At today's meeting with the Monday/Wednesday team I got some good news. They had all agreed on a team name, they are The Unknown. I don't know what they mean by it, but they like it better than all of the other suggestions they've made. We also talked about ideas for an engineering notebook and as I suspected they were all pretty set on having a VEX Robotics Engineering Notebook just like the other team. It was worth making sure. I'll order one so it will hopefully arrive by their next meeting in a couple of weeks.
Since everyone had felt strongly about not specializing, about everyone having a chance to do everything, I outlined a rotation schedule where two people would work on robot design, two on programming, and one on driving practice. I space out those who were comfortable with programming so that they would be working with others when it was their turn at the programming station. I also gave a brief overview of the Modkit (MIT Scratch-like) programming language. Almost half of our meeting was gone by that time so we only had time for five minute rotations.
The system worked out well as far as staying on task and not getting bored. Drivers stayed on task for the full five minutes and would have kept driving for longer if they were allowed to. The design group, without a robot to Do and Test on flew through a couple sketches each in their 10 minutes at the design station and needed the most attention to keep their focus. Perhaps if they had built partial components they could handle a longer time.
At the programming station people barely got their feet wet, it wasn't enough time to build something functional and the robot was busy driving so they wouldn't have been able to download to it anyway. They hardly touched their worksheet for the think stage. They could easily use more time and now that they all have had a taste of it, we will use both computers at that station next time.
We did a brief review of how things went and they were all enthusiastic about feeling like they had gotten a lot done. We won't meet until the 5th of January, but when we do they are suppose to talk about their STEM project and not get on the computers or get out the robot until I get there and then we will try to have time for 10 minute rotations. I asked if they wanted to keep doing everything or do specializations and the few who understood what that was were all for specializing. I think we need to try this way another couple of times before making that decision.
Some parents have offered to host get-togethers over the holiday. I hope they work out for a little more time together and some team building.
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Monday, December 15, 2014
Programming with Modkit
Today the team dove right into programming with Modkit. Despite their previous objections of it being "too easy", it was great to see how fast they could iterate through modifying their program and downloading and testing it. A couple of team members really excelled at this. I think they will be good teachers for the others.
There was a fair amount of driving control practice between programming iterations but little design modifications. (It was hard to add pieces to a moving robot.) At the end we discussed how we might do this differently on Wednesday and committed to rotating through design, programming, and driver control stations to give everyone a chance.
The team members also can work on becoming familiar with the programming software and a CAD based design software from home. The team members should be able to save their programs to the cloud if they sign in with their EBLS student accounts and the CAD software is free with registration.
There was a fair amount of driving control practice between programming iterations but little design modifications. (It was hard to add pieces to a moving robot.) At the end we discussed how we might do this differently on Wednesday and committed to rotating through design, programming, and driver control stations to give everyone a chance.
The team members also can work on becoming familiar with the programming software and a CAD based design software from home. The team members should be able to save their programs to the cloud if they sign in with their EBLS student accounts and the CAD software is free with registration.
- Programming: http://www.modkit.com/vex
- Design: http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexiq/software/vexassembler
I think that it's valuable to spend a good amount of time in the Think stage of the Think-Do-Test cycle. Even without a robot to or computer to use a lot of valuable brainstorming can be done while working on chores or doodling on a piece of paper.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Group specializations, or not
The second weekday meeting of the Monday/Wednesday team was a little scattered. I was hoping we would have our engineering notebook by now and was trying to get some VEX related software installed on a couple of school computers. I tasked the team with coming up with a name while I worked on those things and they were still unable to come up with something they all agreed on. I tried working through some word associations from books they have read but still no dice.
We then reviewed the tasks they wanted to accomplish by the next challenge and discussed ideas on how to best accomplish the tasks. I suggested breaking into smaller groups focusing on driving, designing and building, programming and the STEM project but they all wanted to drive and do the other things and felt it would not be fair if they didn't get a chance to do everything. So much for specialization. This approach has some advantages, like everyone learning from all the stages, but misses out on the advantages from specialization. I'll bring the choice up again when we get closer to the next challenge.
