It's a competition that is all about robotics and at the same time, not about robotics at all.
On Saturday, December 13th and Sunday, December 14th, The Quad City Engineering and Science Council hosted The Quad Cities-Davenport FIRST LEGO League Expo at the Putnam Museum in Davenport.
More than 700 area competitors, ages 9 to 14, formed 89 teams to build and program robots to complete missions on a thematic playing surface, as well as conduct research to discover more about the future of learning.
Organizers say it's about more than robots, though.
"They learn to work as a team, which is a very important skill regardless of what you go into," said Tournament Director, Pat Barnes. "They learn how to communicate, because they have to stand up in front of a group of judges and explain their design and answer questions on the spot. They have to manage their time. We think those types of things are really good skills for them, regardless of what they do in the future."
The top teams from this weekend's competition go onto the FIRST LEGO League State Championship, which takes place at Iowa State University on January 17th.