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FLL 2023 Teams
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Friendly competition is at the heart of Challenge, as teams of students ages 10-14* engage in research, problem-solving, coding, and engineering - building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a robot game.

In Explore, teams of students ages 6-9 focus on the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design, and code and create unique solutions made with LEGO bricks and powered by LEGO® Education SPIKETM Essential or WeDo 2.0.

Learn More About FLL in the Rutland Area

Rutland Area Robotics is home to many FLL Teams.

By signing up with us we will connect you with our existing teams and the programming they run.

We typically like to have kids start in a summer camp/summer programming to familiarize them with the program & our mentors. We use this time to have fun and to gauge their interest and readiness for the program.

For FLL Challenge & Explore - teams form in late summer/early fall. Returning students and students who attend summer programming are prioritized. It is important to note, that team sizes are small (6-10 kids) and open spots can be limited.

Please note: Signing up past our summer programming may put you on a waitlist for the following year.

We presently have a waitlist for the Explore & Challenge '27-’28 program. New inquiries will be placed on a waitlist.

  • Our Explore Teams meet 1x per week (typically Sundays) throughout the fall.

  • Our Challenge Teams meet 2x per week (typically - Tuesdays & Thursdays) throughout the fall and early winter.

Our Challenge Teams compete in December. If they do well and qualify they will also compete at the State Championship in January. Some high performing teams from the State Championship may qualify for invitationals or Championship events later in the year.

We encourage parents to help us run these programs by attending meetings and assisting mentors. Young students need a lot of guidance and without proper parental support, these programs are difficult to run. Tasks can be as simple as helping the team sort LEGO pieces and keeping the students focused.

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The 2026-2027 Season is the last Season that FIRST and LEGO will be running the program as the partnership of FIRST LEGO League. Both organizations plan to launch new programming of their own for future seasons. Rutland Area Robotics does not yet know what future seasons will look like but we plan to continuing offering STEM programming to students in this age group regardless.

With this change in programming we are limited in forming additional teams for this season as teams can no longer purchase additional LEGO Robotics Kits.

  • For Challenge, we often meet 2 times a week or more from late August to early December. For Explore, 1 time per week. We know families balance many activities but your child should attend ~70% of meetings to best stay up to date and contribute to their team.

  • We ask students to contribute $100 for the season. This goes towards team registration, season & LEGO kits, meeting space, t-shirts and more. Sponsorships and grants cover most of the expenses to make this affordable for local families.

  • We don’t want any child to be excluded due to cost. There is financial assistance available - especially for families that help fundraise. We also waive fees for families who actively volunteer in our programs.

  • We do not consider this to be. We encourage FLL parents to stay and assist our teams (time robot runs, sort LEGO, guide projects, keep kids on task, encourage safe behavior). This age range is particularly challenging and needs a lot of support and encouragement to be successful as a group. The more adults that can be present, the smoother the activity runs.

  • Wonder how to choose between Explore and Challenge if your child is old enough for both? Explore is for younger students and is more of an introduction to LEGO Robotics. It is ideal for those that aren’t yet ready for the demands of a competitive team. Challenge students spend the season preparing for competition and require students to be good teammates, focus on robot design, programming, testing, and work on a research project and presentation. Not every student is ready for a competition team.

  • Regardless of age, not all kids have yet developed the skills they will need to successfully compete in FLL Challenge and that’s ok. This competition requires children to work as a team, focus on specific and often repetitive tasks, conduct research, exercise critical thinking skills and present in public. While some kids thrive at this, and some grow into it, others aren’t as developmentally ready for this responsibility at a young age. We welcome students to give it a try and encourage parents to be present to support them as they do. If they aren’t ready - try again as they mature.