Strg+R(obotics), LEt it GO, Desert Falcons, and Error X Succeed at the Ortenau Regional Competition

True to this year’s First Lego League (FLL) Challenge theme, “Unearthed—Understanding the Past, Shaping the Future!,” the 20 participating teams embarked on a journey of discovery and, with great creativity, unearthed numerous archaeological treasures and ideas for the future. On Saturday, their discoveries impressed not only the judges but also the large crowd of spectators in Building D at Hochschule Offenburg. “We had so many registrations this time that we had to create additional spots in advance. The Robot Games were correspondingly exciting, and there were also amazing results in the other categories. All in all, it was another great event,” said Prof. Dr. Jan Münchenberg, organizer of the FLL Challenge Regional Competition Ortenau at Hochschule Offenburg.

With plenty of imagination, the roughly 150 young engineers between the ages of nine and 16 from Alpirsbach, Breisach, Bühl, Ettenheim, Freiburg, Gaggenau, Heidelberg, Hinterzarten, Lahr, Oberkirch, Offenburg, Rastatt, and Sasbach used their imagination to develop strategies for recovering delicate artifacts and reconstructed historical contexts with the help of modern technologies. The Strg+R(obotics) team from Bunsen High School in Heidelberg won the Ortenau regional competition thanks to their victory in the Robot Game as well as nominations in the Research and Robot Design categories. The LEt it GO team from Scheffel Gymnasium in Lahr took second place with a victory in the research category and nominations in the core values and robot design categories. Third place went to the Desert Falcons from the Goethe-Gymnasium in Gaggenau, who won the Core Values category and received a nomination in the Research category. And due to the large number of participants, Team Error X from Scheffelgymnasium in Lahr (a victory in the Robot Design discipline and a nomination in Core Values) will also compete as the fourth-place finisher in the Southwest Semifinal of the FLL Challenge in Rockenhausen on March 5. There, they will compete for a spot in the Central Europe Final (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) in Leipzig on April 18 and 19. Second and third place in the Robot Game went to the HFG-RoboS from the Hans-Furler-Gymnasium in Oberkirch and Team RobOken from the Oken-Gymnasium in Offenburg. Team RobOken’s coach, Tobias Riehle, was also honored for best coaching.

In parallel with the regional competition of the First Lego League Challenge, an exhibition featuring the results of the First Lego League Explore for children ages six to ten was held at Hochschule Offenburg. In the foyer of Building D, around 25 students between the ages of six and ten, divided into four teams, presented their creative ideas for young explorers through LEGO® models and research posters.  The private team ArchäoLegologen from Denzlingen was honored for its “extraordinary thirst for discovery.” The jury recognized the fantASStischjuniors from the Aloys-Schreiber-Gemeinschaftsschule in Bühl for their “great teamwork.” The private team “Flammende Lego Bomber” from Willstätt impressed the jury with its “Archaeological World of Discovery.” And last but not least, the jury recognized the “Robby Buddel-Lok” team from the Lorenz-Oken School in Offenburg-Bohlsbach for its “helpful invention for archaeologists.”