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 > > -- To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit > https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html and select "Join or > leave > the list". > > -- VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ADMIN- > L. Visit > https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-admin-l.html to subscribe. > > -- To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html > and select "Join or leave the list". > > -- VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ADMIN- > L. Visithttps://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-admin-l.html to > subscribe. > > -- To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html > and select "Join or leave the list". > > -- VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ADMIN- > L. Visithttps://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-admin-l.html to > subscribe. > To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html > and select "Join or leave the list". > VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ADMIN-L. > Visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-admin-l.htmlto > subscribe. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html and select "Join or leave the list". -- VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ADMIN-L. Visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-admin-l.html to subscribe.