What I said isn't quite correct. Not everyone was excited about building. All but one were until I said that they need to design before building, then it dropped down to just two and even they weren't exited. I'll have to figure out a way to help them see that it's a good thing to spend a little more time in the thinking and designing stage of the Think-Do-Test iteration loop. I suspect the same kind of thing will show up in the programming.
Speaking of programming, it sounds like most of the team members have had some exposure already. None of them had seen Scratch, but at least two were familiar with doing JavaScript programming stuff on Kahn Academy. After showing them Modkit the first exclamation was "That's too easy!" We'll see how they do programming the robot. I'll trade "too easy" for time wasted running down a syntax error unless they are able to write a winning program in an hour and get bored because it's too easy.
They decided to work on the research project from home after school on Fridays, when they have more time and will collaborate via a shared Google Drive document. This year's STEM research project, as they correctly remembered, is suppose to focus on engineering. The VEX Robotics group has put together a table of how the research project can be mapped to education standards.
I hope that picking an engineering research project isn't as big of a hurdle as picking a team name.
We then reviewed the tasks they wanted to accomplish by the next challenge and discussed ideas on how to best accomplish the tasks. I suggested breaking into smaller groups focusing on driving, designing and building, programming and the STEM project but they all wanted to drive and do the other things and felt it would not be fair if they didn't get a chance to do everything. So much for specialization. This approach has some advantages, like everyone learning from all the stages, but misses out on the advantages from specialization. I'll bring the choice up again when we get closer to the next challenge.
What I said isn't quite correct. Not everyone was excited about building. All but one were until I said that they need to design before building, then it dropped down to just two and even they weren't exited. I'll have to figure out a way to help them see that it's a good thing to spend a little more time in the thinking and designing stage of the Think-Do-Test iteration loop. I suspect the same kind of thing will show up in the programming.
Speaking of programming, it sounds like most of the team members have had some exposure already. None of them had seen Scratch, but at least two were familiar with doing JavaScript programming stuff on Kahn Academy. After showing them Modkit the first exclamation was "That's too easy!" We'll see how they do programming the robot. I'll trade "too easy" for time wasted running down a syntax error unless they are able to write a winning program in an hour and get bored because it's too easy.
They decided to work on the research project from home after school on Fridays, when they have more time and will collaborate via a shared Google Drive document. This year's STEM research project, as they correctly remembered, is suppose to focus on engineering. The VEX Robotics group has put together a table of how the research project can be mapped to education standards.
I hope that picking an engineering research project isn't as big of a hurdle as picking a team name.
Monday, December 8, 2014
Challenge Review
For today's meeting we reviewed lesson learned from the VEX Challenge and talked about things we need to work on. Some of the lessons learned, as shared by the team members, are:
We finished up with some driving practice pushing blocks and an impromptu obstacle course. They had a lot of fun.
- Making modifications at the last minute the robot failed.
- Other teams didn't follow the book build instructions, but that's OK, it isn't necessary to have a good robot.
- Do better at stacking will help.
- Our current robot sometimes doesn't work.
- Size matters, keep in parameters.
- Use the design notebook.
- STEM research project.
- Need a team name.
We had a snag again with the system saying a component needed to be updated and couldn't get the claw going with the borrowed motor that failed to get returned on Saturday. Without internet access or the updater installed on a school computer I was unable to resolve the version update message and figure out if the motor was still OK before returning it. We also seemed to be short our charger. A result of my having to leave early.
Saturday, December 6, 2014
Wilson Elementary VEX IQ Challenge
Today was a blast. I was, unfortunately, a few minutes late showing up with the robot and my team, 1129K, was waiting at the doors and excited to get started. It was energizing to see so much enthusiasm, and it seemed to last through the day.
After listening to the instructions and a couple of matches both EBLS teams started to become pros at the whole process. At one point 1129K got a special kudos announcement for being ready with another team in the queue during the skill matches, a first for the event that day.
