The 2008 North Carolina FLL season is 2/3rds complete. We are one month away from our State Championship. It is officially crunch time! It is interesting because we are taking tonight, Halloween off. The stress of the first two months was incredible but I feel like the coaching staff and the team is seeing light at the end of the tunnel.
We have come to realize that FLL is not a competition against others although we will we compete against others. It is a competition with ourselves. As a third year team, we know what is expected to be competitive. Can we achieve all that we wish to? We can only hope so.
We continue to learn through research, robot building, programming, and running. We don't have all of the answers, even after three years. But we aren't the naive team that we were three years ago either. I suspect that there are many better teams out there. Our job is not to worry about them but to worry about bettering ourselves.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
To the Newbies
As one of the coaches for the Microbots I have had the privilege of witnessing first hand brilliance in the making. To see these children three years ago, youngest starting some where in the realm of age nine to where they are today is simply remarkable. They have learned so much and have worked so hard that words do not suffice to help describe the joy it gives a dad/coach.
From complete strangers to best of friends who could have picked a better group as fate guided their hands as they picked names out of a hat. Their common ground, Friday night Lego practice is what they will say, work will certainly find its way into second place as friendship, companionship and camaraderie will crown. With a third year already in the making there are certainly no gurantees of its outcome, but one thing will continue to ring true, they will have fun, and there will be lots of laughter to follow.
Coach Newb
From complete strangers to best of friends who could have picked a better group as fate guided their hands as they picked names out of a hat. Their common ground, Friday night Lego practice is what they will say, work will certainly find its way into second place as friendship, companionship and camaraderie will crown. With a third year already in the making there are certainly no gurantees of its outcome, but one thing will continue to ring true, they will have fun, and there will be lots of laughter to follow.
Coach Newb
Monday, October 20, 2008
The Hardest Challenge
This year's challenge could actually be the hardest that any FLL team has ever faced. Climate Connections is deceptively hard and perhaps even harder than the challenges of previous years. In North Carolina, our state championship is December 6th so teams have effectively three months to solve the challenge and create a research project. Many other states conduct regional championships in early January with a state championship at the end of January. The result is a more difficult state championship with more teams and less time. This can be viewed in one of two ways. The first is the pessimistic view which says that it isn't enough time and the chances of winning are smaller. The other is optimistic view which says if it is hard for us, it also hard for the other teams. Let’s go win!
This year, the North Carolina State Championship is limited to 80 teams. We think that we made the cut for the championship but we won't know for sure for a couple more days. 80 teams is probably the most that can fit in a single day of competition. There is a rookie competition for the first year teams in early January. It seems like it is right around the corner!
We expect tough competition from both teams that we know and the teams that perhaps are new to FLL. We wish all of the teams competing in this tournament the best of luck! First Lego league is not easy and very few of the 80 NC teams will go home with a trophy.
We thank James T. and Kyle B. for helping us to gather 6 strangers who work well together, who have worked hard this year, and who will be competitive. In talking to other teams, this is the real hard challenge. Go Microbots!
This year, the North Carolina State Championship is limited to 80 teams. We think that we made the cut for the championship but we won't know for sure for a couple more days. 80 teams is probably the most that can fit in a single day of competition. There is a rookie competition for the first year teams in early January. It seems like it is right around the corner!
We expect tough competition from both teams that we know and the teams that perhaps are new to FLL. We wish all of the teams competing in this tournament the best of luck! First Lego league is not easy and very few of the 80 NC teams will go home with a trophy.
We thank James T. and Kyle B. for helping us to gather 6 strangers who work well together, who have worked hard this year, and who will be competitive. In talking to other teams, this is the real hard challenge. Go Microbots!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
It is really hard
First Lego League appears deceptively easy at first, but when you get into it, it is a lot harder. Lego's are easy to build, so people would think that the challenges are easy to. The challenges are built to be hard. They often put things in the corner or put one challenge in front of another. This makes a seemingly easy challenge harder.
I've been part of lego league for three years. The first year we would go out and do a single challenge. We were lucky if it worked. That year, when we did our challenges, our robot runs weren't very accurate. The second year, we tried to do at least two challenges per run and we tried to not to make too many turns. Now, we are in the third year and we are doing multiple challenges per run. It has been working pretty well.
We started when we were pretty young. Our oldest player was eleven and some of us were nine. The original team is still together and really like each other. There is a lot of respect among the team members. Every year, we have gotten better. In our first year, only Patrick could program. In our second year, more of us could program. This year, everyone truly can do everything.
We have not stopped practicing since we began Nanoquest. We worked on some of the old challenges like Ocean Odyssey during the off-season. We even brought out Nanoquest and did it again in March of this year. I look forward to Lego League every Friday night. It is three hours of pure fun!
Still, I never forget that lego league is really hard. Sometimes I have to remind the coaches and mentors of this. Since they have never built a sophistocated attachment or program, it is easy for them to think it is easy. But it isn't. It is especially hard this year.
Tad
I've been part of lego league for three years. The first year we would go out and do a single challenge. We were lucky if it worked. That year, when we did our challenges, our robot runs weren't very accurate. The second year, we tried to do at least two challenges per run and we tried to not to make too many turns. Now, we are in the third year and we are doing multiple challenges per run. It has been working pretty well.
We started when we were pretty young. Our oldest player was eleven and some of us were nine. The original team is still together and really like each other. There is a lot of respect among the team members. Every year, we have gotten better. In our first year, only Patrick could program. In our second year, more of us could program. This year, everyone truly can do everything.
We have not stopped practicing since we began Nanoquest. We worked on some of the old challenges like Ocean Odyssey during the off-season. We even brought out Nanoquest and did it again in March of this year. I look forward to Lego League every Friday night. It is three hours of pure fun!
