About 100 students representing 18 Knoxville area teams will compete in a regional LEGO tournament Saturday at Hardin Valley Academy, working with miniature robots that perform required tasks on a table.

Robertsville Middle School is the defending state champion. Under the new format this year, the team needs to qualify in this regional tournament before advancing to the state tournament.

“This year’s theme in ‘Nature’s Fury,’” said John Tilson, a Hardin Valley science teacher and Saturday’s tournament director. “The students have a lot of problems they need to solve. They design and build a predominantly LEGO robot. They perform a certain number of challenges and they get points for each challenge. They have to do certain rescues, and they have to move certain items from place to place.” [Read more…]