We had great support from the school and parents. Mrs. K dropped off snacks in the morning and yesterday Pizza was ordered and it was delivered on time. Dr. Johnson came and gave great moral support and took a lot of pictures and we had some parents able to attend and watch.
I was so impressed at how well the two teams handled themselves in the judging portion of the event. They gave well-thought answers and it was obvious they had learned a lot through their own observations.
Unfortunately I had to leave early to take care of another commitment I had made before I became involved in EBLS VEX IQ, but looking at the scores at the end of the day, they made a great showing:
Finalist Rankings:
Teamwork Rankings
Some very good showings for two teams that first got their robot kits two and a half weeks ago and had a holiday eat up a good chunk of that time.
They didn't have the awards listed yet on the web site. I will edit this page and add that as I find out more how things wrapped up and how the awards went.
http://www.robotevents.com/robot-competitions/vex-iq-challenge/re-viqc-14-2472.html
After listening to the instructions and a couple of matches both EBLS teams started to become pros at the whole process. At one point 1129K got a special kudos announcement for being ready with another team in the queue during the skill matches, a first for the event that day.
We had great support from the school and parents. Mrs. K dropped off snacks in the morning and yesterday Pizza was ordered and it was delivered on time. Dr. Johnson came and gave great moral support and took a lot of pictures and we had some parents able to attend and watch.
I was so impressed at how well the two teams handled themselves in the judging portion of the event. They gave well-thought answers and it was obvious they had learned a lot through their own observations.
Unfortunately I had to leave early to take care of another commitment I had made before I became involved in EBLS VEX IQ, but looking at the scores at the end of the day, they made a great showing:
Finalist Rankings:
| Rank | Team# | Name | Points |
| 5 | 1129K | Edith Bowen | 29 |
| 13 | 1129M | Edith Bowen | 15 |
Teamwork Rankings
| Rank | Team# | Name | Points |
| 11 | 1129K | Edith Bowen | 79 |
| 15 | 1129M | Edith Bowen | 62 |
Some very good showings for two teams that first got their robot kits two and a half weeks ago and had a holiday eat up a good chunk of that time.
They didn't have the awards listed yet on the web site. I will edit this page and add that as I find out more how things wrapped up and how the awards went.
http://www.robotevents.com/robot-competitions/vex-iq-challenge/re-viqc-14-2472.html
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Calendar added
I've created a Google Calendar and embedded it into a page on this blog to help myself and others visualize the weekly meetings and the challenges that I'm aware of.
I looked at the EBLS calendar and cleared team practices for days when there isn't any school.
The Monday/Wednesday team gets hit with Monday holidays a few times. When Monday is a holiday but Tuesday isn't, if a Monday/Wednesday team member is willing and able, they can attend on Tuesday of that week instead.
I don't know what the plans are after the championship challenge at the end of February. I am anticipating meeting at least once after as a wrap-up. We will figure out those details as we get closer.
I looked at the EBLS calendar and cleared team practices for days when there isn't any school.
The Monday/Wednesday team gets hit with Monday holidays a few times. When Monday is a holiday but Tuesday isn't, if a Monday/Wednesday team member is willing and able, they can attend on Tuesday of that week instead.
I don't know what the plans are after the championship challenge at the end of February. I am anticipating meeting at least once after as a wrap-up. We will figure out those details as we get closer.
Monday/Wednesday team completes the clawbot
The two team members of the Monday/Wednesday team made great progress today and stayed longer than an hour (thanks to the patience of their parents) and finished their clawbot. Nice job you two!
It is a fun design. It reminds me of a combination fork-lift and automatic stacking hay wagon.
We weren't able to test it completely because the borrowed motor needed it's firmware updated to talk to the controller, but all the parts appeared to be in the right places and everything but the claw, where the borrowed motor was attached, worked. I had my laptop but haven't been able to sort out network access yet, so I had to bring the robot home to update the firmware. Once updated, it all ran fine.
