Tuesday, May 15, 2012

2012 SENIOR SOLUTIONS Challenge



Coming August 28, 2012
See full schedule (US/CAN)

Can FIRST® LEGO® League teams improve the quality of life for seniors by helping them continue to be independent, engaged, and connected in their communities? In the 2012 SENIOR SOLUTIONSSM Challenge, over 200,000 children ages 9 to16* from more than 60 countries will explore the topic of aging and how it may affect a person’s ability to maintain his or her lifestyle – solving issues like getting around, keeping in touch, or staying fit. Teams will research obstacles and then suggest ways to improve the quality of life for the seniors affected. Teams will also build, test, and program an autonomous robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS® robot to solve a set of missions on an obstacle course.  Throughout their experience, teams will operate under FLL’s signature set of Core Values.

*9-14 in the US, Canada, and Mexico SeniorSolutionslogo

Monday, May 14, 2012

NYC Champs at FLL World Invitational Open Florida

by Veryl Greene, coach of roboGbots


May 9, 2012

Hi Norm,

Sunshine, palm trees, interesting folks and robots; what a great combination! "Robots in Paradise" - The FLL World Invitational Open in Florida was FANTASTIC! It took place at the All Saints Academy in Winter Haven, Florida with the Opening Ceremony taking place outside on the athletic field; where we also had a teams dinner and dance under a clear sky and the SuperMoon on the last night. The Closing Ceremony took place at LEGOLAND; how kool is that!

Sixty-three teams came from all over the U.S. and the world. The spirit of Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition was everywhere as teams networked, exchanged ideas, exchanged e-mails for e-pals, joined facebook pages, even played soccer and dodge ball together on the football field.

The robots were AWESOME and research projects were OUTSTANDING!

One of the highlights of games was the Blind Pirate's Challenge where teams were randomly paired as alliance teams to run the robot performance game together on the same table - two robots on the table at the same time!!! Talk about Coopertition and fun. There was also an impromptu Robot Derby to honor the running of the Kentucky Derby that Saturday.

Though the roboGbots didn't win anything (this time)...

Core Value 5: "What we discovered was more important than what we might have won."

because...

Core Value 4: "We all honored the spirit of friendly competition."

Core Value 6: "We shared our experience with so many others."

and

Core Value 8: "We had FUN!"

The roboGbots
V. "L3Go-Bots Lady" Greene