NL FLL 2008 Results

Here are the results from the FLL Provincial Competition held December 6, 2009 in St. Mary's, Newfoundland:

Robot Performance:
1st Place - St. Francis School (Harbour Grace)
2nd Place - Frank Roberts Junior High (CBS)
3rd Place - St. Kevin's Junior High (Goulds)

Project Presentation:
1st Place - St. Francis School (Harbour Grace)
2nd Place - Baltimore School (Ferryland)
3rd Place - Holy Name Of Mary (Lawn)

Design/Programming:
1st Place - Brother Rice (St. John's)
2nd Place - Frank Roberts Junior High (CBS)
3rd Place - St. Kevin's Junior High (Goulds)

Teamwork:
1st Place - Frank Roberts Junior High (CBS)
2nd Place - St. Kevin's Junior High (Goulds)
3rd Place - Villanova (CBS)

Overall:
1st Place - St. Francis School (Harbour Grace)
2nd Place - Frank Roberts Junior High (CBS)
3rd Place - St. Kevin's Junior High (Goulds)

NL Skills Canada LEGO Robotics 2008

The 2008 NL Skills Canada Intermediate LEGO Robotics Competition was held on November 29 at Brother Rice Junior High. It was a fun day with teams from all over the province competing in the 2008 Climate Connections Challenge. We run the Robot Game part for this competition and here are the top result:

1st Place: St. Francis School from Harbour Grace;
2nd Place: Brother Rice Junior High from St. John's;
3rd Place: Frank Roberts Junior High from CBS.

NL LEGO Robotics 2008 Season

2008 NL LEGO Robotics Competitions:

NL Skills Canada Intermediate Challenge 2008

• Date: Saturday, November 29, 2008
• Location: Brother Rice Junior High, St. John's
• Info: The scopes (guidelines) for the Intermediate Skills Canada Challenge have been released. Check them out here: http://www.skillscanada-nfld.com/ISC.php

NL FLL LEGO Robotics Provincials

• Date: Saturday, December 6, 2008
• Location: Dunne Memorial School, St. Mary's
  
• Info: The guidelines for the FLL competition are located at: http://www.firstlegoleague.org/
  

Climate Connections Challenge Revealed!

The Climate Challenge was unveiled by FLL on Friday but it is difficult to find on their web site. Here is the link to it: http://www.firstlegoleague.org/community/fll/overview.aspx

I recommend watching the videos to make sense of the Robot Game Missions.

Climate Challenge 2008-09

FLL will be officially releasing the Climate Challenge on September 5, 2008. All information should be available on their web site after that.

Systm - Episode 61 - Build an Android

Robotics Educators Conference 2008

The Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Academy cordially invites you to attend this year’s Robotics Educators Conference, to be held at Butler County Community College, north of Pittsburgh in Butler, PA.

The Conference is taking place August 6-8, 2008. For more information please visit this link:

http://www.education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/robots/corridor/main/home_matter/conference.htm

FLL 2008 - Climate Connections

The First LEGO League (FLL) 2008 season has begun with the opening of registration on May 1, 2008. This year's theme is Climate Connections.

Here are some of the deadlines that teams will need to keep in mind:

May 1, 2008 - Team Registration and Product Sales Open Online (http://www.register4fll.com/)
May - Robot sets, FIRST DVDs and Coaches' Handbooks Begin to Ship
August 1 - Field Set-up kits Begin to Ship
September 5 - International Challenge Announced
September 30 - Team Registration Closes/Last Day to Order Products
October 1-12 - Tournament Applications Accepted
November - December - NL Intermediate Skills Canada Robotics competition and FLL Tournament
April 2009 - FLL World Festival

Below is a summary of the costs to FLL Teams:

Expenses:

• FLL Registration Fee - $235.00
• FLL Field Setup Kit - $78.00

Optional Robotics Kits:

• MINDSTORMS NXT Robot Set - $435.00

Optional Parts - NXT:

• Rechargeable Battery - $70.00
• Transformer - $25.50
• NXT Interactive Motor - $23.00
• NXT Touch Sensor - $22.00
• NXT Light Sensor - $22.00
• NXT Ultrasonic Sensor - $48.00
• NXT Resource Set - $65.00

Optional Parts - RCX:

• RCX Light Sensor - $18.75
• RCX Rotation Sensor - $21.00
• RCX 9V Gear Motor - $19.75

FLL Challenge 2008

The theme for the 2008 FLL Challenge is Climate Connections. There is not a lot of info on it yet but FLL has posted a brief summary about it in the US section of the FLL web site (http://www.firstlegoleague.org/default.aspx?pid=70).

Registration for FLL 2008 opens May 1, 2008. You can register online on the FLL Registration site (http://www.register4fll.com/).

Corn Toss Challenge

As part of my robotics club we have a challenge that students complete in groups to decide a club championship. This year's challenge was called the Corn Toss. Here is a video of the robots and the challenge:

Power Puzzle: Perfect Score

It never ceases to amaze me how young people find solutions to the FLL challenges. Here is a post, FLL - A "Perfecter" Score?, on the NXTStep Blog.

I've posted the video below:

StringBot

Here is the Stringbot that was built and programmed from James Kelly's book, LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT: The Mayan Adventure ().

NXT Paper Plane Shooter

How about using the NXT to launch a paper plane. It looks like a plane flying off an aircraft carrier.




For more details head on over the to the nxtasy.org blog.

The Real Life Robotic Arm

NXT Step blog posted links to a fascinating story and video about Segway's (Dean Kamen's company) efforts to create a robotic arm for disabled people.

Dean Kamen's 'Luke Skywalker' bionic arm

Here is the link to the video report about it on IEEE Spectrum Online:

Video of Dean Kamen's 'Luke Skywalker' bionic arm

NXT Competition Idea: Can Grabber

Here is an idea for a design challenge using NXT robots:

Bathroom NXT bots

Some people will build a NXT robot for any purpose. Here is a couple for the bathroom:



Why not a FlushBot:

Worth a Look: NXTCentral blog

There are a couple of new NXT blogs that look like they are worth a look:

- NXT Central
- TeamNXT

Enjoy!

NXT Resources

Norm and I held an in-service on NXT robotics today. I mentioned several resources and I wanted to post some further information.

I mentioned the following web sites:

• The NXT STEP - LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Blog
  
• nxtprograms.com
  

You will find information about the book, Lego Mindstorms Nxt: The Mayan Adventure by James Floyd Kelly on The NXT STEP - LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Blog.

NXT Training in Eastern School District of NL

There will be an opportunity on February 8th, for teachers in the Eastern School District to attend a training session about using the NXT LEGO MINDSTORMS kit in the classroom. Here is the info:

Title: Introduction to LEGO NXT robotics
Date: Friday, February 8, 2008
Time: 9:00am - 4:00pm
Location: St. Francis School - Tech Ed computer lab
Trainers: Thomas Sheppard and Norm Littlejohn

This session is designed as an introduction to using the NXT MINDSTORMS robotics kit for use in the junior and senior high technology programs (The new kit was introduced in 2006 and is replacing the RCX-based MINDSTORMS robotics kit).

Topics will include the basics of building and programming an NXT robot using sensors and attachments. The priority will be on integrating robotics into the curriculum to accomplish course outcomes.