Lego League Teams

[GVDrummer]

Have any teams or people been helping out with the FIRST Lego Competition? Team 288 has helped over 10 teams this year from Grandville and we have 7 teams going to state. 

Also, who thinks the year’s game challenge was somewhat difficult? The rules seemed to be a butt. The RoboDawgs helped run the Grandville Invitational which drew over 24 teams from across the east side of Michigan and a few on the west side. It went very well, there were a few issues with the rules, but it was sorted out quickly.

Has anyone seen a perfect 400 yet?!?!

If so they are amazing!!!

One Grandville team received a 365 and 380.

[StephLee]

I helped with two of our county's five teams this year, and volunteered at the Pittsburgh competition. No one scored a 400, but one of our teams scored a 380 or so. We were quite proud of them; it was in the very last match and put them in first place for robot performance.

The team I was most proud of, though, was our team of elementary school kids, all fourth and fifth graders. Most of them attended the LEGO camps we ran over the summer, and so I felt kind of like a proud parent watching them compete. I think they placed 17th or so out of the 50-60 teams competing. It was an incredible feeling to know I'd helped them get started.

[GVDrummer]

yeah thats sweet, and to think these kids will be in our shoes in less then 5 years!!

[StephLee]

That's the best part! The first group of kids I worked with at a summer camp are now in the 8th grade, about to come up and join the high school team. It's a fantastic feeling, knowing that the people who are going to replace me next year are kids I helped get started when they were just entering the 6th grade!

[lynca]

I've seen a 355 and 375 at central Texas FLL , however I don't think the winner of the Champion's award is going to World Festival. I wonder why the FLL world festival is so exclusive ? How many teams qualify ?

[GVDrummer]

I know only one team from Michigan goes to worlds in Atlanta. So maybe around 100 considering global teams also

[Rich Wong]

Originally Posted by lynca

I've seen a 355 and 375 at central Texas FLL , however I don't think the winner of the Champion's award is going to World Festival. I wonder why the FLL world festival is so exclusive ? How many teams qualify ?

There are just not enough spots at the World Festival (about 80) and this year there are over 4000 registered FLL Teams. I'm not sure how many State Championship events are scheduled for this year but I bet it is over 80! Therefore not all the State Championships will hand out World Festival invitations.

Even if the FLL Team gets a perfect 400 points they will not be invited to the Atlanta unless the team wins the Director's Award.

[Allison K]

Originally Posted by GVDrummer

I know only one team from Michigan goes to worlds in Atlanta. So maybe around 100 considering global teams also

So this is confirmed then? Do you know which state tournament is giving out the director's award?

Also, I know of at least two perfect 400's in Michigan - one at the Saginaw regional and one at the Novi States.

I really enjoyed the theme but our younger kids (actually, even our older kids) had a lot of trouble with the strategy because scoring was so complicated. I think having the base in the middle of the board was easier than in the corner though, because at most the robot had to go four feet.

~Allison

[GVDrummer]

Originally Posted by Allison K

So this is confirmed then? Do you know which state tournament is giving out the director's award?

Also, I know of at least two perfect 400's in Michigan - one at the Saginaw regional and one at the Novi States.


~Allison

The award that is given out to go to Worlds in Atlanta is at Flint, Michigan this year. The tournament is this Saturday the 15th. One award is given out to the team who places best in the Teamwork Challenge, technical Judging, The presentation, and final the robot competition.

[EricH]

I'm hoping that one of the Atlanta slots will be occupied by one of the three JV Beach' Bots teams. One of them came close last year.

I mentored the first of the teams its first year. The next year, make that two and I was a ref/judge--I didn't have the time to mentor full time, so I was "on call" and helping another team at times. This year, no involvement due to distance, but I have been following the three teams as best I can.

And yes, the rules were confusing. Did they ask whoever came up with the 2005 loading zone rules to write them?

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by lynca

I've seen a 355 and 375 at central Texas FLL , however I don't think the winner of the Champion's award is going to World Festival. I wonder why the FLL world festival is so exclusive ? How many teams qualify ?

If you had one from each state tournament, and there were 50 of them alone, that's 50 teams already. Now add one for each country (or more) who are involved in FLL and that is already a huge amount.

If FRC had as many teams as FLL you would be asking the same questions, because it would have to be (even) more limiting as to who got in every year than it is.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

If you had one from each state tournament, and there were 50 of them alone, that's 50 teams already. Now add one for each country (or more) who are incolved in FLL and that is already a huge amount.

And some states have more than one already--SoCal has two (Legoland and Manhattan Beach) and there is at least one in Northern California. Try condensing those three into one.

[LizzieP]

At the NH state tournament, there were three teams that scored at least one 400. They were the Renewable Energy Hogs #20,and the Flying Geeks, and my FLL team, Mindstorms Mayhem #33(who scores were 398, 400, 400, 394, 397, and 400). All three teams used the RCX and gained the big fairness bonus. By the way, my team was the robot performance winners.

NH was one of the state tournaments that gave out a ticket to Atlanta. The Inventioneers won the Champions award and the Flying Geeks got second place.

The teamwork challenge at the state competition was making a mosaic from 150 pennies. At the qualifying tournament my team attended, you were given newspaper, tape, paper clips, and staples. You then had to build the tallest tower you could. Anyody know any other teamwork challenges from this year?

[Allison K]

Originally Posted by LizzieP

The teamwork challenge at the state competition was making a mosaic from 150 pennies. At the qualifying tournament my team attended, you were given newspaper, tape, paper clips, and staples. You then had to build the tallest tower you could. Anyody know any other teamwork challenges from this year?

My FRC team had the kids build a house of cards at the scrimmage we hosted. The tournament I judged at had something to do with Jenga towers, though I"m not sure exactly what since I was judging presentations. The regional tournament many of my teams went to gave the kids a long threaded rod and a bucket of nuts, and they had to thread as many of the nuts all the way across the rod as possible.

[wilsonmw04]

We took our FTC team to the VA&DC finals at JMU over the weekend. We had a great time showing off our robot and the kids had a blast driving it :-)
I found out something interesting while i was talking to the coaches/parents of the FLL teams: They are really, really excited about the FTC format. They see it as the next logical step as their kids outgrow FLL. Some of the questions they asked were, "how much does it cost?" "is there a Project that goes with the robot?" "how much time does it take to make one if those?"

They were quite pleased with the answers i gave them. Look for a lot of new teams in the future.

PS: another observation i saw was a lot of the teams were not affiliated with a school. All the students went to the same school, but they found it very difficult to work within the confines of the school's rules. Instead of jumping through the hoops, they did it themselves. Has anyone noticed that as well? Does anyone know if FIRST sees this as a problem?