FIRST LEGO League US Open tournament coming to Dayton Published May 5, 2009 By Dan Andrews Education Outreach Office WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- The "Birthplace of Aviation", will become the birthplace of something new May 8 - a national championship for the FIRST LEGO® League, thanks to the efforts of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and supporting partners, Wright State University and Battelle. FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, an organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology, has given Dayton the nod for its first, FIRST LEGO League United States Open Championship to be held May 8 and 9 at the Ervin J. Nutter Center, Wright State University. The championship event will bring the top 60 teams, out of over 9000 from across the United States, together to vie for the title of US Open FLL Champion. "Through our partnerships and our sponsors, the Ohio program has grown in leaps and bounds and a national event will allow us to showcase all the good things happening here," said Kathy Levine, FLL Coordinator for the State of Ohio and FLL Program Manager for the WPAFB Educational Outreach. "This program is an important part of our overall K-12 grade educational outreach initiative to excite students in the areas of science and technology so they consider future careers in these critical areas." Teams representing the state of Ohio include the Fossil Fuel Fighters- Cincinnati; The NXT Force- Columbus; W.E.S.T World Environment Saving Team- Cincinnati; Cougars- Columbus; Pirates of the Lego Storm- Columbus. The FLL is a collaboration between the LEGO Company and FIRST, a non-profit organization that combines engineering, computer programming, problem-solving, researching, presenting and teamwork into an intense 8-week period. Teams of 3 to 10 children, ages 9 - 14, work to build and program a robot to complete 18 tasks on a competition table in a 2.5 minute robot round. Teams compete in a sports-like environment where spectators cheer their successes. Teams also meet with Robot Design Judges, who evaluate their robot design, programming and problem-solving strategies; Project Judges, who look at their research project, which is tied to the Climate Connections theme; and Teamwork Judges, who evaluate how well the group functioned as a team. WPAFB's Educational Outreach has been the FLL lead organization for Ohio since 2001 and oversees the entire tournament structure for the state, as well as operating the FLL Wright State University Regional and the FLL Ohio State Championship held at the Ervin J. Nutter Center each February. Wright State University's College of Engineering and Computer Science has partnered with WPAFB Educational Outreach to provide the host sites for both the annual tournaments for the last five years. Battelle joins as a partner for the US Open event. Other local sponsors include the Ohio Educational Outreach Foundation, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Universal Technologies Corporation, Think TV and the Wright Memorial Chapter of the Air Force Association. "We are so excited to get this event," said Levine. "A National FLL tournament has never been done before and we are thrilled to be able to host it here, especially with a great partner like Wright State University and major financial supporter like Battelle." The event is free and open to the public with table competition rounds at the Nutter Center running from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. Media are invited between 2-4 p.m. on Saturday, 9 May 2009. Additional information about the US Open and the Ohio FLL program is available on the WPAFB Educational Outreach Website at http://edoutreach.wpafb.af.mil/ohfll.html. Federal Endorsement of sponsors is not intended.