For many of us, Legos were the building blocks of our childhood. When they weren’t stuck in someone’s nose or traded as projectiles in a sibling rivalry, Legos provided hours of mind-building entertainment. However, for participants of the annual FIRST Lego League competition, building a robot is more than an exercise in imagination.

FIRST Lego League is a multi-national competition that tries to create enthusiasm about science and engineering among middle school students. Students form teams of two to 10 members to build, test and present their own self-piloted robot, constructed entirely from Legos. Each year about 60 teams of amateur robot builders converge at Iowa State to showcase their mechanized creations.

Challenging students to consider how science and robotics can be used to creatively solve problems is a major part of the competition. Each year’s competition has a theme FIRST hopes will promote critical thinking. The theme for the 2006 competition is “Ocean Odyssey.”

“The idea is to see how we can use technology to clean up the ocean, protect ocean life and things like that,” said Jake Ingman, graduate student in human computer interaction.

The robots are tested against a battery of nine “missions” in a special arena constructed entirely of Legos. In the arena, robots have two minutes to gain as many points as possible by completing missions. Missions might include turning on an electric windmill or moving a Lego submarine into an area designated as water.

According to Ingman, one of the pleasures of the FIRST competition is seeing the novel solutions students devise for the missions.

“They have a different idea of what is possible,” he said. “They’re really creative and energetic, whereas college engineering presentations are somewhat lackluster.”

Ingman recalled one team in particular whose imagination caught attention. The students outfitted their robot with a Lego missile used to complete a final mission before running out of time.

“By the end of the day people saw it coming. Everybody crowded around to see the Lego missile,” he said.

Robots don’t take all the glory at the FIRST competition. The real emphasis is on their creators. Judges evaluate the students’ creativity and ability to share their knowledge in team interviews. Also, a variety of prizes are awarded for teamwork and creativity in addition to points received in the robot competition. The team judges decide has made the best overall impression wins “The Directors Prize” and the privilege to represent Iowa in the national FIRST contest.

Prizes and competition are important parts of the FIRST competition, but students find common ground in their efforts.

“A lot of sporting events you go and cheer for your team and boo the other. At our competition, there is a lot of camaraderie,” Ingman said.

Robert Alden, coach of the Colo-NESCO team, said some of the most important benefits of participation in the FIRST competition are teamwork and communication skills.

“A lot of the interpersonal things are what they will carry with them to high school and college,” he said.

Creating an autonomous robot is an imposing task for a person of any age. However, Ingman said the students’ familiarity with Legos makes the challenge less daunting.

“There is no instruction booklet for how to snap together Legos. They get to make their toys do the things they always imagined they could,” he said.

Once an idea is designed and built, the real work starts. Even the best idea is only a theory until the robot is actually tested. Claribel Orellana, junior in civil engineering and an ISU mentor for the Anson Middle School team, said experience has taught her not to expect instant results.

“Every day, it’s always do it, try it out, guess and check . It’s about figuring out what went wrong or how to improve it,” she said.

Although the technical challenge is daunting, Alden believes it is important for the students to find their own solutions.

“I try to be as hands-off as possible,” he said. “If there is something they don’t know how to do with the programming that I do, I will show them.”

The learning experience is not limited to students. Orellana said mentoring has shown her to not underestimate her team members.

“They know more about it than I do at this point,” she said.

Watching students play with Legos is a great way to revisit childhood. However, contest volunteers often experience at least one juvenile emotion: envy.

“I think there is a lot of jealousy,” Ingman said.