Robotics Opportunities in Bloomington

FIRST Lego League (FLL) Discover

1st graders: 

1st graders have the option of doing Discover or Explore. This depends on lego skills, maturity and open teams available.

FIRST Lego League (FLL) Explore

1st graders: 

1st graders have the option of doing Discover or Explore. This depends on lego skills, maturity and open teams available.

3rd graders:

3rd graders who have experience with legos have the opportunity to join FLL Challenge (the 4th-5th grade level) as FLL Explore can sometimes be too easy for those with have done a lot with legos.

FIRST Tech Challenge (FLL) Challenge

While FLL Challenge can go up to 8th grade, we currently do not support new teams for 6th grade and up due to our limitations.

6th graders: FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC)

6th graders are placed on a 6th grade team. If we reach 10 students we will have two 6th grade teams. The goal of this team is to provide a great foundation of skills. Everyone here will be new and learning together with their peers.

This team meets at Kennedy High School in the evenings (6-8pm) and potentially Saturday morning.

7th & 8th graders: FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC)

7th and 8th graders have a few options for FTC teams.

• All girls team

• Capybotas by invitation

• A new team or two with unset goals. One at least will be a 'have fun and learn something' team.

• Those with prior robotics experience may join our advanced team. This team puts more time, effort and focus and aims to perform as well as possible.

This team meets at Kennedy High School in the evenings (6-8:30pm) and Saturday morning. Each team's schedule may vary.

Valley View Middle School students: 

VEX IQ Robotics Competition (VIQRC) is run through Fusion after school. This program is offered at no cost. Students are able to participate in both VIQRC and FTC if they wish.

To participate, register your child for Fusion at Valley View. On days when robotics is held students should head to the cafeteria right after school to sign in for Fusion and grab a snack, then head to Mr. Ballew's room 112(E?).

FLL Challenge:

While FLL Challenge can go up to 8th grade, we currently do not support new teams for 6th grade and up due to our limitations.

High schoolers have two options for robotics programs (FTC and FRC). While doing both is possible, we do not usually recommend it because of the large time commitment for most of the school year. Students considering doing both should talk to us and we will help you figure out if it will work for you.

Below is a description of both programs and who they might fit better.

FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) teams are smaller, allowing participants to be involved in every part of the robot-building process and non technical areas (design, cad, build, programming, documentation and presentation). It is ideal for self-motivated learners who enjoy hands-on work and want to explore all aspects of robotics- technical and non-technical.

The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team operates on a much larger scale and is structured like a mini company. Students specialize in a certain area such as strategy, CAD, build, programming or business with mentorship from professionals. It’s a strong fit for students interested in large-scale engineering, leadership roles in project management, learning marketing skills, or gaining experience working within a highly structured team similar to a real-world engineering firm.

FTC Team options for 9th-12th graders:

• All girls team

• Capybotas by invitation

• Those with prior robotics experience may join our advanced team. This team puts more time, effort and focus and aims to perform as well as possible.

• A new team or two with unset goals. One at least will be a 'have fun and learn something' team.

• Potentially a high school team.

• If we have enough Kennedy students who would like to do FTC together and focus on skills relevant for FRC, we may consider that. (This would be in preparation for the potential split of the FRC team with Kennedy getting their own team again).

FRC Team:

This season the joint FRC team for all of Bloomington will continue. Next year there is a good chance of the teams splitting back to Jefferson and Kennedy teams. Students who join the team now should know that they will be on their school specific team once the split happens.

FRC 2470 Team BJORG meets at Jefferson High School in the evenings and Saturdays. Find more information on their website: team2470.org