Kids from all over the state flooded Iowa State’s campus during the weekend to compete in the Iowa Championships of the First Lego League.

The competition, which takes place annually, was hosted Saturday and Sunday by Iowa State Engineering Kids, a program from Iowa State’s College of Engineering that works to promote science, technology and engineering to K-12 students, according to its website.

More than a hundred teams, most in matching costumes, competed in the championships, each designing and programming their own Lego robots to complete simple tasks autonomously.

“We have kids on the floor competing in these events, which are based off of maps with Lego towers and obstacles,” said Seth Bolen, a freshman in mechanical engineering who volunteered at the event.

The robots had to complete as many tasks as they could on their own in under two and a half minutes in the lower level of Howe Hall.

Bolen was one of many Iowa State students who volunteered as referees, guides or other positions that helped the event run smoothly.

“There’s people like me in these shirts with the teams who’ve been traveling with them all day,” Bolen said.

Students who volunteered took their roles very seriously, with most adopting costumes that matched that of the team they were tasked with guiding through the competition.

In addition to the main competition, teams that won the Global Innovation Awards at their respective regional First Lego League competitions also gave research presentations related to this year’s challenge theme, “animal allies.”

Their presentations, which took place in the Biorenewables Complex Atrium in Sukup Hall, were geared toward helping their “furry, feathered and finned friends” and included topics like a solar-powered beehive, calf pacifiers and a guinea pig radio.

When teams weren’t racing against the clock with their robots or giving presentations, they were all around campus enjoying the many outreach and education activities available over the weekend.

Various clubs and Iowa State’s own professors gave presentations and workshops, displayed experiments and hosted mini-contests to promote science and technology to the kids in attendance.

Kids also had a chance to free-build whatever they wanted at a Lego station in Sukup Hall.

Beyond all of the fun activities they participated in over the weekend, the main goal of those involved was to promote teamwork and generate excitement for science and technology among the future of these fields.

“We have a growing need for people who are educated and interested in science and technology in the world today,” Brandon Newendorp, Iowa State alumnus, said. “And the younger you can get kids involved in seeing what engineering and science are all about the better.”

Newendorp, who graduated in 2007 in computer engineering, emceed the robot competitions all weekend, in his science wizard costume, which the kids all signed.

“The thing that really stands out to me is when the teams support each other,” he said. “Teams always have good moments and bad moments, but when I see teams taking time to learn from each other, cheer them on, see what their robot is doing, that really is special.”

Michael Mona, coach of the Golden PlatyPI from Urbandale, shared that sentiment.

“I just think it’s great to get the kids all together; they all have the same kind of interests, they cheer each other on and they share their ideas,” he said. “And I think that’s probably the most important thing.”

This was the fifth year that the PlatyPI competed together at the Iowa Championships.

The winners of the Champion’s Award, First Lego League’s most prestigious award, are eligible to participate in a variety of post-season tournament opportunities both domestic and abroad, funded by the Lego company.