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First Lego League in Virginia and DC

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From:
Charles Aldridge <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Charles Aldridge <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 5 Nov 2009 10:59:32 -0500
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When I judge I prefer a team member to approach me and politely hand over their Team Introduction page (including team photo) and also a code book that has a photo of their robot on the cover.  This makes it easier to give the team credit for their accomplishments because I can look back at the photo and any clever attachments and not rely entirely on my recollections and notes.  I am interested in seeing well commented programs.  If they have used light, touch or ultrasonic sensors I appreciate seeing the expanded loop so that I can refine my questions.  This is designed to allow the team to shine and demonstrate their understanding of programming and logic beyond Move blocks.

There were emails yesterday about printing programs.  The Move block is by far the most common block used and 5 of the 6 settings that are configurable are revealed on the icon.  I can't tell if they selected 'brake' or 'coast' for the Next Step so I just ask.  If they don't know the difference it is revealing.  It is not necessary to screen print the individual blocks and their configurations -- the kids should definitely be able to look at a Move block icon that I point to and tell me if its controlling propulsion or an attachment, if they are using steered turns, and whether it is set for unlimited, rotations, degrees, or seconds.  All of these attributes are easily interpreted from looking at the block as it appears on the sequence beam.

Judges need to be able to rank the teams and the quality of their explanations is very important.  "Kids do the work" is really important throughout FLL but especially in robot design and programming.  Just because the robot can solve a mission doesn't establish that the kids developed the mission strategy, built the robot and attachments and programmed/tested it.  That is why we ask questions.  In short, printed programs facilitate questioning but they are not indispensable.  Personally, teams I coach always do a code book so that we can discuss what we learned with the entire team BEFORE the tournament.  It is not a burden to share a copy with judges.

Remember, this is judging so it is subjective.  As Michael points out, some focus on the robot entirely.  But we judge in pairs.  Ideally, at least one judge has a programming interest but that varies by tournament.

Charlie Aldridge
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Eric Palmer 
  To: [log in to unmask] 
  Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2009 10:03 AM
  Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] Question re Printing Program


  Teams usually present the robot engineering judges with printouts and then the judges can ask questions about the program. You do not need all of the programs printed out but a sampling of the programs that you team wants to or is capable of discussing can be be helpful. Sometimes teams walk in with a laptop booted already and a program displayed. But remember they have 5 minutes with the judges so paper backup copies make the time easier to manage in case the laptop dies or does not get started up in time.


  ----- Original Message -----
  From: "Lee Hilt" <[log in to unmask]>
  To: [log in to unmask]
  Sent: Thursday, November 5, 2009 8:38:26 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
  Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] Question re Printing Program

  As Im new to the competition this year, is that a required thing to bring - A print out of your programming? If so, I'll have to get that done soon!


  Thanks in advance



  On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 8:33 AM, Tom Chiffrilller <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

    thanks for the info, one less thing to obsess about at 3:00 in the morning....





    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Darlene Pantaleo" <[log in to unmask]>
    To: [log in to unmask]

    Sent: Thursday, November 5, 2009 7:57:08 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
    Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] Question re Printing Program


    Well, there you go! Even I didn't think of that.



    Darlene Pantaleo
    Judge Advisor
    Maggie Walker







    On Nov 5, 2009, at 12:43 AM, VA/DC Referee Advisor wrote:


      Well, it might not be clear from Rule 14, but each competition table will be outfitted with its our complete set of models, so please don't bring any of your mission models, including the Crash Test Figure, to the table! 


      Steve Scherr


      On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 11:40 PM, Tom Chiffrilller <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

        unrelated but...we seem to have lost our lego stunt man/passenger.  Will any of his relatives be at the competition table or do we have to somehow come up with another one?  








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