Subject:
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FIRST LEGO Leage, robotics contests, etc., was: RE: Access Ideas
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Thu, 4 Nov 2004 14:54:08 GMT
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Original-From:
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Liz Bilbro <liz@bookwyrmz.(nospam)com>
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Reply-To:
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<liz@ANTISPAMbookwyrmz.com>
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Viewed:
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998 times
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On FLL -- the challenges may seem easy to you, but as a coach you CANNOT
help your team... (Believe me, you can get very tired of biting your tongue!
LOL!) And the challenges are not easy for the team members! Neither is
coaching them without giving ideas away -- it has to be their work and their
ideas alone.
My team members range from 8-13, with the average age being 10 or so. (And
some of the youngest kids are the brightest). So, while it might look
simplistic -- it is the kids who have to learn to program (RIS or ROBOLAB --
we use ROBOLAB after one frustrating year of RIS) and build functional
robots and arms.
Well, some years the challenges are much harder than others, in our
experience -- City Sights was the hardest so far... This year seems MUCH
easier. I am very enthusiastic about the one team I am taking and their
ideas -- a long way to go before Dec. 11, tho! But remember, we compete in
performance (score), technical (robot design), project (research
presentation), and other areas. The ultimate goal is to win the tournament
overall and get the director's trophy. We've won for project/presentation
before, but hope to win in more areas this time.
On the money part, I have invested a lot in my teams as far as hardware (I
have enough kids for 3 teams) because I also teach them robotics as a class
and hold robotics camps. Many teams get by with one Mindstorms set. I just
happen to have an entire classroom. I taught the first year and a half for
free; I now charge a minimal fee and I figure to recover the costs of robots
and parts in about 4-5 years. The computer lab I created to run the robots,
I will recover the cost of with my computer skills classes -- another 4-5
years or so on that if we can slow down the upgrades! Okay, maybe foolish to
think I'll ever break even! But my situation is a bit extreme... And I'm a
bit fanatical about robotics and having enough parts (and I'm always finding
parts that just LOOK like they need to be built into something! LOL!)
Many teams get by with one Mindstorms set that someone already owned and a
computer.
The actual cost is how many Mindstorms sets you think you need and $250 per
team to register with FLL and get the mat and playing field LEGO parts, and
$35 or so for whatever tournament you choose to attend. (We've done
fundraising past years to cover travel, but this year, we're just paying
family by family.) One year I had two teams, this year I have one, next
year I should have three teams going to tournament. But we covered 2 teams
and their parents and siblings (50+ people) traveling to Houston, touring
NASA and Johnson Space Center, attending an invitational there, plus a state
tournament in Dallas in one year funded totally by fundraising coordinated
by team parents.
But if you don't have time to make a long-term commitment... there is a
desperate need for robotics-savvy volunteers at the tournaments themselves.
This is a one-day event. One year, we had an 11-year-old refereeing our
team, because there were not enough adults to referee and judge. And many
of the same people go from tournament to tournament volunteering as judges
because the need for judges and qualified referees is DESPERATE. They are
truly dedicated, because they don't get paid for that. Even the tournament
directors are volunteers.
I've looked into FIRST because I have older team members becoming ineligible
(I have one working as an assistant teacher/coach). But it looks like it
costs several thousand dollars just to join. BotBall seems less expensive,
and then there is BEST.
I'm just wondering what's out there for older kids that doesn't cost so
much. We don't have a corporate sponsor, so it's just what we can raise and
what I pay out of my own pocket.
Okay, my brain just went dead... Will add more later if it revives!
Liz
-----Original Message-----
From: dajelen@att.net [mailto:dajelen@att.net]
Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2004 9:47 PM
To: lego-robotics@crynwr.com
Subject: RE: Access Ideas was: RE: OT Re: Don't forget to VOTE !!!!
Hi Liz,
<clip>
Finally - I've looked into the FIRST Lego League and have hesitated to join
as a coach as
the simplicity of the challenges doesn't grab my attention. I have looked
more seriously into
the US FIRST Robotic challenge as this involves building larger robots that
are given what
seems to be tougher challenges to win the competition. (I, also, would like
to see an adult division.)
I'd be interested in volunteering, but have a limited budget and current
demands on my time
that don't leave a whole lot of free time right now.
What opportunities are available for volunteering - anything that could be
done via EMail
and/or web cam? (Liz, respond to me personally if you have ideas.)
<clip>
Now - what were those challenge suggestions that the group can use its
knowledge to solve?
Dave
-------------- Original message from "Liz Bilbro" <liz@bookwyrmz.com>:
--------------
<snip>
> BTW, my info re: self-centered in my reply was not actually to Dave, but
</snip>
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