Anatomy of a Competition Day

FLL competitions are high-energy, all-day events that are both challenging and incredibly fun. Here’s what you and your team can expect:

• Arrival and Pit Setup: Coaches arrive early in the morning to check in and set up their "pit" area. This is the team's home base for the day, where teammates can practice, make adjustments to their robot, and relax between judging sessions and matches.

• Judging Session: There is a single judging session, which accounts for 75% of a team's overall score, so prepare your team well!

  • More judging session information can be found in the Judging session scoring rubrics section

• Robot Game Matches: Teams will compete in four 2.5-minute robot game matches throughout the day. The goal is to score as many points as possible by having their autonomous robot complete missions on the game field.

  • Rules for the robot game can be found in the "Resources" section of the FIRST in Michigan website

• Lunch and Downtime: There will be a break for lunch. There is often fairly little downtime at competition, so keep the teammates close by between robot runs and judging.

• Awards Ceremony: The day concludes with an awards ceremony where teams are recognized for their achievements in the various judged areas and robot game performance.

Competition Dates:

• Regional Competition: Typically held on the first or second Saturday in December.
• State Competition: For advancing teams, this is usually held during the second or third weekend of December.