Changes to FIRST LEGO League
Kia ora koutou
We are very pleased to announce that FIRST® and LEGO® Education have come together to re-imagine the FIRST LEGO League programme.
For the upcoming season we will be offering the programme - FIRST® LEGO® League Future Edition with the newly designed LEGO® Education Computer Science & AI hardware. For more information follow this link to the FIRST LEGO League Announcement Blog Post and a video.
This does not mean you will not be able to use SPIKE™Prime - FIRST® LEGO® League Founders Edition as we will be running both models for the 2026 and the 2027 seasons. However after that we will only be supporting the FIRST® LEGO® League Future Edition using LEGO® Education Computer Science & AI hardware. SPIKE™Prime - FIRST® LEGO® League Founders Edition will only be supported for those two years. Please read the official retirement announcement here for further information.
For the 2026 and 2027 FIRST LEGO League seasons, teams participating in either the Founders Edition or Future Edition events will have the opportunity to be invited to either World Festival at FIRST Championship or an Open Invitational event. These events will continue to showcase top teams globally.
MTA will be selling the new LEGO® Education Computer Science & AI hardware. We will be meeting with MTA to work through pricing . The new hardware becomes available in New Zealand from April onwards. FIRST® New Zealand will be running monthly competitions from April for teams to win LEGO® Education Computer Science & AI hardware so keep an eye on our website. FIRST® New Zealand will also be offering grants to existing teams to also help each team to make the change. You will continue to register your teams and order your mats for both the Founders and Futures editions through FIRST® New Zealand.
Over the next few weeks you will notice our website changing as we incorporate the FIRST® LEGO® League Future Edition. LEGO and FIRST, have posted a FAQ you can read. As our community provides feedback and asks questions we will also develop our own NZ specific FAQ so do not hesitate to contact us directly on transition@firstnz.org.
We are very excited to be part of this and we know our teams enjoy a new challenge that provides greater involvement, opportunities and fun.
Ngā mihi nui
FLL Challenge Update 04
UPDATE 04 – MISSION 03: MINECART DELIVERY INTERRUPTION – If the minecart is successfully delivered to the opposing field and the opposing team interrupts their robot in a way that causes the minecart to be taken out of play by the referee, the delivery will still be counted as “on” the opposing team’s field. The delivering team earns points for the delivery and the bonus remains possible if both teams complete a successful delivery.
FLL Challenge Update 03
UPDATE 03 – MISSION 02: TOPSOIL CLEARING CRITERIA – Mission 02 includes three topsoil sections, each requiring a unique action to be considered cleared: • One section (identified by its loop) must be completely removed, so it is no longer touching the model. • The second section must be slid until the latch drops fully. • The third section must be rotated until it is completely past the designated line marked on the mat. The mission video demonstrates each clearing method and can be used as a reference for intended functionality.
FLL Challenge Update 02
UPDATE 02 – MISSION 02: MAP REVEAL SETUP – 3M™ Dual Lock™ Reclosable Fasteners should be aligned carefully to avoid unintended contact with the topsoil sections. Misalignment may cause sticking or movement issues that could affect the model’s performance. Teams should check for smooth operation during setup.
FLL Challenge Update 01
UPDATE 01 – EXTENDING PAST THE WALLS OF HOME UPON RETURN – Extending
past any wall of Home upon return counts as “completely in” and can be handled without
penalty.
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2025 Season has started!
The 2025 season FIRST AGE has launched today with FIRST LEGO League Challenge, Explore and Discover materials being released. All registered teams should now have received their materials via email and their challenge sets, get in touch if you haven’t received yours. Check out the Challenge page to register a team if you haven’t already.
Robot game updates will continue to be posted on FIRST Inspires all season so make sure you check in.
Keep an eye out for FTCs FIRST Age competition kicking off on September 7th.
New Season Resource
Some of you may have noticed that FIRST and LEGO have released a new type of resource this year for the competition - Session Support Slides. These are PowerPoint presentations to support you as coach during your team meetings with a new slide for each session of the season. Visit the season page here and scroll down to the header Challenge Session Support Slides to download them.
Challenge Season Updates
A challenge update has been released on firstinspires.org, which I’ve summarised below.
This update is to the standalone scoresheet and the scoresheet within the Robot Game Rulebook and includes:
Mission 13 – The scoresheet found on page 30/31 of the of the Robot Game Rulebook mentions the following mission constraint:
To score, team equipment may not be touching the craft machine at the end of the match.
This constraint does not exist in this mission’s description and thus should be ignored. Restated, team equipment MAY be touching the craft machine at the end of the match
Mission 14 – Values found on page 2 of the standalone scoresheet and page 30/31 of the Robot Game Rulebook are incorrect do not match those found in the mission description. The second sentence of the scoresheet should read as follows:
If a target destination has at least one audience member completely in it: 5 EACH DESTINATION
Further updates or clarifications may be published as necessary, so remember to keep an eye on the site above and your inbox as we’ll continue to post these updates here as well.
Season Launch
Today is the official launch day (NZST) for the MASTERPIECE season of FIRST LEGO League. All registered teams should now have received their challenge set and welcome email which includes the links to the guidebooks. Please reach out via our contact page if you haven’t received either of these.