We should be ready for Saturday without meeting Friday. I hadn't heard back from any parents about Friday anyway so Mrs. K and I are not planning on it.
Now the only hitch is that we haven't received our second welcome kit with the name plates. We will have one pair to share between two teams. I hope they work with us.
It is a fun design. It reminds me of a combination fork-lift and automatic stacking hay wagon.
We weren't able to test it completely because the borrowed motor needed it's firmware updated to talk to the controller, but all the parts appeared to be in the right places and everything but the claw, where the borrowed motor was attached, worked. I had my laptop but haven't been able to sort out network access yet, so I had to bring the robot home to update the firmware. Once updated, it all ran fine.
We should be ready for Saturday without meeting Friday. I hadn't heard back from any parents about Friday anyway so Mrs. K and I are not planning on it.
Now the only hitch is that we haven't received our second welcome kit with the name plates. We will have one pair to share between two teams. I hope they work with us.
A spare VEX IQ smart motor
Gary emailed back and suggested that we look into having spare parts to avoid being in a pickle like this. He said that his VEX IQ robot wasn't going to be used this weekend so we could borrow a motor from him until the end of the challenge on Saturday. We're saved. This is a very good thing because we had a couple of very enthusiastic builders from the Monday/Wednesday team show up today to keep building.
I talked to VEX support on the phone and they were very helpful. They said that it sounded like stripped gears in the motor and said they can help resolve the issue if I get them an order number. Great news.
I talked to VEX support on the phone and they were very helpful. They said that it sounded like stripped gears in the motor and said they can help resolve the issue if I get them an order number. Great news.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Transmission trouble
While waiting for me to finish with the Monday/Wednesday team Esther got out her team's clawbot for some driving practice, but there was some trouble. The robot pulled more and more to one side until finally it failed to turn the wheels on that side at all.
Pulling the motor out we found that it sounded like the electric motor was spinning inside, but that the place the axle inserted into would stop spinning with the lightest pressure, as if the gears inside the motor had stripped. A bit discouraging on a new robot just days before the first challenge.
I saw that we were past the VEX support hours so I sent off an email to them and to Gary Stewardson and hoped for the best.
Pulling the motor out we found that it sounded like the electric motor was spinning inside, but that the place the axle inserted into would stop spinning with the lightest pressure, as if the gears inside the motor had stripped. A bit discouraging on a new robot just days before the first challenge.
I saw that we were past the VEX support hours so I sent off an email to them and to Gary Stewardson and hoped for the best.
The Monday/Wednesday team finishes the robot base
The Monday/Wednesday team has come a long way from their rough start more than a week ago. The divide and conquer method they had started near the end last week was working out well and they not only finished up the robot base, but they made some progress into the parts for the clawbot.
We held a driving practice and competition the last ten minutes of the meeting and talked over strategies to score points if we weren't able to complete the clawbot before Saturday. Two of the team members said they could come tomorrow to build and another said they could come on Friday. I told them that I would come tomorrow and would come Friday only if they talked to their parents and their parents had agreed.
We held a driving practice and competition the last ten minutes of the meeting and talked over strategies to score points if we weren't able to complete the clawbot before Saturday. Two of the team members said they could come tomorrow to build and another said they could come on Friday. I told them that I would come tomorrow and would come Friday only if they talked to their parents and their parents had agreed.
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
EBLS Robotics - VEX IQ Challenge this Saturday
The Edith Bowen Laboratory School VEX IQ teams are registered for the challenge this Saturday, December 6th, 2014, at Wilson Elementary in Logan from 9:00 am to 2:45 pm. More information about the event can be found at robotevents.com here:
http://www.robotevents.com/
VEX IQ challenges are cooperative team events to achieve a goal. This year's challenge is called Highrise.
http://www.roboticseducation.
