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First Lego League in Virginia and DC

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Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:58:33 -0700
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Michael:

You apparently know a lot about the LEGO NXT robotics, and your team is lucky to having you.

What about the coaches who don't have enough expertise? They want their teams to learn as much as possible - not about competitions!!!. 

Who can help them?

Without the expertise advisory, the teams wouldn't likely be making much progress years after years - don't assume a rookie team will "naturally" gaining knowledge and experience to become an advanced team! The reality has proven that!

I keep asking the experienced adults on the list to help out the community and I don't think I have seen enough!

If you would share the informative topics to the FLL (national) Forum, you should also share here.

Jin 

--- On Wed, 10/21/09, Michael Blanpied <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: Michael Blanpied <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] A special offer to your team - a free 2 hour FLL robot design / programming clinic at your place between Friday, 10/16 to Sundays 11/01
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 11:37 AM


Re: [VADCFLL-L] A special offer to your team - a
free 2 hoRusty,


Thanks for your comment. I will differ with you on those
missions, though. The suite of missions is specifically designed to
reflect the broad range of teams in FLL, with their broad range of
skills from vanishing to extreme. There are some Transportation
missions that can be accomplished with very little building or
programming skill, and I'm sure that even a team of 9 year old rank
novices can walk out with a self-respecting score and proud smiles,
provided they are given a reasonable level of guidance on the rules
and mission descriptions.


Cheers,
Mike


Well said Mike.  However, I would mention one
exception.  If I know a rookie team or rookie coach, or even a
newer coach whose team is struggling, I will give some very detailed
advice to help them get a few successful missions going.  The
kids need a little bit of success to hang their hat on when they get
to a tournament.
 


From: First Lego League in Virginia and DC
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael
Blanpied

Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 10:57 AM

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] A special offer to your team - a free
2 hour FLL robot design / programming clinic at your place between
Friday, 10/16 to Sundays 11/01
 
Lisa and
Jin,
 
I believe
that Jin is collecting and distributing information on general robot
design and programming principals, and examples from prior seasons.
Most of this information is already available online, on many team web
sites, Youtube, etc., and many teams already take advantage of those
resources. I don't believe Jin is including information specifically
about the Transportation challenge, or about his team's work in the
current season, but he should confirm that.
 
Certainly
none of us should be trading intel on strategies or solutions to this
year's Transportation missions (except for an occasional "is my
kids' solution legal?" question), and stuff like that should also
be withheld from the DVD and from training sessions. It is good for
coaches to arm themselves with a variety of building and programming
skills, in order that they may mentor and "ladder" the kids.
But the solutions themselves--specific to how to tackle the
Transportation missions--should come entirely from the creative minds
of the children.  When I am coaching I am very careful (and this
is the hardest part of coaching!) to NOT point the kids toward
specific solutions. My job is to mentor, not to guide, and it would be
a hollow victory if my team did well at tournament using solutions
that had been encouraged by me, or using skills beyond the ones they
truly possess.
 
That being
said, there's lots a coach can legitimately do. In the off-season or
pre-season I may show my team selected YouTube videos or web photos,
to illustrate techniques that they might find compelling. Over the
summer or early in the fall season I do take the time to hold brief
training sessions on generic topics, building a suite of skills that
they may later draw on when they are designing their robot or
brainstorming solutions. For example, I have held sessions on various
ways that a robot may turn a corner, or how does line-following work,
or calculating distances using the wheel diameter, or creating
MyBlocks. But those are never done on the mission table, and any
connections made to the current missions come from their fertile
brains, not my aged one. It takes diligence and restraint for a coach
to not cross that line, and this is one of the hardest yet most
important aspects to coaching FLL, in my opinion.
 
Mike
 
 

Jin,


 


  This
is all great information that you are giving out but I think you
should be doing this during the "off-season".  It is
very disheartening as a coach to see my team struggle to figure out a
solution and the next week see you offer that solution to whoever
wants to take it.


 


Lisa
Savage


Team
0697


 


From: First Lego League in
Virginia and DC [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Jin Ye

Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 9:25 AM

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] A special offer to your team - a free
2 hour FLL robot design / programming clinic at your place between
Friday, 10/16 to Sundays 11/01


 


Oops.


