With the DJ playing music to get blood pumping and parents and children ready to show off two months of hard work, the second annual First Lego League Challenge East Lansing Regional Tournament kicked off Saturday.

The event, sponsored by MSU’s College of Engineering, consisted of 17 different groups ranging from fifth- to ninth-grade students.

The students created robots powered by two motors hooked up to an NXT, which is the brain of the device. The objective for each group was to formulate a robotic device with Legos as well as a plan to move across a simulation city on a table using touch-sensitive laser sensors. These sensors guided the robots through the city to complete a specific task.

Before the event began, Drew Kim, event coordinator and assistant to the dean of the College of Engineering, gave an opening speech.

His speech emphasized how the primary goal of the event was to help the youth become interested in engineering.It also brought awareness to the limited number of minorities and women in engineering.

“Future minority participation is definitely a big priority with this event,” he said.

Kaitlynn Pyke, 13, a member of one of two all-female groups, said if she is not rooting her team on, she would be rooting for the Lego Ladies.

Cynthia Webb attended the event to support her daughter, Catherine Webb.

“This is her first year, and I’m not sure how they will do, but I am definitely excited about the event,” Webb said.

Webb said she encouraged her daughter to participate because she said the event emphasized engineering can be fun.

During the competition, each team traveled to three different rooms and each room had a different task for the teams to complete.

Plenty of the contestants were nervous, including Erik Gude.

“Some things aren’t working right now, so we’re trying to fix those problems,” Gude said.

Looking tired, Gude said his team had been working on the project for 78 hours.

Time commitment was common among most of the teams.

Raquel Harris, 12, a member of the Techno Bears, said her team worked eight weeks, for two to three hours, three days a week.

In the end, six teams advanced to state tournaments, including Super Masters of Renewable Energy Sources, or SMORES.

John Kim, a member of SMORES, said he learned how to use and save energy.

When asked about how the team functioned, he said, “We started breaking apart, but we came together in the end.”