President Obama's FIRST LEGO Lesson

During a visit to the Intel facilities in Hillsboro, Oregon, on February 18, President Obama experienced the innovation of students using LEGO^® robotics.

“I used to build some pretty mean LEGO towers when I was a kid,” the president said. “I thought I could participate, only these students used their LEGOs to build models, to build robots that were programmable, to model brains that could repair broken bones.

So I guess that’s different than towers.”

What the president was referring to was his interaction with the BindleBots, an all-girl FIRST^® LEGO League Team from Portland, Oregon.

The team shared their LEGO MINDSTORMS^® robotic solution to this year’s FIRST LEGO League Body Forward Challenge and demonstrated various missions using the Body Forward Challenge mat.

The impression the team left was then included in President Obama’s speech to the waiting crowd, which focused on the ongoing effort to push innovation.

FIRST LEGO League is one of four robotics programs offered through the FIRST organization. The other programs include Junior FIRST LEGO League (ages 6-9), FIRST Tech Challenge (ages 14-18), and FIRST Robotics Challenge (ages 14-18).

The only official tournament operated by FIRST is the season’s culminating celebration appropriated titled “FIRST World Festival.”

This year’s FIRST World Festival is scheduled for April 27-30 in St. Louis, Missouri. Teams from the U.S. and around the world representing each of the four FIRST robotic programs are invited to join the festivities.

To learn more about the FIRST program and how you or your students can get involved, visit www.usfirst.org or contact your local LEGO Education Consultant.