Is the EV3 Robot Set enough?

[eneubec1]

Hi,
Our FRC team is going to help start up 4 FLL teams from one school this coming year. This would be 4 individually registered teams that would share 1 field for their practice field and they are all from the same elementary school. (4th and 5th graders).

I was reviewing this and had some questions:
http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/fll/pricing-and-payment-terms

We are curious if the EV3 Robot set also includes any/all of the EV3 Robot options that are listed at the bottom of the table. I can't imagine competing without some of these sensors, and trying to determine if we have to purchase them in addition to the Robot set, or if they are included.


I'd also be curious on thoughts about having 4 teams from one school and the thoughts around sharing some of the robot resources. We definitely are going to have 1 EV3 per team. I'm curious on thoughts around sharing other resources. (sensors, fields,laptops..)

Thanks

[RecycledElectro]

Take a look at what some of the successful teams did in previous years. It may answer Your question:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fll+run

Andrew

[Allison K]

EV3 Kits
The core set does include at least one of each of the key components (battery, charger, motors, etc.). The line items at the bottom of the table are for if you'd like to purchase extra parts on top of those which come in the core set. For reference, I would recommend getting one additional large servo motor per team. The core kit comes with three motors total (two large, one medium), but four motors are legal and there are four motor ports.

For first year teams of young students the FLL Robot Set (which includes Core Set and Expansion Set) is reasonable. They won't be able to build anything crazy, and there will probably come a time when you wish you had a few extra Expansion Sets, but given practical matters of finance they'll be alright. A simple but reliable robot can be very successful. Plan to invest in more parts each year to continue to supplement your collection. Also, as a first year team you'll probably find other resources become your limiting factor before parts do.

Fields
Unless all of the teams are meeting at different times and thus won't have to share the field, I highly recommend having one field kit per team. Or at least one per every two teams. With the completely autonomous nature of FLL a field is absolutely necessary to use meeting time efficiently. Even if the additional fields are just on the floor without a table and borders that's better than trying to split field time.

Laptops
Much like fields, it's difficult to make efficient use of meeting time with anything less than one laptop per team. And that's only for programming, so if you plan on being able to work on the project and the robot at the same time you'll need additional computers available for the project. It's possible to work on the project without a laptop, but it's not terribly efficient.

[JimInNJ]

EV3 Kits
The core set does include at least one of each of the key components (battery, charger, motors, etc.). The line items at the bottom of the table are for if you'd like to purchase extra parts on top of those which come in the core set. For reference, I would recommend getting one additional large servo motor per team. The core kit comes with three motors total (two large, one medium), but four motors are legal and there are four motor ports.

For first year teams of young students the FLL Robot Set (which includes Core Set and Expansion Set) is reasonable. They won't be able to build anything crazy, and there will probably come a time when you wish you had a few extra Expansion Sets, but given practical matters of finance they'll be alright. A simple but reliable robot can be very successful. Plan to invest in more parts each year to continue to supplement your collection. Also, as a first year team you'll probably find other resources become your limiting factor before parts do.

Fields
Unless all of the teams are meeting at different times and thus won't have to share the field, I highly recommend having one field kit per team. Or at least one per every two teams. With the completely autonomous nature of FLL a field is absolutely necessary to use meeting time efficiently. Even if the additional fields are just on the floor without a table and borders that's better than trying to split field time.

Laptops
Much like fields, it's difficult to make efficient use of meeting time with anything less than one laptop per team. And that's only for programming, so if you plan on being able to work on the project and the robot at the same time you'll need additional computers available for the project. It's possible to work on the project without a laptop, but it's not terribly efficient.

I totally agree with Allison! The FLL Kit will be plenty to keep first year teams busy. A fourth motor may be helpful, but teaching the kids to design within constraints isn't a bad thing either. In the NXT days all teams only had 3 motors. Plan to add parts going forward, but the kit should be OK to get started.

I can say from my own experience that two teams can work on 1 field, but any more than that will cause a bottleneck. Also keep in mind that last year's kit contained about 2800 pieces for only $75, these are the cheapest Lego pieces that you will ever buy!

If you have to share laptops at least get each team a thumbdrive for their programs. Having to explain that the other team has accidentally erased the program that took them 8 weeks to fine-tune to perfection is something that I would avoid at all costs.

[eneubec1]

Thanks for the responses. All very helpful

Does the base kit have any sensors included, such that we can follow a line or determine colors?

[Billfred]

The EV3 set that you can buy through the FLL system includes (someone correct me if I'm wrong) an ultrasonic sensor, a touch sensor, a gyro sensor, and I want to say it's a color sensor but we've only ever used it as a light sensor.

And while there are invariably a few items you'll want to add to the stockpile (such as bigger wheels in Nature's Fury to clear obstacles), we found the two kits mixed together to be plenty for our two teams. :)

[BrennanB]

The EV3 set that you can buy through the FLL system includes (someone correct me if I'm wrong) an ultrasonic sensor, a touch sensor, a gyro sensor, and I want to say it's a color sensor but we've only ever used it as a light sensor.


This is correct. The light sensor = color sensor. They are one and the same.