Robotics and Lego Club is an exciting and innovative club in St Andrews College as part of the College’s STEM offering, open to students from P6 to 4th Year. Students form teams of 6-10 students and compete in the First Lego League Competitions every year.  

First Lego League (FLL) is an international Robotics competition that incorporates science, technology, engineering, math, teamwork and core values. The competition is based on projects and the big robot game that is completed by building a robot, using Lego and coding it to complete tasks/missions. The projects include the innovation project, robot design and core values (Each worth 25% of the competition) whilst the robot game fills the last 25%. First Lego League allows students to learn through fun, exciting hands-on learning.  

The robot game is a complex and task-filled map that is there for you to solve and unravel missions with solutions that can be completed with your robot. It is a timed game where in 2 minutes 30, you must complete as many missions as possible. Points are obtained by the tasks that you do that involve pulling, pushing, lifting, dragging and sometimes smashing! Teams must design a robot, built with Lego to complete the missions, plan their route, and code it. Teams must choose which missions to complete in the time frame to try and maximise their points at the competitions.  

Besides the robot game, there are also projects and presentations that foster values, design and innovation in your teams and robots. Teams must complete a presentation on their Innovation Project, a project based on the theme of that year. They also deliver a presentation on their Robot Design, and the FLL Core Values. 

Each year there is a different theme, with a new map of new missions. Each theme relates to something topical for students to expand their learning outside of the world of Robotics but to consider other issues in the world, which is further developed in their Innovation Project. In 2024/25 the theme is Submerged (all about the Oceans, and the various issues relating to the world’s Oceans). Previous year’s themes include Masterpiece (inclusion of the Arts in STEM), Superpowered (energy systems) and Cargo Connect (transport and supply chain issues).   

Every year in August, the FLL teams are introduced to different themes and maps that have their own unique tasks, problems and solutions. Around springtime, regional competitions begin in colleges, institutions and even companies across Ireland to compete and decide a winner that will have the chance to then compete in Nationals, where the top Teams qualify for International Rounds.  

St Andrew’s College has enjoyed lots of success, with a total of 11 trophies won at various tournaments over the past three years, including overall winners at 4 regional tournaments, and winning the prestigious Robot Design Award at the 2024 National Finals.  

Robotics Club is a memorable, worthwhile and exciting experience especially if you're interested in engineering, technology, coding, project management.