EWeek at NJ Liberty Science Center

The 3rd annual Liberty Science Center Engineers Week Exhibition hosted by the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) team Landroids #109 will be held on President’s Day, Monday, February 15, 2010, 9 AM – 4 PM.

Each year, the top New Jersey FIRST LEGO League teams are invited to gather as volunteers for a day of robot demonstration and research project presentation to 3,500 to 4,000 visitors.

This year, the event will also include the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) and the Jr. FIRST LEGO League (Jr. FLL), forming a link between all three divisions, spanning from kindergarten to the high school level. Separate programming presentations offered by Storming Robots and LEGO models will also be on display. It will be a fun robotics day!

This LSC exhibition is a non-competitive, networking opportunity for the NJ teams. It is also a wonderful opportunity for parents and children who are interested in getting involved to see the robots up-close, and be able to chat with the teams and the coaches for more information.

This event showcases the top NJ teams from the 2009/10 season. This year will also include representative teams from the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) and Jr. FIRST LEGO League (Jr.FLL).

Participating Team List (will continue be updated):

Morning Session (9 AM – 12:30 PM)
FLL #4832 The Atoms Family (NJ State 1st place Champions Award)
FLL #3691 HMS Platinum (NJ State 1st place Robot Performance Award)
FLL #4104 Yobotics (NJ State 3rd place Robot Design Award)
Jr.FLL #103 Spongebots (NJ State Complexity and Decoration Award)
FTC # 3539 Say Watt? (NJ Snow Day Srcimmage Inspire Award & Winning Alliance)

Afternoon Session (12:30 PM – 4:00 PM)
FLL #109 Landroids (NJ State 1st place Robot Design Award)
FLL #4764 Bergen Bees (NJ State 2nd Place Project Award)
Jr. FLL #465 Special Lego Builder


Location:
Liberty Science Center
222 Jersey City Boulevard * Jersey City, NJ * 07305

Videos of FLL Smart Move 400 Points

Here is a collection of videos of different teams that got 400 points this year. Some of them are very cleverly designed and creative such as shooting darts at axis markers. And others had built huge multi-part machines which seem overly complicated and unnecessary.

Queens FLL Tournament Result

Congratulations to all 3 Forest Hills Teams for winning an award at the Queens FLL Qualifying Tournament, and moving onto the Citywide tournament at the Javits Center!

2010 Queens FLL Qualifying Awards
2010 Queens FLL Qualifying Tournament Winners

FLL # Team Name Pit # School
Performance
4th Place 3644 Bleeker Techies 21 BLEEKER 185
3rd Place 3348 RA Tech Titans 24 Resurrection Asencsion School
2nd Place 2320 Mr Roboto 6 IS 125 Woodside
1st Place 2280 TopGearz 15 I.S. 119

Design
3rd Place 2677 Team Cobra 17 Academy for College preparation and Career Exploration
2nd Place 6513 MasterMinds 35 Middle School 88
1st Place 3734 Roboneers 7 Garden School

Research
4th Place 9325 Robo Squad 19 Forest Hills Lego Club
3rd Place 1732 Warbots 14 Cambria Center for the Gifted Child
2nd Place 344 Mission Masters 2 2 PS 148Q
1st Place 9370 LAMChops Old Schoolers 25 Louis Armstromg Middle School

Teamwork
2nd Place 2382 Ryan Lions 1 MS 216
1st Place 3241 Zwicker 32 PS 128

Judge's Award 9514 Planetary Forces 8 Forest Hills Lego League


Champion's Award
3rd Place 2283 SuperBotz 16 I.S. 119
2nd Place 876 Mindstorm Mechanics 29 Forest Hills Lego Club
1st Place 733 Boogie Bot 28

Manhattan FLL Qualifying Tournament on NY1 News

Check out the Manahattan FLL on NY1 news!


http://www.ny1.com/5-manhattan-news-content/top_stories/112550/students-put-robotic-skills-to-the-test?ap=1&Flash

Rube Goldberg

Here is another contest that my friend Christina Duer has sent to me. It sounds like a very interesting event.

