Team Vantablack at FIRST LEGO League World Festival Houston Texas

We will like to congratulate NULLSPACE-CHECKMATE for clinching Champion Award for Best Robot Performance and NULLSPACE-VANTABLACK for clinching Overall Champion Award in the recent FIRST LEGO League Singapore 2023/2024. These awards would not have been possible if not for the hardwork and sacrifices by our students, parents, and coaches over the 15 weeks of competition training.

As part of their competition win, NULLSPACE-VANTABLACK was offered the opportunity to participate in the FIRST LEGO League Championship in Houston, Texas.

FIRST LEGO League is an international robotics competition for children aged 9 to 16, and involves teams designing, building and programming a LEGO robot to accomplish missions on a themed challenge field. The challenge for FLL during the 2023-2024 FIRST season is ‘MASTERPIECE’, with the themes focusing on innovative approaches for the global creation and communication of art.

The journey from competing in FLL Singapore to joining an international robotics event with over 35,000 teams was no doubt thrilling and eye-opening. We are excited to hear more and caught up with the team to learn about their amazing experience.

Instructor Felicia: What inspired you all to join the FIRST Lego League Competition?

Jasper: For me, how I joined the FIRST LEGO League competition is I started it as a hobby and I asked my mother to sign me up for classes and as I went through the different certification levels, I became more and more interested in it. And when I received the invitation to the competition, I signed up immediately.

Instructor Alan: Did you all expect to win this competition in Singapore?

All: No (shaking their heads)

Kyrus: We joined this competition mainly as a passion.

Jerlyn: We join this competition also just for experience.

Evan: One funny thing is that we didn’t actually receive the award on stage because we left halfway during the prize-giving ceremony and at the end, it turns out that we won overall champion.

Jasper: We just like, “it’s over, it’s over”.

Instructor Alan: What was your reaction when your parents told you that you all won?

Jerlyn: I was at Botanic Gardens eating and after that suddenly, my father saw the message and he was like “What? You are the champion?” Then I was so shocked.

Evan: I was in the car with my grandparents, we were going to drive to a place to eat. Then my mum received the message and she was like “What! You won an award!” Then I was like, “What do you mean?”

Kyrus: Then for me, I was like in the car, then I actually got a friend there already. So he was like “Oh you actually got something!”. Yeah, quite surprised and shocked, because I didn’t expect to get anything.

Instructor Felicia: Can you tell me more about the challenge you face during the competition and how you overcame it?

Jasper: During the competition we discovered that we were missing the art piece for the pedestal and if you had the art piece you could score more points. So at the last minute, we built an art piece for the pedestal and it was okay to be counted as an art piece and in the end we built a banana shaped LEGO piece.

Instructor Felicia: What did you learn about teamwork while working on your robotics project?

Kyrus: We learn that teamwork is about exploring differences. We are different and we have our different strengths and opinions which can complement each other. This allows us to overcome all the challenges that we face along the way. Besides technical differences, we also have our character differences. For example, Evan is the cheerful one and wil crack jokes whenever we encounter bad situations.

Instructor Felicia: What was the most exciting moment for you during the competition?

Evan: For me, the most exciting moment throughout the competition was making new friends with different teams from other countries and learning more about what their innovation project is about.

Instructor Felicia: Can you share a funny or memorable moment that happened while preparing for or participating in the competition?

Kyrus: A memorable moment for me was when the judges gave the concluding comment during the innovation project presentation at Houston where they stated that there were over 35,000 teams that participated in this event worldwide and we actually made it there for the internationals. Looking at the Singapore flag hanging in the convention centre, I felt proud to be able to represent Singapore in this event.

Instructor Felicia: So how do you feel when your team’s hard work paid off, whether through winning an award or achieving a personal goal?

Kyrus: Yes we did it! A wave of relief will sweep through us. And for me personally the first thing that pops up into my mind is for me to tell my parents as they’re always there to lend out a listening ear and share my joy with me. Their continuous support has always been my motivation.

Instructor Felicia: What advice would you give to someone who wants to participate in a robotics competition like this for the first time?

Evan: To never give up when you face challenges. Example, if you have a challenge when completing a mission, tell yourself to not give up and keep on persevering. And soon success will reach you.

Instructor Felicia: Looking back, what is one thing you would like to improve or do differently next time when you participate in a competition?

Jerlyn: Next time when we participate in another competition we have to be more careful in setting the robot and we also have to never give up and persevere on.

Instructor Alan: Would you join the FIRST LEGO League competition again?

All: (Nodding)

Jasper: Yes.

Instructor Alan: Will you continue doing Robotics as your CCA in secondary school?

All: (Nodding and a resounding) Yes!