You're Invited to the 2012 FIRST Championship

Making a Quiet Idea Loud Two decades ago, FIRST® began as an idea in the mind of Founder Dean Kamen. It was a big idea, but it was a quiet idea. Since then, that idea has grown not only in scope but also in volume, and has exploded into one that is loud enough for all the world to hear. Indeed, they are listening. Although that idea and its message have increased in volume, it is still the same: to help young people transform our culture by discovering the wonders of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), and apply what they learn as future science and technology leaders.  Thanks to a diverse group of dignitaries and luminaries in the arenas of government, media, entertainment, literature, and business, this important message is now being heard around the world. Among those making sure the message is loud and clear are music mogul, tech entrepreneur, and The Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am; Academy Award-winning actor, director, and narrator Morgan Freeman; respected CNN journalist Soledad O’Brien; Neal Bascomb, author of “The New Cool” — an inspiring book about FIRST; and U.S. President Barack Obama, who recognized our efforts at the annual White House Science Fair. In addition, three out of every five of America’s Fortune 500 corporations now support or sponsor FIRST teams and events.  While we deeply appreciate all that these folks have done on behalf of FIRST, our goals would not be attainable without the help of the hundreds of thousands of participants, Mentors, Coaches, Sponsors, parents, teachers, and Volunteers who have helped our organization grow from its original 28 teams in 1992, to the more than 26,000 teams from over 60 countries around the world today. Indeed, they are our loudest advocates and we encourage them to keep talking. Because of their tireless efforts, nearly 300,000 kids have an opportunity to transform their ideas — big or small — into reality. We are extremely proud of all that has been accomplished and, in fact, surpassed in the past twenty-plus years and invite you to celebrate with us at the annualFIRST Championship, which will be held in St. Louis, Missouri, April 25 - 28, 2012. More than 12,000 team members will participate in the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®) Championship (400 teams); FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC®) World Championship (128 teams); FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL®) World Festival(78 teams); and the Junior FIRST® LEGO® League (Jr.FLL®) World Festival Expo(40 teams). As always, our teams are invigorated, energized, and inspired to meet the challenges of this year’s games.              FRC teams will take to the field to compete in Rebound Rumble℠, where fast robots score basketballs in hoops and balance on bridges in the grand finale of the match. In the FTC BOWLED OVER!℠ game, robots must be robust enough to push a bowling ball uphill, yet sophisticated enough to pick up racquetballs and place them into crates, and stack the crates to score points. In the FOOD FACTOR®Challenge, FLL teams build, test, and program an autonomous robot to solve a set of food safety missions and improve the quality of food by finding ways to prevent food contamination. Our youngest scientists explore where food comes from and what it takes to keep our food safe, fresh, and healthy in the Jr.FLL SNACK ATTACK℠ Challenge. As we head into our 23rd year, we know there will always be more work to do, but we are heartened by the groundswell of support we continue to receive. While we welcome the competitive challenges ahead, we know that FIRST is about more than just competitions. It is also about the critical life skills our team members learn — such as creative problem solving, collaboration, and teamwork — that will guide them in their mission to transform the world through innovation, science, and technology.  Please join us as we listen to what they have to say — and discover what all the noise is about. Click on Championship links to the left for additional event details.See you there! The FIRST Staff THANK YOU! To our 2012 FIRST Championship Sponsors...  Official Championship Sponsor: Qualcomm Foundation; Lead Championship Sponsors: Abbott, Autodesk, The Boeing Company, SAIC, Saint Louis Science Center, Siemens, U.S. Air Force, and United Technologies; FIRST Championship Sponsors: Coca-Cola and National Defense Education Program (NDEP); FIRST Shipping Sponsor: FedEx; Machine Shop & Satellite Broadcast Sponsor: NASA; FIRST Safety Partner: UL; FIRST LEGO League World Festival Pit Sponsor: Intel; FIRST Event Sponsor: Google Inc.; FIRST Robotics Conference Sponsor: Rolls-Royce; Championship Supporters: Army’s Rapid Equipment Force, Avnet, Central Intelligence Agency, and International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE)Our Founding Sponsors... Boston Scientific Corporation, Baxter International Inc., The Chrysler Foundation, DEKA Research & Development, Delphi, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Motorola, Inc., and Xerox Corporation And our Strategic Partners... BAE Systems, The Boeing Company, DEKA Research & Development, FedEx Corporation, General Motors Corporation, jcpenney, Johnson & Johnson, Motorola Solutions Foundation, NASA, National Instruments, PTC, Rockwell Automation, Rockwell Collins, and Time Warner Cable FIRST • 200 Bedford St., Manchester, NH 03101 • (800) 871-8326 • www.usfirst.org Our Vision: "...to transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders." Dean Kamen, Founder.