The staff at EBLS will register the two teams for the event tomorrow. It would be great if the teams had some names for them. Something less generic than EBLS - A and EBLS - 1.
http://www.robotevents.com/
VEX IQ challenges are cooperative team events to achieve a goal. This year's challenge is called Highrise.
http://www.roboticseducation.
The staff at EBLS will register the two teams for the event tomorrow. It would be great if the teams had some names for them. Something less generic than EBLS - A and EBLS - 1.
The Tuesday/Thursday team finishes their clawbot
I dropped by at the end of the Tuesday/Thursday team meeting today and they had already finished their clawbot and were ready for some driver practice. Nice teamwork! They had done a divide and conquer build style, with each team member pulling parts and pre-assembling their step as much as possible. They were going to be ready for the challenge this Saturday.
Monday, November 24, 2014
Two EBLS VEX IQ teams get started
Now we had two VEX IQ kits charged and ready to go. Oliver had helped me disassemble the first kit last Friday and we took the second kit home over the weekend to charge and update it's firmware.
The Lego group all seemed happy with their choice and filed off to get to work on their team tasks. They were in for a two hour stint. I hadn't committed anyone in VEX to more than an hour and I thought we'd have enough time to get ready before the December 6th challenge so we stuck to just one hour.
A number of VEX youth said they had conflicts Mondays and Wednesdays at 3:30 - 4:30 PM, so that became our Tuesday Thursday team meeting at the same time on those days. Unfortunately that included the children of both VEX coaches so I went with the Monday Wednesday group. I will try to catch as much of Tuesday/Thursday as I can to spend time with Esther.
The Tuesday/Thursday team made great progress today and they were planning on meeting tomorrow. Forgetting that the following Monday was a holiday for Edith Bowen Laboratory School, I thought we would catch up with them next week. It wasn't until after the meeting that I realized my oversight.
The Lego group all seemed happy with their choice and filed off to get to work on their team tasks. They were in for a two hour stint. I hadn't committed anyone in VEX to more than an hour and I thought we'd have enough time to get ready before the December 6th challenge so we stuck to just one hour.
A number of VEX youth said they had conflicts Mondays and Wednesdays at 3:30 - 4:30 PM, so that became our Tuesday Thursday team meeting at the same time on those days. Unfortunately that included the children of both VEX coaches so I went with the Monday Wednesday group. I will try to catch as much of Tuesday/Thursday as I can to spend time with Esther.
The Tuesday/Thursday team made great progress today and they were planning on meeting tomorrow. Forgetting that the following Monday was a holiday for Edith Bowen Laboratory School, I thought we would catch up with them next week. It wasn't until after the meeting that I realized my oversight.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
FLL or VEX IQ Challenge
Today was the first day getting the EBLS students together and sorted into Lego and VEX IQ. Fortunately Esther seemed OK with going either way, because it seemed that the First Lego League (FLL) coaching was covered by a USU student and a parent. Eric's son was also fine with doing VEX so we both went that direction.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Your child has been chosen to participate
And so it begins. Here is the email sent out to a number of families. The emphasis of specific parts is mine.
Dear EBLS Parents,
Your child has been chosen to participate on a school sponsored Robotics Team. This is an exciting opportunity to learn about STEM related fields.
As a result of being on this team, your child will be asked to commit to working with team members during after school hours and participating in a robotics competition on weekends. It is important that you understand the need for your child to attend as much as possible and to let the coach know if there is a need for your child to be gone.
Our first meeting will be tomorrow, Wednesday, November 19th at 3:30 in Mrs. Kyriopoulos's classroom (room 219). Please discuss with your child and determine a preference for Vex or Lego's. Your child will need to state this preference at our meeting tomorrow. Your child was given a document for your signature that is required to be returned to Mrs. Kyriopoulos before participating on the Robotics Team.
Once again, your child is to congratulated for being selected to participate on a Robotics Team. Please direct questions to Mrs. Joan Kyriopoulos at (removed, see your email)
Monday, November 17, 2014
Coaches Meeting
Today's meeting was a little bit of spill over from last week, but the focus was on committing volunteer robotics coaches for Lego and VEX teams and getting the organization of those teams started.
