About FREdi

Florida Robotics Education, Inc. is a not-for-profit company. We are 100% volunteer run and we very much appreciate our volunteers and our sponsors.

Our mission is

To provide activities to improve education through the use of robotics and technology.
To encourage students to study science, technology, engineering and math by engaging them in robotics activities
To conduct robotic and other science related activities for educators and students in the state of Florida, including but not limited to competitions and training
To award scholarships to outstanding Florida students who have been active in robotics and pursuing a technology degree.

Florida expects to have 350 teams, 30+ events including Open Practice, Qualifying, Regional and State Tournaments. As well as the US Nationals during the 2011-2012 Food Factor Season. We are always looking for a few good sponsors to help make our efforts successful!

About FIRST

The best way to summarize FIRST LEGO League is to say that it is a robotics program for 9 to 16 year olds (9 to 14 in US/CAN/MEX), which is designed to get children excited about science and technology -- and teach them valuable employment and life skills. FLL can be used in a classroom setting but is not solely designed for this purpose. Teams, composed of up to ten children with at least one adult coach, can also be associated with a pre-existing club or organization, homeschooled, or just be a group of friends who wish to do something awesome.

Contrary to popular belief, our coaches DO NOT need any technical experience. In FLL, the children do the work! And the work is programming an autonomous robot (using the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® robot set) to score points on a thematic playing surface and create an innovative solution to a problem as part of their research project. These two elements - the Robot Game and Project - make up what we call our yearly Challenge. Like any other organized “sport”, teams also fundraise, create a team identity, and go on field trips. To see some of our teams in action, visit our YouTube Channel, or read about their experiences on our blog.

Some teams choose to attend an official FLL tournament, which is hosted by one of our Operational Partners. Operational Partners volunteer to run the FLL program in their region or country and are associated with other like-minded organizations to the FIRST mission.

YOU can help support our mission by:

volunteering at an official tournament,
coaching a team,
incorporating our Core Values into your daily life,
attending an event and cheering on our teams,
spreading the word about FLL,
using our past Challenges to help train new teams and volunteers,
following us on Twitter,
subscribe to our channel on YouTube or respond to one of our video callouts,
becoming a correspondent on our blog,
sponsoring the global FLL program or the efforts in your local region,
or by simply making a donation.

With over 19,000+ teams in over 55 countries, FLL is constantly expanding. If you are interested in helping create a formal FLL presence in your area by becoming an Operational Partner, please contact us at fllteams@usfirst.org.