Still, I never forget that lego league is really hard. Sometimes I have to remind the coaches and mentors of this. Since they have never built a sophistocated attachment or program, it is easy for them to think it is easy. But it isn't. It is especially hard this year.
Tad
Friday, September 19, 2008
A Sad Situation
Some of the Microbots take Tae Kwon Do at the Middle Creek Community Center. As I was picking them up, I noticed that they had "First Lego League (9-11) (12-14)" written on their whiteboard. My feeling upon reading this was one of happiness. Middle Creek was building not just one team but two!
I asked the gentleman at the counter about this and he said, "I am sorry. We had to cancel the class. There just weren’t enough people signed up."
Starting a First Lego League team requires a lot of resources. The most common problems that I have seen with new teams are the need for coach (or coaches) and a place to practice. A first year team will require a lot of education (mostly programming) and that means a lot of time spent with the team for the coach. Many parents are reluctant to sign up for such a time commitment. You also need a place where you can meet. This place must be big enough to set up a 4’x8’ mat with the missions. Middle Creek Community Center seemed to have both.
"Oh no!” I remarked to the gentleman at the desk. "I know lots of folks who are looking for a team. I can send them to you. He took my email and told me that he would pass it on to the person who had organized the classes. I am hoping that he sends me an email because I do get a lot of parents who want to find a team. If you are looking for a team, you might want to call the center and pursue this.
You see, this is how the Microbots got started. I went to Wake Forrest (an hour drive from Raleigh) to attend an organizing session. The fellow who was putting together the team, James T., asked if anyone was from Cary. I said “Yes”. He sent me the email addresses of 13 parents who wanted to be part of a team. I organized a meeting at Colonial Baptist Church to talk about Lego League.
A friend of mine, Kyle B., was one of the emailers. He taught the kids how to program and then we each took seven of the kids and formed the Spacebots and the Microbots. Both teams are still in FLL, three years later. It has been challenging but also intensely rewarding. Let me just say that FLL is an intense experience for young people. But if you have a child that wants to become an engineer, it is the “Little League” of engineering.
I asked the gentleman at the counter about this and he said, "I am sorry. We had to cancel the class. There just weren’t enough people signed up."
Starting a First Lego League team requires a lot of resources. The most common problems that I have seen with new teams are the need for coach (or coaches) and a place to practice. A first year team will require a lot of education (mostly programming) and that means a lot of time spent with the team for the coach. Many parents are reluctant to sign up for such a time commitment. You also need a place where you can meet. This place must be big enough to set up a 4’x8’ mat with the missions. Middle Creek Community Center seemed to have both.
"Oh no!” I remarked to the gentleman at the desk. "I know lots of folks who are looking for a team. I can send them to you. He took my email and told me that he would pass it on to the person who had organized the classes. I am hoping that he sends me an email because I do get a lot of parents who want to find a team. If you are looking for a team, you might want to call the center and pursue this.
You see, this is how the Microbots got started. I went to Wake Forrest (an hour drive from Raleigh) to attend an organizing session. The fellow who was putting together the team, James T., asked if anyone was from Cary. I said “Yes”. He sent me the email addresses of 13 parents who wanted to be part of a team. I organized a meeting at Colonial Baptist Church to talk about Lego League.
A friend of mine, Kyle B., was one of the emailers. He taught the kids how to program and then we each took seven of the kids and formed the Spacebots and the Microbots. Both teams are still in FLL, three years later. It has been challenging but also intensely rewarding. Let me just say that FLL is an intense experience for young people. But if you have a child that wants to become an engineer, it is the “Little League” of engineering.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Brush With Greatness
Our first year was a very difficult one. While we had many builders, we were a young team and Patrick and Clark were the only ones who could program. In the challenges, we actually did pretty well for our lack of experience. We came in under the average in terms of point total on the challenges but not near the bottom. We were thrilled at how well we had done.
This was the 2006 NC State FLL Championship and the powerhouse in our state was Magellan Charter School (see the academics section of the web page for their fll accomplishments). In that championship, we had a friendship round, an opportunity for multiple teams to work together to compete against other teams working together. As we stood side by side with the Magellan team, they all seemed to be six feet tall.
The Microbots met with them before the round started and they shared some of their secrets with us. It was amazing how they were accomplishing multiple missions with a single run. They were much older and they could have brushed us off but they didn't. They let us look at their robot and showed us some of their attachments. Our builders took notes.
They asked us what our best run was and we said "Individual Atom Manipulation". They said "then you will do that". We thought, "these guys are the epitome of gracious professionalism". We spent probably a half an hour talking with them. Our coaches even had to come looking for us. We were going to miss the challenge!
We won the “friendship challenge” with their help or maybe they won it with our help. They also won the NC State Championship and we said we want to be just like them someday.
This was the 2006 NC State FLL Championship and the powerhouse in our state was Magellan Charter School (see the academics section of the web page for their fll accomplishments). In that championship, we had a friendship round, an opportunity for multiple teams to work together to compete against other teams working together. As we stood side by side with the Magellan team, they all seemed to be six feet tall.
The Microbots met with them before the round started and they shared some of their secrets with us. It was amazing how they were accomplishing multiple missions with a single run. They were much older and they could have brushed us off but they didn't. They let us look at their robot and showed us some of their attachments. Our builders took notes.
They asked us what our best run was and we said "Individual Atom Manipulation". They said "then you will do that". We thought, "these guys are the epitome of gracious professionalism". We spent probably a half an hour talking with them. Our coaches even had to come looking for us. We were going to miss the challenge!
We won the “friendship challenge” with their help or maybe they won it with our help. They also won the NC State Championship and we said we want to be just like them someday.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
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