Lego Robotics Competition

SMEI Lego Robotics Competition

FHSU is hosting our 19th annual Lego robotics competition. The competition is open to all area middle school students (grades 5-8).

This event will be held at the campus of Fort Hays State University on Monday, March 31, 2025. The event will start at 10:00 a.m. (registration begins at 9:00 a.m.) in the Ballroom of the Memorial Union. The event will end by 3:00 p.m. after the completion of the award ceremony.

Overview

Each team of students will compete in at least one event and up to as many as they wish (there will be a total of 5 events). Multiple teams from one school are permitted.

Each competing robot must be constructed from parts found in a standard Lego robot kit. Also, all events require that the robots be autonomous. Teams with robots found to be in violation of the rules will be disqualified. If competition courses are set up outside of the main event areas, teams may use them for practicing. However, teams may not practice on courses set up in the competition area unless given permission by the judges. Remember, due to time constraints this is purely a competition event. Students are expected to have fully working programs upon arrival.

It is expected that all robots will be programmed to begin competing at the press of the activation button. Calibrations of sensors (e.g. black/white light/color sensor intensity calibrations) will be allowed (and is encouraged). The contest will begin upon the final pressing of the activation button (sometimes a delay between pressing the button and robot motion will be required—see the Sumo bot event!). Teams will get only two chances to successfully start their robot. This means that if the wrong program is started by accident the team can tell the judges and have one more chance to start their robot. Note that teams must use their “second chance” immediately; no additional programming can be done once the team has been called to compete. It is not required for the robot to automatically stop at the completion of an event unless otherwise specified; when the judges have finished, they will indicate that the robot can be picked up and deactivated.

Awards will be given for 1st, 2nd, & 3rd places in each event, as well as an overall traveling trophy for the team that acquires the largest number of total points (first place team award). Second and third place team awards will also be given. Points will be awarded for the top-five ranked teams in each event: 1 pt for 5th place, 2 pts for 4th place, 3 pts for 3rd place, 4 points for 2nd place, and 5 pts for 1st place. Exception: only the top 4 teams will be awarded points in the Sumo Bot event. No points will be awarded to teams who place below the top five in each event. The school with the most points (total earned by all its teams) will be awarded a plaque.

In the event of a tiebreaker for overall team the following scoring will be used.
First: School with the fewest number of eligible teams.
Second: School with the greatest number of first place team events.
Third: School with the greatest number of second place team events.

The event’s final arbiter will decide any eventualities that arise which are not discussed herein. 

Results for 2024 Lego Robotics Competition 

Partially supported through a grant for the
Kansas NASA Spacegrant www.nasa.gov 

For questions contact Ann Noble at 785-628-5449 or amnoble@fhsu.edu