Wow, meeting three times at this point in the season is not very much,
unless you meet for 12 hours at a time! ;-) Around this time of year,
my teams are usually meeting 3 times a week for a total of 6 hours
instead of the usual 2 times a week. We've been meeting 4 hours a week
since the missions were announced back in early September. No matter
how much we meet, you seem to always run out of time.

Regarding your questions:

1) The design of the robot is totally up to the team, but you must
work within the rules (one control unit, three motors, etc.)
2) The design of the program is up to the team, but usually the team
does a number of small programs to achieve a group of missions. In my
5 years of coaching, I've only ever seen one robot and program that
was able to perform all (or nearly all, 395 points if I remember
correctly) of the missions with one program and no touches by the
team. This was in NH a few seasons ago, is a very unusual and takes a
very skilled team to achieve.
3)  This is a hard one. There is a book (FIRST LEGO League: The
Unofficial Guide) but I have not seen it. Here is the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/FIRST-LEGO-League-Unofficial-Guide/dp/1593271859

Good luck!

On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 11:14 AM, Sarah Brown <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> This is my first time coach and I am feeling a little lost!  It was a last
> minute decision to get a group of students together and compete this year
> in FLL.  Seeing as how the competition is in November, I'm starting to
> feel the pressure!  Any suggestions???  We have met about 3 times and the
> students have a working robot with the NXT kit.  I have some questions if
> anyone can help me!
>
> 1.  Do the NXT Robots have to be built a specific way for competition?  Or
> is it up to students how they build it?
>
> 2.  With the climate missions this year, do you compile 1 program that the
> robot is designed to do ALL Missions within taht ONE program?  Or can you
> do a series of programs to accomplish the missions?
>
> 3.  I know I have a lot of reading and researching to do but is there
> something someone would suggest as a starting point?
>
> Any help would be SO appreciated!!!
> Thanks!!!
> Sarah
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