28, 2018 |
| FLL Expert Interviews - Research Project - Nicole Diebold (6:39) | Note: German speaking presenter with English translation voice over. This video goes over tips and tricks for presenting your FLL project. (They call the judges the jury. Other Youtube videos in this group are in German. ) |
Topic: MAR FLL Challenge Tools[back to Topics]
| Title Link | Description | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| This is topics related to the Mid Atlantic Robotics (MAR) Tool repository we are creating to help teams get a jump on the season. | ||
| Gyro and Line Follow My Blocks Presentation | Presentation of how to use the MAR Line Follow and Gyro tools | |
| Line Follow and Gyro Tools Presentation Video (1:31:06) | This is a video presentation of the Line Follow and Gyro Tools. This has an index within the first 10 seconds so you can jump to where you like in the video. I suggest you view the Setting Up The Environment and then jump to a topic. This was updated on 9/23 with better clearer video. | Updated Sept. 23, 2022 |
| Line Follow and Gyro Tools Github Repo | This link will point you to a github repository of our Line Follow and Gyro tools. There is a Google Slide presentation that describes all the tools. If you have questions about the tolls please join us in the weekly Let's Be Frank call and we can discuss. | Updated Sept. 20, 2022 |
| Help Students Use Line Follow and Gyro Tools | We know not everyone if going to read or watch the presentation. This is a quick start doc using the "clean" version of the toolsas a starting point. | Updated Sept. 29, 2022 |
| Line Follow and Gyro Tools Q&A | Short Google doc that tells you what all the variables are and answers some followup questions we have had. | Updated Oct. 1, 2022 |
| Join Our Mailing List | We correspond to only those in this group. Please enter your contact information here to get on our mail list. | Updated Sept. 20, 2022 |
Topic: MAR FLL Challenge Tools Spike Prime 3.0 2023[back to Topics]
| Title Link | Description | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| MAR FLL Challenge Spike Prime 3.0 2023 Tools Update | ||
| Spike Prime 3.0 Gyro Tools Youtube Playlist | This playlist will introduce the updated MAR FLL Challenge Spike Prime 3.0 2023 Tools. | Updated Sept. 18, 2023 |
| Spike Prime 3.0 Gyro Tools Github Repo | This link will point you to a github repository of our update MAR Challenge Spike Prime 3.0 2023 Gyro Tools. There is a Google Slide introduction that describes the gyro tools. If you have questions about the tools please join us in the weekly Let's Be Frank call and we can discuss. | Updated Sept. 19, 2023 |
Topic: MAR FLL Challenge Tools Spike Prime 2024[back to Topics]
| Title Link | Description | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| MAR FLL Challenge Spike Prime 2024 Tools Update. See older Tool for demos of how the tools work driving. | ||
| MAR Tools Spike 2024 Gyro Drive Github Repo | This link will point you to a github repository of our latest MAR Challenge Spike Prime 2024 Gyro Drive. This is designed to give you team a quick start to navigating the field. You still have to break down the missions and build attachements but this will help you drive around accurately. Improvements: 1) Combined all older variants int a single My Block. 2) Settings in init gyro drive MB allows you to adjust for your robot. Settings account for heaver robots with difficulty turning. 3) Included acceleration when driving over a distance but not used when driving by time. Drives accuracy to Ludacris even at high speeds. 4) Several Test My Blocks to help dial in your robot. 5) Added link to a basic robot you can easily build and start testing. | Updated Sept. 10, 2024 |
| Gyro Drive My Blocks 2024 Presentation | Basic presentation on how to get started with Gyro Drive My Blocks 2024. Check our previous version from 2023 for how gyro navigation works. More updates to come. | Updated Sept. 10, 2024 |
| Gyro Drive My Blocks 2024 Presentation Video Playback | Video Play back of presentation. Cleaned it up a little. More of these to come | Updated Sept. 15, 2024 |
Topic: Passive Attachments From BrickWise[back to Topics]
| Title Link | Description | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome to BrickWise! This channel is dedicated to sharing everything I have learned from my experience in FLL. | ||
| BrickWise Youtube Site | Added Aug 6, 2024 | |
| Super Powered Passive Attachemnts (2:37) | This is a way to learn from past events. | Added Aug 6, 2024 |
| Passive Attachments for FLL (2:06) | A few Passive ideas (BrickWise) | Added Aug 6, 2024 |
| How to build Funnels for FLL (1:53) | Mechanical alignments, such as funnels, can be very useful in FLL for squaring up against a mission model. The advantage to funnels is that you can rely on the fact that the physical structure of a mission will be built the same no matter where you are competing. Therefore, you are consistently aligning against the structure of a mission. | Added Aug 6, 2024 |
| Four Rubber Band attachments (2:53) | Rubber bands can trigger passive attachments, replacing the need for motorized mechanisms. They can provide decent amounts of power, and are reliable at powering contraptions since the lego rubber bands are quite durable. Hopefully, these 4 attachments provide examples as to various methods and applications of rubber bands. | Added Aug 6, 2024 |
| Three Stages of a Delivering Attachment (1:50) | Here are 3 stages/levels of an attachment, each getting progressively more complex, aimed at completing missions that are more challenging. Since these attachments are all passive, they can be really useful in FLL because they can complete complex missions without a motor, saving you an extra port. | Added Aug 6, 2024 |
| Four levels of "Grabber" Attachments for FLL (1:21) | Here are four different levels of grabber attachments from simplest to more complicated. These types of passive attachments can be very useful and effective at picking mission models up in FLL without a motor. | Added Aug 6, 2024 |
| Four Tips to Minimize Time in base During a FLL Match (3:12) | Here are 4 ways to spend less time in base during a FLL match. The more time you have to attempt missions, the higher the potential you team has to score points. Many teams waste too much time in base, and those crucial seconds could have been used to complete missions. | Added Aug 6, 2024 |
Topic: Spike Prime[back to Topics]
| Title Link | Description | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| Spike Prime was introduced to FIRST Lego League in 2020. While the EV3 is still useful for a long time, it will no longer be updated. | ||
| Beginners: LEGO Education SPIKE Prime Overview with James Dwyer (3:25) | This video will give you an overview of the LEGO Education SPIKE Prime Robotics system, it's features and benefits plus a sneak peek of some of the SPIKE Prime models. | |
| Beginners to Advanced: SPIKE Prime Tutorials Playlist from Tufts University Dr. E | LEGO Engineering - Tufts University Engineering outreach (many videos of different skills) This is not FLL specific but covers many topics. | |
| FIRST LEGO League Challenge Programming Wiki- Spike Prime | Important: This is a Wiki about programming for FLL Challenge. Scrool down to the middle of the page for Spike Prime. | Added Sept. 2021 |
| Everyone: LEGO Spike Prime Education Kit | Zachary Trautwein covers Spike Prime. Introduction and Advanced topics. Including how to do 2020-21 Replay missions. | |
| Everyone: Programming + Coding for FLL and Classrooms | Play list concentrating on coding for FLL and classrooms | |
| Advanced: SPIKE Prime "Moving Wall" Robot Design (1:25) | Here is a robot design that incorporates the moving wall concept, in which the outside frame of the robot is able to move in all directions due to vertical and horizontal gear racks. This increased maneuverability allows the robot to complete many FLL missions using small, simple attachments. |