 


My mailing
(home) address is


 


Jin
Ye


4520 Willet
Drive, Annandale, VA 22003



--- On Wed, 10/21/09, Michael Blanpied
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:


From: Michael Blanpied <[log in to unmask]>

Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] A special offer to your team - a free 2 hour
FLL robot design / programming clinic at your place between Friday,
10/16 to Sundays 11/01

To: "Jin Ye" <[log in to unmask]>

Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 9:23 AM

Dear Jin,


 


Sounds like a great
collection of information!


 


What is your mailing
address?


 


Thanks,


Mike


 
Dear VADCFLLers:

 


I have a FLL INFO DVD for the
attendees of the workshop, including in


 


1 - Robot designs
examples and mission programs of the previous challenges from the
teams hat I have coached or mentored, and from the material geruosly
provided by "Configurators" - our Virginia's own BEST team
ever in my opinion.


 


2 - Other NXT robots building
instruction which can be an excellent initial study/example
models for FLL robots, mostly from Internet


3 - Showcase FLL Challenge
robot game performance video from some national and international
renown teams and from our award-winning Virginia teams (Team
Configurators, Team Tiki, Team Robot Activators, Team MaJJEECKS, Team
SMALL, Team Sea Monsters, and Team Mission Plausible)


4 - In-depth Discussions
on various FLL Challenge related topics from previous years FLL
Forums


5 - A "Video on 2007
Rules" including many illustrations of the previous
missions.


 


I'm making it available to
VADCFLL list. If you mail me a self-addressed and pre-stamped
enverlope, I'll do my best to send it to you ASAP - don't worry about
the cost of the DVD media and please please dont' send cash with the
enverlope.


 


Jin



--- On Wed, 10/21/09, Debbie Harris
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:




From: Debbie Harris <[log in to unmask]>

Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] A special offer to your team - a free 2 hour
FLL robot design / programming clinic at your place between Friday,
10/16 to Sundays 11/01

To: "Jin Ye" <[log in to unmask]>

Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 12:11 AM
I am in Botetourt County.
 Would you consider creating a video of one of your workshops and
making it available to teams not in your area?

On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 10:45
AM, Jin Ye <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


Dear
FLLers:
I, a WOULD-BE of FLL
"mentor-on-the-run" offer the NVA local teams a
"home-service-call": a free 2 hour FLL robot design /
programming clinic at your place between Friday, 10/16 to Sundays
11/01 (only evenings at the weekends).

 


The "NVA local teams"
is defined as


1 - Any teams based at home
within 20-mile radius to zip-codes 20151 (my work place in Chantilly)
or 22003 (my home in Annandale)


2 - Any teams based at school
within 35-mile radius to the same zip-codes indicated
above.


 


Of cause, As always I do this
on totally volunteer-basis. Actually I am quite busy at work to bring
up an information database system to comply a DOD security standard /
requirement. Therefore, any personal time-off should be planned
ahead.


 


If your team wants me to come
at weekday daytime, you have to let me know ASAP.


 


What I will offer to you at
the clinic -


 


Simply put, if currently your
team expects to score 150 to 200 points at the robot game, you may
gain 50 to 100 more points if you implement the robot design /
programming tips that I will go through at the clinic. And the teams
will enjoy a lot more in this Challenge because they will feel that
THEY KNOW HOW TO MAKE THE ROBOT TO PLAY THE GAME!


 


Certainly the meeting will be
interactive - I strongly encourage and welcome your questions at the
clinic.


 


I prefer to work with team's
builders and programmers only (plus coaches / mentors) so the meeting
can be more effective.


 


I'll have some 2009 game
mission execution demos used for explain the tips. The original NXT
mission script is from Liam Bishop and his teammates of FLL 2009 Team
8404. The robot that I'll use for the demo is from award-winning FLL
2007 Team 945, built by Jason Ye and his teammates.


 


I cannot reveal the awesome
secret of Team 8404's robot. But I can't help to tell you the robot
carries a "missile".


 


If you are interested in the
offer, please reply back to me only (not to the list). The deadline is
Saturday, 10/17. If the number of teams that asked me is more than
that I can service during the period, I'll give priority to the school
teams first, and then the teams with the majority of the kids who
never did the FLL challengers before, and so on.


 


 


 


Jin Ye


 


 




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