Regional Sign-Up will start Monday, October 22 at noon. The links to the forms are here. Registration will promptly close on Monday, October 29 at noon.

This year we have a record-breaking number of teams which is totally awesome! That also means A LOT more regional qualifying events and planning. Many of you are getting worried that you have missed a deadline or an application form at some point. I am here to reassure you that is NOT the case!

We are doing regional competitions in a new way this year. Due to previous years’ feedback we have decided to let teams themselves decide which regional they would like to go to on a first-come, first-serve basis. At a certain date and time not yet determined, we will make available registration forms for each regional. You will then have the opportunity to click on the regional you would like to attend, fill out the form, and once the form has successfully been submitted, you will be completely 100% signed up for a regional. Each form can accept a certain number of entries which models how many teams the regional can host. Once that limit has been reached, you will not be able to submit that form. If you get a message that the form is filled, that means that regional is completely filled and you will have to select a different regional to go to.

A sample form is here: Click Here

A Complete and OFFICIAL list of regional competitions can be found here: http://www.isek.iastate.edu/fll/regional-qualifiers/

That being said, it will be in your best interest to fill out the form as soon as possible, if you delay in filling out the form, you may be stuck going to a regional that is far away or not on an ideal date for your team.

Once again, we apologize for the delay, but we assure you that you will have plentiful notice of the sign-up dates both on the website and in your inbox in plenty of time for you to plan accordingly.

Please feel free to email us at fll [at] iastate [dot] edu  with any additional questions you may have!

Volunteer registration for the Iowa Championship is now closed!

We had over 400 people sign up and all your enthusiasm is greatly appreciated!

Here are a few things people need to know about volunteering:

Iowa FLL Championship
• Saturday, January 19, 2013
• Typically 7:30AM – 4:00PM
• Iowa State University Campus; Howe, Hoover, Black, Pearson,
Design and Marston Halls

If you have any questions, please look over our list of commonly asked questions below, or email us at fll-volunteers@iastate.edu

     The LEGO Foundation and LEGO Education will provide $150,000 towards the costs of robotic parts and materials for   eligible teams, while FIRST will contribute $100,000 towards registration and additional costs for these newly formed teams. These grants were designed to encourage students to progress from one level in FIRST to the next. The grants are only available to U.S. teams on a first come, first served basis and are available immediately.

- http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/first-the-lego-foundation-and-lego-education-announce-graduation-grants-available-to-frc-teams

Do you have students on an FLL team that are “aging-out” of FLL and are wondering about the next adventure? Do you have students who are too old for the FLL program?

Check our FTC—First Tech Challenge!

For more information about FTC, contact ftc.iowa@gmail.com.

The Iowa FLL Championship is tomorrow, January 14! We’re expecting 72 teams from across Iowa to participate, showing what they’ve learned & accomplished with Food Factor. It’s going to be an amazing day. If you’re looking for the schedule for the day, it’s on the Important Documents page.

If you can’t make it to Iowa State in person, you can still check out everything that’s going on at the event via the webcast. Just click on the link below!

View the webcast

Update: The webcast is over, and you can view the award winners online!

Come check it out in person in Howe & Hoover Halls on the Iowa State Campus, or check back here for the link with the live webcast of the event on the 14th. Whatever you do, don’t miss all the great bots, fun times, and amazingly smart kids!

If you’re planning on being here in person, you’ll find the schedule & more on the Important Documents page. If you’re coming with a team, you might find the Step-by-step guide useful as well.

Iowa FLL Teams – We’ve just opened registration to participate in a regional qualifier for the 2011 Food Factor season. Please take a look at the regional qualifier information page, then register your team to participate. Make sure you complete the registration form for each and every one of your teams! Registration will close at 5PM on October 12, 2011.

Didn’t make it to the in-person training in September? Want to review what we discussed or watch some of the interesting sections again? All of our FLL Coaches Training materials are now online – feel free to watch them whenever you’d like!