Volunteers are needed for an upcoming robotics competition in Henderson (west of York) on Saturday, Feb. 4 and for the State Championship in Columbus on Feb. 18.
Henderson FIRST LEGO League Challenge Qualifier
Date: Saturday, February 4, 2023 at Heartland Community Schools in Henderson, Nebraska
Nebraska Championship
Date: Saturday, Feb. 18 at Central Community College in Columbus, Nebraska
Roles Needed: Judges, Referees, Pit Runners, Judging Assistants, Field Reset, Robot Game Querers
How to Sign Up:
• All volunteers will need to register on https://www.firstinspires.org/.
• Volunteers will want to choose “Login” in the upper right corner and create a profile. Once a profile is created, it will lead to a Dashboard.
• Choose “Volunteer Registration”
• Check Event Volunteering
• Select FIRST LEGO League-Challenge
• Choose Nebraska and the USA
• Find the location you are hoping to volunteer for and click “Volunteer”
• Continue following the prompts until you reach the end. Note: Each volunteer will need to complete the youth screening process in order to be assigned a role
• Please note that you are a UNL Student in the CSMCE!
What is FIRST LEGO League Challenge?
Friendly competition is at the heart of Challenge, as teams of students ages 9-14 engage in research, problem-solving, coding, and engineering, building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the mission of a robot game. Participants gain real-world problem-solving experiences through a guided, global robotics program, helping today's students and teachers build a better future together.
Sound awesome? It is! We are looking for volunteers!
Students at UNL could serve in any role but based off the talent and expertise, I would recommend two different volunteer roles as either a judge or referee. Currently, we do have two upcoming events that are in need of judges and referees. We have other roles available if the judge or referee role is not a good fit. Attached you will find some additional information on all other volunteer roles.
General Judge Information
Judges will interview and observe teams together with two other judges in the same judging group, also known as a judging pod, using the provided rubrics. Each team will spend 30 minutes in the judging session with 25 minutes focusing on the team presenting their material to the judging group. Judges will serve as a mentor and role model for team members, motivating them with useful feedback at the end of the session. Judges will participate in a deliberation process and, as needed, in writing short awards scripts extolling merits of winning teams. Judges will assist with the closing ceremony and awards presentation.
There are three areas of judging: Innovation Project-Core Values-Robot Design. Based off your area of expertise, Robot Design and Innovation Project may be the best fit.***
Judge Schedule
As a judge for our events, you should plan on spending a full day with us! Judges arrive at 7 AM CST and will wrap up around 4 PM. Judges will want to spend some time before the event reviewing the rubrics, judge questions and training video. Judges will receive an in person training session the morning of the competitions. Judges will visit with teams from 8:30 AM-11:50 AM at each of the events. The afternoon will be spent with your fellow judges deliberating your top teams. As a side note, judges will be with a judging panel so a volunteer is not solely responsible for making final judging calls.
Referee Information and Schedule
As a referee, you will be right in the action! While the judges are inside a classroom listening to the team presentations and asking questions, the referees will be scoring the live robot game matches. Teams will have 2:30 minutes to accomplish as many points as possible. Teams will have three rounds and the highest score will be the team score for the competition. As a referee, you should prepare by studying the robot game rulebook and learning the missions. This role will be a high profile role and should anticipate to be standing for long periods of time. Each referee will receive a scoresheet and will review the sheet with each team after their run. Each event will have a Head Referee that will go through a training the morning of the event as well as be available the entire event to help with questions. Typically the referee role will not have to arrive to the venue until 8:30 AM but should expect to stay until 4 PM.