RUBE GOLDBERG MACHINE CONTEST 2010

Machine Contest

The Rube Goldberg Machine Contest (RGMC) brings the ideas of Pulitzer Prize-winning artist Rube Goldberg's "invention" cartoons to life. This Olympics of Complexity is designed to pull students away from conventional problem-solving and push them into the endless chaos of imagination and intuitive thought. To be specific, groups are given an elementary challenge: something as simple as peeling an apple, sharpening a pencil, or putting toothpaste on a toothbrush. But instead of just "solving" the problem, students have to make the solution as complicated and as convoluted as possible. In fact, the more steps - there's a minimum of twenty - the better the Rube Goldberg Machine. And what a machine! An assemblage of ordinary objects, mechanical gadgets, and the oddest odds and ends are linked together and somehow get to the desired goal.



THE CHALLENGE:
Dispense an Appropriate Amount of Hand Sanitizer into a Hand

Cradle of Aviation Museum,Garden City, NY

General public is invited to view the contest free of charge.
Cradle of Aviation Museum. One Davis Avenue, Garden City, New York. 11530

February 13, 2010 at 10:00 AM

http://www.rubegoldberg.com/

RoboCup Junior

Another interesting robotic competition is the RoboCup Junior.
Unlike the FLL, RoboCup has the same 3 categories/challenges every year- Soccer, Rescue and Dance. and participants are allowed to use any robots of their choosing.
Here are some Videos of past competitions:
Soccer


Dance


Rescue


The RCJ @ NY/NJ Regional Event will be held on Sunday February 28, 2010 at the the New York Hall of Science in Queens NY.

The Regional Tournament will be a formal tournament for teams competing in one of the three RCJ challenges -- Soccer, Rescue or Dance, in primary and secondary age categories. The primary age category is for teams where all members are age 14 and under; secondary is for teams where all members are age 14 and over. A winner in each challenge category will be eligible to receive an invitation to the RoboCupJunior International 2010 in Singapore.

http://www.rcjnynj.org/

Robotics Update - Jan 2010

After our marathon workshop on Dec 31, 2009, the teams are in much better shape for the tournament:
Robo Squad now has 3 robots, each with a different design. Patrick and Brian are going with the Tread design and is far ahead in the programming than the other teams. Marshall and Michael has a fancy hook design that is going to catch all the hoops. Jeffrey, Feras and Justin just finished building their robot, and is starting to program the robot for the marker mission.
Mindstorm Mechanics has 2 robots, girls vs. boys. The girls have a robot fully loaded with sensors, and a giant scooper in the front. The boys have a smaller scooper in the front, and is contemplating of adding some sensors too.
I am so proud of the kids for coming up with their own original designs. Remember always test the mission run multiple times, the robot must be able to consistently accomplish the missions in the exact same manner each time. Here is a tip, always start the robot from the same position at the base, build an alignment tool if that helps.
We will have another mini-marathon session on Monday Martin Luther Day, from 9:00 - 1:00 at the field house, hope you can all make it!

Happy Building!

Coach Iffat

Mindstorm Mechanics - Jan 9

Your presentation is coming together. I will try to get some props. Did anyone download music to play during A Chaotic Morning and A Calm Morning?

You still have a lot to do. I need written and spoken introductions to explain your science board as well as the drawing that will be put on them. Please remember to bring the petition to school and get it signed. Yasmeen, I think you’re supposed to find out where to send the final petition.

Then you need a play that explains a calm morning.

Remember you have five minutes and you need to fill it and make sure you’re understood and clear.

Good luck and see you Saturday

Nancy

Robo Squad Update - Jan 9

You guys rock! Your presentation looked good. I need pictures from you for the science board. Photos of TDUs, submarines, recycling plants, etc. Think about costumes and props. If you’re supposed to be a scientist, do you have a lab coat you could wear and some test tube or something scientific to carry? Brian is the scuba diver and I think he’s supposed to be carrying his wetsuit! I love it. I will get a microphone for Marshall as the reporter and perhaps a fedora or something to make him reporter-ish.

Please make sure you know your parts and have them written out on Saturday so I can make a complete script for Monday.

Also each of you is supposed to make a Lego submarine for our commercial break. Can someone write the commercial or come up with a theme song for Lego that you can all sing during the commercial break. It’s supposed to be silly and fun!

Good luck and see you Saturday