Are we the only team who can't figure out a way to get over the  
rolling bars?
Deborah A. Gribben
Grade 5 Teacher
Colonial Trail Elementary School


On Oct 5, 2009, at 9:05 PM, Wally Walter wrote:

> With all due to respect to Nick Swayne, I would not diminish the  
> basic "tri-bot".  The Lake Anne Sea Monsters have made only minor  
> modifications to the basic design for the last three years and have  
> done very well in the robotics performance competition.  Good  
> programming and clever design of strategic objects will conquer  
> virtually all of the missions, including this year's dynamometer.   
> As coaches, our challenge is to push the team to think creatively on  
> solving the different mission problems with the resources available  
> and then refine the solutions to work reliably.
>
> Good luck,
>
> Wally Walter
> Co-coach
> Lake Anne Sea Monsters
> Team 1055
>
>
> Oct 5, 2009 02:57:08 PM, [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Laura/Danielle,
>
> This is really supposed to be fun for all. Don't dread the robot!
>
> You'll see a lot of new teams at all 18 of the regional  
> competitions. There are more than 350 teams currently in the system  
> and I'd guess half of them are new to FLL.
>
> The fact that there are 4 components to the tournament really levels  
> the playing field for those who have never built robots before. Lots  
> of rookie teams build robots that look almost exactly like the tri- 
> bot in the instruction book and do just fine at the competition.  
> Some actually win because they concentrate on the teamwork and  
> research which account for 50% of the total. If the kids can explain  
> their experience level, design and programming well - they'll do  
> fine there as well.
>
> Also - if your robot holds the crash test figure for the entire 2.5  
> minutes and you don't knock over any of the penalty pieces, you'll  
> end up with 95 points.
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: First Lego League in Virginia and DC [mailto:[log in to unmask] 
> ] On Behalf Of Dash Family
> Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 2:29 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] A few new coach questions
>
> I echo paragraph 3 below, although a "little nervous" doesn't quite  
> capture
> my feeling of dread. I read somewhere we should have our base robot  
> done
> and be working on programming by now. We can't even get something  
> across
> the rollers that will still turn - forget programming!! My team is  
> having
> fun, we are learning tons - I am losing sleep!
>
> Any suggestions would be appreciated!!
>
>
> Danielle Dash
> Stafford VA
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: First Lego League in Virginia and DC
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Laura Dysart
> Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 13:34
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [VADCFLL-L] A few new coach questions
>
> 1. Did I manage to send this to everyone on the listserve? I'm not
> sure I am posting correctly.
>
> 2. My team has decided to pick a challenge that feels fairly
> complicated to me. The United States is their chosen community and
> they are very concerned about fuel efficiency and the environment.
> They have been focused on some alternative fuel sources, car design
> and power sources. They have found a lot of interesting research on
> what already exists, and in my opinion have brought up two ideas that
> I think are innovative- but there is no way to prove they are
> possible. Every now and then a team member will say "that won't work"
> and I've been reminding them that all things that have been invented,
> we would have never imagined we would have today and started with
> imagination. Can the innovative part of their research be primarily
> imagination based?
>
> 3. I am feeling a little nervous as our team seems to be having
> trouble deciding on the basic robot design- I have tried to steer them
> towards focusing on a certain mission and what does the robot need to
> look like to complete that. I feel like this particular challenge has
> more obstacles than others I've seen- just to get access to missions-
> seems like it's harder for a simple first time team robot to work in
> these situations.
>
> Our team is having fun- I'm just feeling the time ticking away-and I'm
> thinking they are going to start to feel some frustration if we don't
> get closer to accomplishing a mission,
> Laura Dysart, Richmond, VA
>
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