Building FLL Competition Tables for Oklahoma

Matthew Bates is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Date Goal for Fundraising: October 17th, 2023

My name is Matthew Bates. I am seventeen years old, a senior in high school, and a member of BSA Troop 26, FIRST Tech Challenge Team 10355, and FIRST Robotics Competition Team 9462. I am currently a Life Scout. In order to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, it's required to plan and execute a project that benefits a community or community organization. Having been a part of FIRST Robotics for five years now, I wanted to find someway to incorporate my love for the program and its mission into my Eagle Project. When I found out that the group that runs the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) events in Oklahoma (Oklahoma Science and Engineering Foundation) no longer had Competition Tables due to the theft of their trailer, I saw it as the perfect opportunity for my eagle project to benefit something I love.

FIRST LEGO League is an international program for young students in the 4th through 8th grade. Its goal is to get students interested in STEM, and to learn how it's applied to the world at a young age. It achieves this through something all kids love, LEGO. Each year, the students are given a theme that applies to a real world issue; they do research on it and give a presentation on what they would do to change things. At the heart of the program, however, is LEGOs, or, more specifically LEGO robots. At the beginning of every season, along with the theme, students are given a playing field with an assortment of LEGO mechanisms with tasks that a robot must complete to earn points. The students use the LEGO Mindstorms system with motors, sensors, and LEGO Technic pieces to build a robot to complete as many of these tasks as they can in two and a half minutes. Not only do they build the robots but they also learn the basics of programming. An overarching theme of “coopertition” teaches students to support each other with a cooperative spirit throughout a strenuos competitive season. Good sportsmanship is not only encouraged, it is required.

Each game is played on an 8' by 4' custom built table surrounded by a raised edge. The specification for FLL tables is the same each year, so these tables will be able to be used for years to come. Each FLL qualifier requires five tables, and that is the number I will be building