Day 4

Day 4

We started by discussing the logo


The idea is to add color (lego-themed), and two more ants so each student can have their own ant and pick their ant's color. We can color the letters too, or leave them metallic (robotic) looking.


We did a team building exercise where the kids had to complete a task (lifting a hula hoop, then a box with a lego person on it) without talking with each other, and move the box without the lego person falling over. They did a great job. They are all acting as a team more and more, which is great to watch.



Next, we settled on a Project. The idea is to propose a system of wearable devices for pedestrians (and/or cars) that communicate with each other to prevent accidents, for safety. Please ask your kid to brainstorm a list of 5 ideas, and 5 difficulties that need to be solved to make it work.

We then worked on programming the robot to move: turning and in straight lines. I set up a wooden block obstacle course: they had to make the robot move down a corridor, stop before a barrier, turn 90 degrees left, then move and hit a bell. They did it!

Day 3

Day 3 began by setting up the mission board on the new table, delivered by Mary from FLL Glastonbury. We then discussed the team name (brainstorming board pictured below):

We settled on Antroids. Ants work together as groups to build ant colonies that are carefully engineered to manage their environment for food, comfort, and safety. We thought they illustrate our core values of teamwork and hard work. The latter half of the name is a word play on 'Androids'. So, Antroids are robots that work together to form a team. We even sketched out a logo, which I developed more after. A draft logo is pictured below, but is still open to modification if anyone has any suggestions


We then worked on starting the robot programming, but ran into difficulties connecting the iPad. While Coach Sazzad worked on fixing that, we turned to a discussion of our project.

Project ideas included:
1) wireless technology to connect pedestrians (joggers, bikers) with possible hazards (cars), to alert them to oncoming risks.
2) Protecting animals in the community
3) reducing fossil fuel reliance by shifting to solar power
4) solar cars and promoting use of electric cars powered by renewable electricity sources
5) Picking up litter. Can we make a robot that picks up litter? We also talked about ocean plastics as a serious pollution problem.

We ended with a tutorial on how to program the robot. We got it to drive on the game board a bit, and will focus on this next time.




ASSIGNMENTS FOR THE WEEK:
1. Zoharin took remaining legos home to work on more lego parts for our game goard
2. Everyone should write a few sentences in their engineering notebook to answer  the following question:
a) What is your perferred Project Topic?
b) What do you want to  do about the project? Can you  think of a possible solution to the community problem?


Some resources, looking ahead:
After extensive searching, I finally found the detailed lesson plans for the robot lessons.
There's an overview of the lessons here, and shorter information on each here.

They also kindly provide instructions on how to build the robot to do the crane mission, and program it.

Turns out, we spent this past week building the wrong base, because the instructions were ambiguous. Looks like we were supposed to start with this base instead: INSTRUCTIONS.

Looking ahead, I found a website with suggested tricks for solving various missions.

Day 2

Day 2: Sunday September 8, 2019.

Some basics:

Name Tags, Rest room is upstairs; You are welcome to bring snack / water bottle

1. Please remember to come to each meeting on time. We need at least the full hour and a half each day. We have a very tight schedule to complete the many tasks for the competition.

2. Please remember to complete ‘homework’ assignments such as building parts before arriving. If you have questions or need parts let me know. That reminds me, I have some parts still at my house that one of you might need to complete your lego constructions for the game boards (pictures below).  The instructions for the game board parts can be found here: http://www.firstlegoleague.org/missionmodelbuildinginstructions

Reminder (on board): 

-      Core Values (most important)  

-      Project 

-      Robot 

The Rubrics that judges will use to score us on these elements  can be found here:
https://www.firstinspires.org/sites/default/files/uploads/resource_library/fll/city-shaper/first-lego-league-rubrics.pdf
Please go over these with your child before the next meeting.

Map of time-line for the team

Date	Build:	Program	Core Values	Project	Other
Aug 31	Build lego parts for game board	View challenge video	Discuss core values	Discuss project	Introductions
Sept 8	Build base robot	Learn programming basics	Teamwork activity	Brainstorm ideas	Team name
Sept 14		Program robot to move	Teamwork activity	Choose idea & discuss how to research solutions	Team logo
Sept 21	Build add-ons	Program robot to interact with objects	Teamwork activity	Research reports 1	Team costume ?
Sept 28	Add sensors	Program robot to use sensors & loops	What goes on core value poster	Research reports 2
Oct 5		Stop and follow lines	Design core value poster	Brainstorm solutions again
Oct 12	Crane mission	Crane mission	Make core value poster	Research	Discuss which missions to prioritize
Oct 19	Mission A	Mission A		Discuss final project elements
Oct 26	Mission B	Mission B		Make project poster
Nov 2	Mission C & practice	Mission C & practice	Practice core value presentation	Present project to outside experts for feedback	Finalize  design notebooks
Nov 9	Practice	Practice	Practice core value presentation	Practice poster presentation	Create executive summary
Comp.