Mr. Johnson, Director of the school, expressed his support and excitement about the opportunity available to students through these systems. The school was going to have one FLL and two VEX IQ teams and the lines were drawn a little more formally on who was going to be coaching what team. The pickings were slim though. There were maybe 5-6 parents there and only a couple that could commit to 3:30 pm on weekdays. It's a tough to meet during normal business hours with a full-time job.
We also had a tentative schedule to meet after school on Mondays and Wednesday at 3:30 pm, with a request for morning times and some concern raised about conflicts those days. The final decision would be made as we met with the students on Wednesday.
Mr. Johnson, Director of the school, expressed his support and excitement about the opportunity available to students through these systems. The school was going to have one FLL and two VEX IQ teams and the lines were drawn a little more formally on who was going to be coaching what team. The pickings were slim though. There were maybe 5-6 parents there and only a couple that could commit to 3:30 pm on weekdays. It's a tough to meet during normal business hours with a full-time job.
We also had a tentative schedule to meet after school on Mondays and Wednesday at 3:30 pm, with a request for morning times and some concern raised about conflicts those days. The final decision would be made as we met with the students on Wednesday.
Saturday, November 15, 2014
VEX IQ Firmware Updates
I finished building the VEX IQ robot base in record time. At least I expect it was a record for taking so long. I ended up rebuilding a few parts because I incorrectly guessed at the length of the axles used. (edit: Again, it would have been much faster if I had realized the poster cross referenced the part numbers.) Once it was together and all charged up, it was time for a test drive. The VEX IQ computer ("brain") had a built-in Driver Control program so I could try it from the remote right away.
Trouble! One set of wheels went the right way when I pressed the stick forward but the other set went the opposite way. Perfect if you are trying to spin in circles. I thought I would have to rebuild again but as I looked at the steps I couldn't figure out what I could have done wrong.
Reading some I decided to try a firmware update in case it wasn't me but a bug in the software. Voila! After the updates both sides went the same direction when I pressed forward on the two control sticks.
Trouble! One set of wheels went the right way when I pressed the stick forward but the other set went the opposite way. Perfect if you are trying to spin in circles. I thought I would have to rebuild again but as I looked at the steps I couldn't figure out what I could have done wrong.
Reading some I decided to try a firmware update in case it wasn't me but a bug in the software. Voila! After the updates both sides went the same direction when I pressed forward on the two control sticks.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Vexed building VEX IQ
I spent a half an hour this morning attempting to build the robot base to see how involved it is. I may be underestimating the skills of the grade school kids involved, but I think VEX can still learn a lot from LEGO on how to give good building instructions. In thirty minutes I only accomplished three steps using a total of under a dozen parts. Most of the time was spent wondering which of several similar looking parts they were talking about. (edit: Much later I found out from a forum that the big poster I had ignored had all the parts on it. That helped a ton, but my Lego comment still stands.)
I don't want to sound negative against VEX IQ. I think the remote control robot, like a radio controlled vehicle, is an aspect that most people can latch onto. I think that with better labeling of parts than the bags and instructions initially give and careful handling (there are a few bags of tiny parts) it can be accomplished, but it may take more careful supervision of a smaller groups of 3rd graders to do VEX IQ than with LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3. This unfortunately seems at odds with the age limits of FLL vs VEX.
I could see a completed LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 or (especially) VEX IQ bot being introduced to the after school club kids to interact with in a controlled way, but I wouldn't recommend allowing much contact with the competition team's robots until after the season is over.
I don't want to sound negative against VEX IQ. I think the remote control robot, like a radio controlled vehicle, is an aspect that most people can latch onto. I think that with better labeling of parts than the bags and instructions initially give and careful handling (there are a few bags of tiny parts) it can be accomplished, but it may take more careful supervision of a smaller groups of 3rd graders to do VEX IQ than with LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3. This unfortunately seems at odds with the age limits of FLL vs VEX.
