Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia have given a royal audience to one of the winning teams of the 5th FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL) Spain. On behalf of all the participating teams in the competition the schoolchildren were officially received in Zarzuela Palace together with a delegation of people involved in organizing and holding the competition in Spain.
The 30-strong delegation, headed by the President of Fundación Scientia, Ricard Huguet Galí, and including the President of GMV, Mónica Martínez, all posed together with the prince and princess and showed them some of the inventions dreamed up by the finalists, explaining how they worked.
The Prince and Princess of Asturias showed a keen interest in this annual international robot-building competition for schoolchildren. First held back in 1988 it challenges the schoolchildren, working under a coach, to build and program a robot from the LEGO® Mindstorms robot set and many LEGO® parts, and also to draw up and present a scientific project.
The FLL in Spain is now coming into its own. In answer to the 'Body Forward' challenge set in the most recent competition, 2700 participants in 250 teams took part in 16 knock-out rounds held round the country. FLL Spain is the world organization with most teams participating in international tournaments.
By giving this audience to the competition finalists the Prince and Princess of Asturias wished to show their recognition and support for activities of this type. They praised the work of the schoolchildren themselves, organizers and sponsors.
Fundación Scientia is a non-profit-making foundation that aims to promote science and technology among youngsters as a means of inculcating the educational values of innovation, creativity, teamwork and problem solving. It awards grants to companies and private individuals that altruistically wish to work towards the promotion of these values among Spanish children.
GMV is the main sponsor of FIRST® LEGO® League in Spain, providing resources for the organization of all the tournaments. GMV is always keen to help develop budding technology talent. As well as sponsoring this competition it therefore carries out a series of activities designed to arouse a passion for engineering and technology amongst youngsters.