So the Pink Team joined in on the Moonbots (Google Lunar XPRIZE) craze this summer, and we realized that so many more FIRST teams could get involved in it each year!
So to get the word out- it's pretty much a full blown competition thats completed in only 3 months (if even). It's with LEGO MINDSTORMS but the game's different than FLL. Our team was made up of 17 year olds, and it was still a blast! All teams participate in Phase 1 where you set up a team website of some sort, write a team biography, write up a design proposal, and create a video about one of their topics/ questions.
Top 20 finalists are chosen to continue on from here. Then, you put together a STEM Outreach project, make up a CAD model of your bot, and you know the rest (prototype, re-design, build, program, re-design, everything but sleep
)! The field is set up wherever you want because you skype the actual competition! You also mount a camera of your choice to your robot and upload the footage afterwards. Throughout all of this, you're blogging, vlogging, etc.
It really feels like a year of FIRST crammed into a few weeks
So it's a great "offseason" project. Fun to just test new things out with it, teach a little, learn a litte- just a great experience all together. Oh and winners get a FIRST registration paid for!
But there's alot more to it all. The winners of this years competition will be announced this week, too. Definitely worth checking out- for FLL, FTC, and FRC....
Their website:
http://moonbots.org/
Our whole Moonboting adventures pretty much if you'd like to check it out:
http://thepinkteam.tumblr.com/
(more teams can be found through the Moonbots site)
every year, Dean's speeches get better. in the process, he's also teaching people to be patient. - Winged Wonder [more] 
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