Monday, February 25, 2008

NYCFIRST Update 22: Upcoming FLL at Javits April 6 and Riverbank a WOW

Feb 15, 2008

Happy post Valentine's Day

A newsletter for the NYCFIRST robotics community in New York City and the surrounding area.

NYC/NJ FIRST web site http://nycnjfirst.org/

ALL UPDATES POSTED AT http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/
Do not rely solely on these updates for news as I post news regularly on the blog.


Breaking news:

  • 40 FLL teams at Javits, Sunday April 6: FIRST COME FIRST SERVED
  • St. Edmond's hosts FLL exhibition tournament (Brooklyn) March 12, 2008
  • St. Clare's won the Championship at Riverbank and will be representing us at the World Festival in Atlanta in mid-April. GO St. Clare's. All Riverbank Award winners listed at: http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/2008/01/nycfirst-citywide-award-winners.html
  • Asian Invitational FLL: Two NYC teams to go to the Asian Invitational in Tokyo the last week of April: Herman Ritter and Little Red Schoolhouse. Make sure to check out that great NY Times article on Ritter at http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/2008/01/sam-freedman-on-robotics-in-bronx.html. Gary Israel and Norm Scott to go along to carry the baggage.
  • LEGO Fun at Lyndhurst Estates Apr. 19 or 20th
  • Mott Hall 3 looking for science fair judges: March 20



FLL Event at Javits April 6
The Javits Convention Center will be the site of a major robotics event in NYC from April 4-6. FRC, FTC and FLL – a mini World Festival (without the world).

Official Announcement
New York City FIRST would like to invite 40 FLL teams to participate in the first ever New York City FLL Expo to be held at the Javits Center on Sunday, April 6, 2008.

The New York City FLL Expo will be taking place concurrently with the 2008 New York City FIRST Robotics Competition and our second annual New York City FIRST Science and Technology Career Expo. More than 3,000 people will be in attendance.

Thirty-five of the 40 teams will be selected on a first-come, first serve basis. Five slots may be reserved for teams selected by the New York City FIRST LEGO League Planning Committee to help ensure equitable participation across the boroughs.

More than one team from a site will only be allowed if we do not fill all 40 slots.

Details:
  • 40 teams running 4 to 6 rounds of Power Puzzle.
  • Scoring for robot performance at the game table.
  • Trophies for top three places in robot performance
  • No judging.
  • Certificates of participation given to all teams
  • Start – approximately 9:00am
  • Finish – approximately 12:30pm

To register – send e-mail to norscot@aol.com containing the following information:

1. Team number
2. Team name
3. School/organizational affiliation
4. Borough
5. Team contact name
6. Team contact e-mail address
7. Team contact daytime phone

NOTE: This means ALL the information, not "Hi, Norm, I'm in. See you at Javits."

Only the 142 FLL teams that were that registered for "Power Puzzle" and took part in the qualifying tournament are eligible.

If you were one of the special situation teams that did not make it to a qualifier and discussed it with me contact me ASAP.

Slots are limited and they are going to fill quickly. Don't delay in registering.

Visit our website at www.nycnjfirst.org for more information.


Email me immediately if interested. First come first served.

Friday April 4 will be available for school visits to observe the FRC tournament practice rounds. Full competition begins Sat. Apr. 5.

We may need a few teams to man/woman an FLL exhibition table and answer questions from the public on all 3 days. Bring your research project too.
Let me know if interested.



Edmond's FLL Exhibition Tournament (Brooklyn) March 12, 2008
This is an afternoon (starting at 4pm) event.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Ms. Zaremba
St. Edmund Elementary School

Edmond's FLL Exhibition Tournament March 12, 2008


Brooklyn, NY – St. Edmund Elementary School is pleased to invite you to the first ever St. Edmund's Exhibition Tournament. Our team wasn't ready for the competition season to be over, and we hope yours isn't either!

The tournament will be strictly Robot Performance and is FREE for all to attend. We are accepting 10-12 teams and would love to see you there!
The date is Wednesday, March 12th with registration and setup at 4pm and matches beginning at 4:30. The location is St. Edmund Prep High School, located at 2474 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11229. The school is easily accessible to public transportation via the B2, B3, B31 and B49 buses, as well as the B & Q trains at Avenue U. It is also easily reached via the Belt Parkway.
Please contact Christine Zaremba via email for more information and to register: Christine.Zaremba@gmail.com. Remember, registration is first come, first served, so please register as soon as possible!


Want to host an FLL at your site? Contact Norm.


Riverbank a great experience for all: Congrats to St. Clare's
Close but no cigar for a few years, St. Clare's finally is going to Atlanta for the World Festival. NYC will have superb representation.
This is the first update since Riverbank and we want to congratulate every one of the 142 teams that took part in our qualifiers and the 82 teams that participated at Riverbank. All Riverbank Award winners are posted at: http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/2008/01/nycfirst-citywide-award-winners.html

The program guide is available for downloading at the NYC/NJ FIRST web site:
http://nycnjfirst.org/



Trophies not delivered from last year's tournament (07)
Found: one 3rd place teamwork trophy and a 5th place robot design.
Not sure if it's from Sunday or Saturday.
Contact me if you won and are missing your trophy.



Revisiting why we went to a one day tournament
There were lots of questions about overcrowding and why don't we still have 2-day tournaments. So here is why.

As you saw, 82 teams are too many and Riverbank was over very crowded. A more reasonable number of teams would be about 72. That would max us out at 144 even with 2 days. This year we had 192 registered. 142 actually took part in the qualifiers. Some teams dropped because they could not get ready in time, so even if we held a 2-day event not all could get in. A THIRD DAY IS NOT AN OPTION!

With interest growing, we expect to head toward 250 teams in the next year or two. So, we had no choice but to move to qualifying rounds.
Next year we will look to provide more options by moving some of them into January and we might move Citywide later into Feb. or March.


LEGO Fun at Lyndhurst Estates Apr. 19 or 20th.

Click here for details: http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/2008/02/lego-fun-at-lyndhurst-estates-in-april.html


Mott Hall 3 looking for science fair judges: March 20
Dear Friends and Esteemed Colleagues,
You're cordially invited to meet the young scientists of Mott Hall 3. We thought that you would make the perfect judge for our school-wide science fair on Thursday, March 20. The presentations at the fair will be from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. with judging following immediately afterwards. In addition, you are welcome to stay for our awards ceremony beginning promptly at 1:00 p.m.

We would greatly appreciate your involvement in this event, and to show our gratitude we will be providing lunch on that day. As such, it is important to respond via e-mail or contact Derrick Wu (derrick.wu@gmail.com) by February 29th to let us know if you will be attending.

Our students have spent a good deal of time on their projects, and they are looking forward to having outside judges assess their work. In order to make this possible, we are looking to have 20 judges, so please forward this email to anyone else who you think would make a good candidate.

Sincerely,
Kelly Vaughan, Patricia Waters, and Derrick Wu



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Compiled by Norm Scott
NYCFIRST Registration coordinator
norscot@aol.com
normsco@gmail.com
917-992-3734


--
Have a good day

Norm

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