I could see a completed LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 or (especially) VEX IQ bot being introduced to the after school club kids to interact with in a controlled way, but I wouldn't recommend allowing much contact with the competition team's robots until after the season is over.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
USU VEX club observations
Ethan and I went to USU to observe the VEX club that meets on campus. They have three teams of about four boys each working with the VEX EDR classroom robotics platform (the ones that look like they are made from an Erector Set). The USU student who was there gave me some background and explained how they are running things.
The three teams are a mix of experienced members and new members, but they are careful to watch for balance. If they have kinds that are too advanced they can work quickly and the less experienced members sit out not really catching on to what is happening. Even with the younger team I watched, three boys sat around disengaged while the technical expert tried to resolve an issue with their computer and programming software interfacing with the system. One of the other two groups looked fully involved and another had one person, sometimes two, disengaged while they waited for the other two to work with the robot. This lets me see in action the practical upper limits of team sizes. If you had ten people on a team, 8 may be disengaged most of the time without a lot of creativity and supervision. Four seemed ideal with six probably being the upper limit.
The three teams are a mix of experienced members and new members, but they are careful to watch for balance. If they have kinds that are too advanced they can work quickly and the less experienced members sit out not really catching on to what is happening. Even with the younger team I watched, three boys sat around disengaged while the technical expert tried to resolve an issue with their computer and programming software interfacing with the system. One of the other two groups looked fully involved and another had one person, sometimes two, disengaged while they waited for the other two to work with the robot. This lets me see in action the practical upper limits of team sizes. If you had ten people on a team, 8 may be disengaged most of the time without a lot of creativity and supervision. Four seemed ideal with six probably being the upper limit.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Getting Organized
So Anna responded to the Edith Bowen Robotics email and let them know I was interested in helping. They let her know that there was a meeting to get organized after school today at 3:45 PM.
I left work early to attend the meeting (fortunately I had some spare change to throw in a parking meter) and got there just as it was starting.
The first presentation was about the First Lego League (FLL) and the USU STEM center's Lego Mindstorms kit by Job Cyril. He is associated with the Utah First Lego League (UTFLL). He was very enthusiastic about FLL as he described how it worked out and the team sizes. I was familiar with most of the material having read up on FLL a number of times over the years. Unfortunately we were getting in the game a little late and there was only one team slot for Lego / FLL. I gave a little of my background that you can find in my first post during the meeting and we spoke after the meeting. He asked if I would be willing to help as a volunteer at the USU FLL Competition on January 10th and I gladly accepted.
The second presentation was about the VEX IQ Robotics System and Challenge, Highrise by Gary Stewardson. He highlighted the advances in VEX for the elementary age students with the IQ system and talked about how the challenge is a cooperative experience. He said that a great feature of the VEX challenges or competitions is the iterative nature, with several events organized before the state finals, giving teams a chance to see what works and adapt. He also felt that many youth really enjoyed the robot driving part of the competitions in addition to the autonomous part and that this gave more variety than the purely autonomous Lego competition experience. He said we would need to get organized fast because the next challenge opportunity was in Logan on December 6th. He invited those interested in seeing VEX in action to observe their club meeting across the street tomorrow afternoon.
This left us having to choose which of two great systems we would support. Well, most of us. I was being steered towards the VEX IQ system. Both looked great so I was happy to help with either, as long as I got to work with Esther. Another parent, Eric Eliason, had also potentially been tapped for VEX IQ because he had done it with the other systems two years earlier. Both of us were waiting to see what our kids picked. There was a USU student who was familiar with and enthusiastic about FLL who was tapped to help with that.
Thanks for your interest in being a coach for our Robotics Program. You have either personally contacted me or one of your children has indicated you might be interested in helping out. Therefore, I have included all of you on this email. We are holding a meeting on Monday, November 17, at 3:30 PM in Joan’s room, # 219, to get started with training and then working with the kids and teams. Please know you can be a coach/leader even if you cannot attend this meeting. We will notify everyone of the dates and times when the teams will meet after school. Tentatively, we have set aside Monday and Wednesday from 3:30-4:30 PM for the after school robotics meetings.