            

Core value activities:

            5 minute lego retrieval 

            How to contain whole team in paper

Team building discussion

-      How do we make sure everyone’s ideas are heard, how do we make decisions?

o  Vote? Unanimous? Take turns? Mayor for the day

-      How do we encourage you to not override each other?

-      Team name (logo comes next)

Go over the robot challenge, place parts on mat on floor / table

One team works on building robot base, the other team works on programming lesson,

If you have your own iPad, install software & bring it if you want

Instructions for robot base:

http://ev3lessons.com/en/RobotDesigns.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5fzepIrFw8

Programming group:

Idea of flow diagram / pseudocode

Block guide powerpoint files here:

http://ev3lessons.com/en/Lessons.html?tab=beginner
Some videos here:
https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/mindstorms/learntoprogram

Project Group does the SPARK activity:

Examine game board for ideas.

Visit: 

https://fllblog.wordpress.com/2019/08/09/resources-to-build-your-innovation-project/

Share what they learned.

Identify core values they demonstrated, and where they could improve.

________

Letter to team members recaping the day and with reminders:

Hello everyone,

Thanks again for a successful meeting 2. There’s information below for everyone, especially those who could not attend today.

1. Please remember to come to each meeting on time. We need at least the full hour and a half each day. We have a very tight schedule to complete the many tasks for the competition.

2. Please remember to complete ‘homework’ assignments such as building parts before arriving. If you have questions or need parts let me know. That reminds me, I have some parts still at my house that one of you might need to complete your lego constructions for the game boards (pictures below).  The instructions for the game board parts can be found here: http://www.firstlegoleague.org/missionmodelbuildinginstructions

3. The Rubrics that judges will use to score us on these elements  can be found here:

https://www.firstinspires.org/sites/default/files/uploads/resource_library/fll/city-shaper/first-lego-league-rubrics.pdf

Please go over these with your child before the next meeting.

4. I have begun a blog about the team. Your kids are encouraged to send me text, photos, or anything to add to the posts. I will post resources, assignments, and summaries of the meeting there, so you don;’t have to go searching for old emails.

5. For today’s session, in your engineering notebook,please:

a) write down a problem in the community, perhaps inspired by the game board. Who does it affect? Explain the problem? Describe an idea for a solution. Be prepared to present this to the group next meeting to begin picking a Project. You can think about the themes illustrated by the robot game board (traffic, parks, buildings, sustainability, access, and so on, for inspiration). Here are some suggestions on how to get ideas: https://fllblog.wordpress.com/2019/08/09/resources-to-build-your-innovation-project/

b) pick your preference for a team name, and think about why. A photo of the brainstorming board is attached here. Names included Legocy, Antroids, and a concatenation of the first two letters of everyones names: ZoZoMiJaSrHaAa

c) If you feel artistic, draw a logo for the team

d) We will try to operate by consensus, coming to an agreement on a topic by considering all ideas, discussing them, and finding one everyone accepts. Sometimes, however, there may be two groups that prefer differentt ideas even after discussion. How should we proceed to make a decision in that context?

6) Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the lego programming approach, using these videos and resources:

Some videos here:

https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/mindstorms/learntoprogram

Many guide powerpoint files here:

http://ev3lessons.com/en/Lessons.html?tab=beginner

We started building the COR3 robot:

Instructions are here: http://ev3lessons.com/RobotDesigns/instructions/COR3.pdf

There are some other basic designs here:

http://ev3lessons.com/en/RobotDesigns.html

If anyone has their own Lego Mindstorm robot set, you’d be welcome to build your own at home and bring it (keeping parts separate from the group kit), so we have two robots to play with at once.

Day 1

Day 1: August 31, 9:30-11 AM

We welcomed the FLL team members in the basement of my house.

The students and parents introduced themselves.

We did a quick team-building problem solving exercise. The students circled around and joined hands in the middle, forming a knot. They had to untie themselves. The motive was to make them say each other's names to communicate, but they kept forgetting and saying "you". Oh well.

We discussed core values, and the importance of showcasing inclusion and cooperation and respect.

We watched a video describing the robotics challenge

We discussed the Project.

Finally, students worked on building the lego parts for the game board. We finished half of these, and set the rest home with people to complete.

Everyone got an Engineering notebook on the way out.

Please remember to come every week, on time