RECAP -- Week #2 Meeting
The Animals Allies map is here, and the Lego animals and obstacles are assembled – see the attached pictures. By the way, the round brown pieces are meant to represent poop, in case you were curious. The boys again had a great time (see picture), and worked hard today to complete the Lego assembly, but were a little distracted by the kittens who were peeking in the window and roaming around the basement.
The Lego Mindstorms EV3 robot is also here, and the boys got a basic programming lesson from Price. But there is a lot more to learn over the coming weeks, and now that the “playing field” is set up, the team can brainstorm about how to tackle the many problems and earn the most points.
Important links:
--Robot game—SUMMARY (link)
--Robot Game missions and points (starts on p. 21 of this document)
--Competition information (here) and blog
The FIRST Lego League is at its heart a competition. Teams prepare three categories—core values presentation, challenge, and robot game—and first compete in the “qualifying competitions” in early December. Approximately 1/3 of the teams qualify to the state competition, held at Liberty High School in Hillsboro on Jan. 14-15. From there, it is on to the world festival (St. Louis) and open championships (California, Spain, Australia, etc.) in April and May. We can dream, can’t we? The kids said that if they win, they’ll have a pizza party with table delivery service by their very own pizza delivery robot.
I’ll need to sign up our team for competitions if the boys are interested. Entry fee is $100, so I want to make sure we’re serious about competing this year before dropping the dough.
Finally, you are welcome to arrange a time this week to come over and begin programming. Price would love the company. Next week we build the robot. See you then!
