It was an opportunity offered only once in a lifetime.
At least that is what FIRST Tech Challenge advisor and TETRIX™ tester Jeff McBride said of his team’s experience with the new metal building system.
“When I was asked if our team would be interested in testing TETRIX and competing in a special event at World Festival, I jumped at the offer,” said McBride. “Forget the fact we essentially had four weeks to build, program, and experiment using the new system!”
Developed for use in high schools, TETRIX is a revolutionary new metal building system designed by Pitsco, Inc. and sold by LEGO® Education. The metal system is fully compatible with LEGO Technic, the building system used with LEGO MINDSTORMS®.
A unique LEGO connector joins the metal with LEGO elements, creating a path for older students to complete more challenging projects while continuing to use the LEGO NXT Intelligent Brick as the controller.
“It didn’t take us long to build our robot using TETRIX,” McBride said. “The end structure was very sturdy and required no bracing like the kits we used in the past. The CPU and sensors were also a vast improvement than what we had used in previous FIRST Tech Challenges.”
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) sponsors four worldwide robotics competitions, three of which now use LEGO Education sets.
FIRST has adopted TETRIX as the building system of choice during the 2008 FIRST Technology Challenge with the objective of making it the only choice for future competitions. Already in place are Junior FIRST LEGO League and FIRST LEGO League for elementary and middle school students.
Studies show a distinct link between the use of LEGO Education robotics and the tendency of students to follow science and engineering career paths. Of the students who participate in FIRST LEGO League, a worldwide LEGO robotics competition, 59% want to pursue careers in science or engineering (“Evaluation of FIRST LEGO League.” Brandeis University, 2004).
“My team has said they want to only work with TETRIX and LEGO MINDSTORMS,” said McBride. “That’s a huge compliment coming from a group of high schoolers!”
TETRIX™ by Pitsco will be available in August 2008 for the FIRST Tech Challenge and in schools by January 2009.