With LEGO robotics being a hot topic this week, Matthew Poulter visits us, telling us more about the FIRST LEGO League and how he got into robotics as a kid.
Matthew started from an early age partaking in the FIRST LEGO League. Initially not sure what it’s all about, he soon discovered a whole new dimension to LEGO. A world where it’s possible to construct and program LEGO to perform autonomous tasks. As the competition started to unfold, Matthew and his teams made it to nationals and got the opportunity to visit Gauteng. An entire world of opportunity opened up to him.
Matthew partook in the FIRST event a couple of years, before becoming too old. It was quickly apparent that he wanted to continue with his LEGO robotics interest and initially mentored a primary school team on the day of competition. After waiting it out the year, he started to coach several teams he eventually took to nationals. Matthew is currently coaching a team at Forres, a primary school in the Western Cape.
FIRST LEGO League is built on several core values, amongst them teamwork, which is an incredibly valuable skill Matthew learned form an early age. He takes us through some of the other core values and explains in more detail how the competition works. These core values translate into every aspect of Matthew’s adult life, instilling a strong foundation to succeed in everything he ventures into.
We salute you, Matthew! Keep up the excellent work and keep inspiring new generations into the world of robotics.
Links
LEGO Robotics
- Mindstorms EV3: https://www.lego.com/en-us/mindstorms
- FIRST Robotics Competition: https://www.youtube.com/user/FRCTeamsGlobal
- FIRST LEGO League SA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FLLSouthAfrica/
- FIRST LEGO League SA Website: http://www.firstsa.org/
Additional Footage
- Nicholas Blair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVdHblU8NZA
- FIRST LEGO League SA: https://www.facebook.com/FLLSouthAfrica/videos/2426392117427840/
Recognised LEGO® User Groups (South Africa)
- LEGO® USERS GROUP SOUTH AFRICA (zaLUG): https://www.zalug.co.za/
- LEGO® USERS GROUP Western Cape (capeLUG): http://capelug.co.za/
- Johannesburg LEGO® User Group (jhbLUG): https://jhblug.co.za/
- South African Fans of LEGO®: https://www.facebook.com/groups/safols/