Groups of students from all over the world are coming together in St Louis at the end of April for an event being dubbed by some as the first LEGO® Olympic Games, the first LEGO® League World Festival.
Courtesy of Geekadelphia
A special kind of games is being developed here since generally speaking, some LEGO® based Olympic events may be particularly problematic. One only has to think of the potentially dangerous nature of Olympic diving and the pole vault to realise that some LEGO® based events might not be such a good idea. A pole vaulting event that was comprised entirely of LEGO® bricks for example could be potentially fraught with many difficulties not the least being that the pole itself would almost always invariably break, leaving injured contestants lying below the bar, covered in LEGO® and moaning in pain. Not a great moment for the Olympics or LEGO®.
A LEGO® diving competition could be even more disastrous since diving from any significant height into a pile of LEGO®-brick-water would be enough to chafe more than one’s ego, not to mention the inevitable collapse of the LEGO® diving board on the way down. Again, this sort of event would create more in-patients than it would gold medalists and should in no way be encouraged. On the other hand, the LEGO® weight lifting contest however would be remarkably easy one would have to think and the hurdles wouldn’t hurt so much, but all in all its not a particularly spectacular idea.
So what the hell am I talking about you may ask?
The LEGO® League World Festival is a global robotics program initiated as a joint venture between LEGO® and First. Its aim is to bring young children together from around the world to engage in solving real-world problems using LEGO®, robotics and engineering concepts.
Courtesy of Madein Limburg
The event itself has been dubbed the LEGO® equivalent of the Olympics however with more than 230,000 children competing from over 80 different countries. Australia’s team will be competing with the best of the best and volunteers are always required.
Montana Governor Steve Bullock summed up the reasons behind supporting children at this early age quite nicely.
“When we take a look at the availability and the opportunity for science, technology, engineering and math jobs in our state, we need to be building the pipeline. You don’t wait until the kids are in college or thereafter, you begin to get them engaged now. The level of creativity and what they’re building are skills that not only will keep them engaged in school, but will open up horizons for all kinds of opportunities in the future,”
Courtesy CFFLL
Whether the first robotics league ever makes it to the actual Olympics is irrelevant. The feeling surrounding this event is that the LEGO® company is again on the verge of something that could be big and will at the least impact the world in a positive way, seeking to implement change among tomorrow’s generation, where so much of the world’s hope lies.
Brickman Dan
Brickman Dan is the founder of Brick Yourself and publishes regular articles on how LEGO® Art & Design, as well as LEGO® Investment.