I left work early to attend the meeting (fortunately I had some spare change to throw in a parking meter) and got there just as it was starting.
The first presentation was about the First Lego League (FLL) and the USU STEM center's Lego Mindstorms kit by Job Cyril. He is associated with the Utah First Lego League (UTFLL). He was very enthusiastic about FLL as he described how it worked out and the team sizes. I was familiar with most of the material having read up on FLL a number of times over the years. Unfortunately we were getting in the game a little late and there was only one team slot for Lego / FLL. I gave a little of my background that you can find in my first post during the meeting and we spoke after the meeting. He asked if I would be willing to help as a volunteer at the USU FLL Competition on January 10th and I gladly accepted.
The second presentation was about the VEX IQ Robotics System and Challenge, Highrise by Gary Stewardson. He highlighted the advances in VEX for the elementary age students with the IQ system and talked about how the challenge is a cooperative experience. He said that a great feature of the VEX challenges or competitions is the iterative nature, with several events organized before the state finals, giving teams a chance to see what works and adapt. He also felt that many youth really enjoyed the robot driving part of the competitions in addition to the autonomous part and that this gave more variety than the purely autonomous Lego competition experience. He said we would need to get organized fast because the next challenge opportunity was in Logan on December 6th. He invited those interested in seeing VEX in action to observe their club meeting across the street tomorrow afternoon.
This left us having to choose which of two great systems we would support. Well, most of us. I was being steered towards the VEX IQ system. Both looked great so I was happy to help with either, as long as I got to work with Esther. Another parent, Eric Eliason, had also potentially been tapped for VEX IQ because he had done it with the other systems two years earlier. Both of us were waiting to see what our kids picked. There was a USU student who was familiar with and enthusiastic about FLL who was tapped to help with that.
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Robotics at Edith Bowen
A few years ago my kids had received a cool Lego Mindstorms NXT for Christmas from Grandpa. We had fun with it, and to my surprise it wasn't my older two that showed the most interest but my third child, Esther.
A following Thanksgiving we were at my Aunt's home and we visited about the cool Lego robots. She had organized a team in something called FLL for her daughter and they had built a robot to compete. I was very interested, but when I returned back to Logan Utah in Cache Valley and started searching for local events I was disappointed to find that everything was down in the Salt Lake area. Cache Valley, it seemed, had been taken over by this Erector Set inspired robot called VEX. So, I remained vexed as I looked occasionally over the years.
Today the Edith Bowen Laboratory School (EBLS) sent out an email to parents saying that the USU STEM Center, under the direction of Dr. David Feldon, has agreed to provide a kit for a LEGO Robotics Team at Edith Bowen. The First Lego League competition will be held on January 10th in the STE2M Center. My first two children are in high school and middle school, but Esther is still at Edith Bowen and had the opportunity to be on the team. Fantastic!
Oh, and Edith Bowen was going to have a a VEX team...
A following Thanksgiving we were at my Aunt's home and we visited about the cool Lego robots. She had organized a team in something called FLL for her daughter and they had built a robot to compete. I was very interested, but when I returned back to Logan Utah in Cache Valley and started searching for local events I was disappointed to find that everything was down in the Salt Lake area. Cache Valley, it seemed, had been taken over by this Erector Set inspired robot called VEX. So, I remained vexed as I looked occasionally over the years.
Today the Edith Bowen Laboratory School (EBLS) sent out an email to parents saying that the USU STEM Center, under the direction of Dr. David Feldon, has agreed to provide a kit for a LEGO Robotics Team at Edith Bowen. The First Lego League competition will be held on January 10th in the STE2M Center. My first two children are in high school and middle school, but Esther is still at Edith Bowen and had the opportunity to be on the team. Fantastic!
Oh, and Edith Bowen was going to have a a VEX team...
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