On Dec. 15, Raytheon Network Centric Systems’ Engineering, Technology and Quality group sponsored RoboNautica 7 for the third straight year. This official Massachusetts tournament of the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is hosted annually by Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).

An international program for children ages 9 to 14, FLL was created in a partnership between FIRST Robotics and the LEGO Company. Each September, FLL announces the challenge, which engages the teams in hands-on robotics design and authentic scientific research. After eight intense weeks, the challenge culminates at high-energy tournaments like RoboNautica 7. 

This year’s challenge, “Power Puzzle,” was designed to help showcase the talented young minds of tomorrow’s engineers and scientists. RoboNautica has become one of New England’s proving grounds for hundreds of would-be robotic champions.

All RoboNautica 7 teams that enter their robot, present a research project and complete a technical interview about their solution to the “Power Puzzle” are eligible to receive the competition’s highest honor, the Director’s Award. The winner of the Director’s Award is eligible to compete in the national tournament in Atlanta. Other awards such as “Best Robot Performance,” “Design Innovation,” and “Team Spirit” are also available. 

In addition to sponsoring RoboNautica 7, 12 NCS employees from Marlborough, Mass., along with four WPI faculty members functioned as judges for the day, listening to a variety of technical and research project presentations.

*The content on this page is classified as historical content. See this important information regarding such content.