I was a coach the last two years for this and I found the FIRST program to not be productive or enjoyable for the children or the adults. We all joined for the robotics but 75% of your score is not about robotics, fully 50% is about displays and presentations. On top of that, as others have alluded to, the missions rewarded brute force attempts at perfect replays as opposed to problems solving and didn't get into some of the more interesting sensors available. Add to that the upcoming year is focused on inclusion by relying on vibe coding so which is the opposite direction they should be going.
I hope Lego can find a partner more focused on the robotics and not the pageantry and performance.
Anyone have thoughts or insights about why Lego is ending the partnership with FIRST? Thirty years is a long enough track record that it doesn't seem like an overnight decision...
The Lego Mindstorm robotics kit that powered the whole thing was discontinued in 2022. Since they're no longer making the robotics kits they have nothing to donate to the competition (or run the competition on).
This is so sad to read. Been a judge in this competition for many years, and it's such a wholesome celebration of excitement about technology. I really don't understand why this needed to go.
Personally, the Lego stuff was unreliable and a lot of time was spent by kids in making sure the robot worked across different conditions and there was a lot of pressure on them on ideal placement etc. Again, great things to learn for kids but very frustrating as this is the first foray for elementary kids into programming/robotics.
FTC in comparison has been way more fulfilling for my children and I am hoping the next version of FLL is a lighter version of something similar.
It feels like LEGO for a while have been dumbing-down their education products.
I saw it with computer science education as a whole during my schooling. Instead of focusing on fundamentals there was more and more layers of abstraction added, lying to you about what you were actually learning.
There is also another competitive event that will be affected by this: RoboCup Junior.
This competition was my first experience with programming, but from what I can see RoboCup Junior is still thriving - just with different products controlling the robots now.
LEGO is releasing a new robot kit, Computer Science and AI, later this year. It isn't able to run autonomously so it is essentially incompatible with the way FIRST LEGO League has worked for the last 28 years.
Earlier this year, FIRST and LEGO announced that FIRST LEGO League would split into two editions--Founders Edition and Future Edition. Both editions would run concurrently for the next two seasons. Founders Edition would continue the current autonomous format and teams could use any of the previous robot kits (RCX, NXT, EV3, SPIKE). Future Edition would be a new remote control format using the new robot kit. After the two transition seasons, Founders Edition would be discontinued and Future Edition would become the one and only format and ending the use of all previous robot kits.
Now that LEGO has announced they are ending their relationship with FIRST after next season, a lot of that is up in the air. Next season will proceed as previously announced, with both Founders Edition and Future Edition. After that, both FIRST and LEGO are each continuing on with their own, separate K-8 robotics programs.
Future Edition requires teams have two of the $530 Computer Science and AI kits. One for their robot and one for the interactive mission models. That's a huge investment for a lot of teams.
LEGO has said they will support SPIKE through the next three seasons but they have not said how that will work or if older robot kits (RCX, NTX, EV3) will also be supported.
FIRST has not announced anything about how their program will work after next season.
[+] [-] hellisothers|6 days ago|reply
I hope Lego can find a partner more focused on the robotics and not the pageantry and performance.
[+] [-] theyCallMeSwift|7 days ago|reply
[+] [-] tedivm|7 days ago|reply
[+] [-] bartvbl|7 days ago|reply
[+] [-] benwen|7 days ago|reply
[+] [-] syntaxing|7 days ago|reply
[+] [-] ocdtrekkie|7 days ago|reply
[+] [-] awa|6 days ago|reply
FTC in comparison has been way more fulfilling for my children and I am hoping the next version of FLL is a lighter version of something similar.
[+] [-] liamkinne|7 days ago|reply
I saw it with computer science education as a whole during my schooling. Instead of focusing on fundamentals there was more and more layers of abstraction added, lying to you about what you were actually learning.
There is also another competitive event that will be affected by this: RoboCup Junior.
[+] [-] FinnKuhn|7 days ago|reply
[+] [-] watwut|7 days ago|reply
[+] [-] syntaxing|7 days ago|reply
[+] [-] sitagosan|11 days ago|reply
[+] [-] teovall|7 days ago|reply
Earlier this year, FIRST and LEGO announced that FIRST LEGO League would split into two editions--Founders Edition and Future Edition. Both editions would run concurrently for the next two seasons. Founders Edition would continue the current autonomous format and teams could use any of the previous robot kits (RCX, NXT, EV3, SPIKE). Future Edition would be a new remote control format using the new robot kit. After the two transition seasons, Founders Edition would be discontinued and Future Edition would become the one and only format and ending the use of all previous robot kits.
Now that LEGO has announced they are ending their relationship with FIRST after next season, a lot of that is up in the air. Next season will proceed as previously announced, with both Founders Edition and Future Edition. After that, both FIRST and LEGO are each continuing on with their own, separate K-8 robotics programs.
Future Edition requires teams have two of the $530 Computer Science and AI kits. One for their robot and one for the interactive mission models. That's a huge investment for a lot of teams.
LEGO has said they will support SPIKE through the next three seasons but they have not said how that will work or if older robot kits (RCX, NTX, EV3) will also be supported.
FIRST has not announced anything about how their program will work after next season.
[+] [-] fn-mote|7 days ago|reply
Schools may have Lego kits, but there’s not a lot of stuff that would be carried over from season to season.(1)
I think the roughest part of the transition will be the software, but that has always been a relatively small part of the whole FLL “game”.
(1) Massive exception for schools that are all-in on a Lego+FLL program, but I think that is a tiny minority.