FIRST LEGO League: The Unofficial Guide
FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is an international program for kids ages 9 to 14 that combines a hands-on, interactive robotics program and research presentation with a sports-like atmosphere. It’s a kind of geek Olympics for about 100,000 kids every year—a sporting event and science fair in one.
But it can be tricky to create and successfully manage a FLL team. This is not meant to be a simple competition, and fielding a team requires some serious management and plenty of work. FIRST LEGO League: The Unofficial Guide (No Starch Press, August 2008, 264 pp, ISBN 9781593271855) is the first book to offer FLL participants some guidance as they field their teams. Current and aspiring FLL participants, coaches, and teachers will find advice on how to become better competitors, builders, researchers, and team members, and they’ll learn how to start and manage a team in a program that can be tricky to navigate, especially for newbies.
Written by two veteran FLL competitors, FIRST LEGO League: The Unofficial Guide is an all-in-one reference for FLL participants, from rookie coaches trying to organize new teams to veteran teams hoping for their next trophy.
FIRST LEGO League: The Unofficial Guide offers in-depth coverage of topics that both rookie and experienced teams will find useful, like team formation and organization; robot building and programming; and the complex structure of the FLL competition, including the Robot Game, Technical Interview, Project, and Teamwork. Using a combination of real-life stories and candid commentary from actual FLL teams, as well as recollections of their own experiences, the authors offer an abundance of helpful guidance and dependable building and programming examples. (from an O’Reilly/No Starch Press press release)