April 2012 FIRST Notes FIRST Championship April 25-28, 2012 St. Louis, Missouri Join us! Free event Spectators welcome Spectator schedule St. Louis visitors' info FIRST on social media Mobile resources coming soon... watch for details on the Web, Twitter,  Facebook, and blogs Can't Attend? * View NASA Webcast via link from FIRST homepage Championship Highlights * FLL Friendship Day, hosted by the Saint Louis Science Center... teams from 30+ countries  to be greeted by St. Louis  FLL teams * Scholarship Row featuring 40+ schools  and organizations * FIRST Sponsor &  Alliance exhibits * Supplier Showcase exhibits by 15+ FRC Kit of Parts Suppliers * Hall of Fame display of FRC Chairman's Award teams * Dozens of workshops at the  FIRST Robotics  Conference * FIRST Event at the Ballpark* FIRST Night Out in St. Louis * Commemorative  merchandise Volunteer Opportunities Are Still Available! Sign up today Volunteer Orientation * Virtual/Webinars Tuesday, April 10  at 7:00PM EST Wednesday, April 18  at 8:30PM EST * Onsite Wednesday, April 25  at 6:00PM CDT More info and recordings of Virtual Orientation Webinars Making a Quiet Idea Loud Two decades ago, FIRST® began as an idea in the mind of Founder Dean Kamen. It was a big idea, but it was a quiet idea. Since then, that idea has grown not only in scope but also in volume, and has exploded into one that is loud enough for all the world to hear. Indeed, they are listening. Although that idea and its message have increased in volume, it is still the same: to help young people transform our culture by discovering the wonders of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), and apply what they learn as future science and technology leaders.  Thanks to a diverse group of dignitaries and luminaries in the arenas of government, media, entertainment, literature, and business, this important message is now being heard around the world. Among those making sure the message is loud and clear are music mogul, tech entrepreneur, and The Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am; Academy Award-winning actor, director, and narrator Morgan Freeman; respected CNN journalist Soledad O’Brien; Neal Bascomb, author of “The New Cool” — an inspiring book about FIRST; and U.S. President Barack Obama, who recognized our efforts at the annual White House Science Fair. In addition, three out of every five of America’s Fortune 500 corporations now support or sponsor FIRST teams and events.  While we deeply appreciate all that these folks have done on behalf of FIRST, our goals would not be attainable without the help of the hundreds of thousands of participants, Mentors, Coaches, Sponsors, parents, teachers, and Volunteers who have helped our organization grow from its original 28 teams in 1992, to the more than 26,000 teams from over 60 countries around the world today. Indeed, they are our loudest advocates and we encourage them to keep talking. Because of their tireless efforts, nearly 300,000 kids have an opportunity to transform their ideas — big or small — into reality. We are extremely proud of all that has been accomplished and, in fact, surpassed in the past twenty-plus years and invite you to celebrate with us at the annualFIRST Championship, which will be held in St. Louis, Missouri, April 25 - 28, 2012. More than 12,000 team members will participate in the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®) Championship (400 teams); FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC®) World Championship (128 teams); FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL®) World Festival(78 teams); and the Junior FIRST® LEGO® League (Jr.FLL®) World Festival Expo(40 teams). As always, our teams are invigorated, energized, and inspired to meet the challenges of this year’s games.              FRC teams will take to the field to compete in Rebound Rumble℠, where fast robots score basketballs in hoops and balance on bridges in the grand finale of the match. In the FTC BOWLED OVER!℠ game, robots must be robust enough to push a bowling ball uphill, yet sophisticated enough to pick up racquetballs and place them into crates, and stack the crates to score points. In the FOOD FACTOR® Challenge, FLL teams build, test, and program an autonomous robot to solve a set of food safety missions and improve the quality of food by finding ways to prevent food contamination. Our youngest scientists explore where food comes from and what it takes to keep our food safe, fresh, and healthy in the Jr.FLLSNACK ATTACK℠ Challenge. As we head into our 23rd year, we know there will always be more work to do, but we are heartened by the groundswell of support we continue to receive. While we welcome the competitive challenges ahead, we know that FIRST is about more than just competitions. It is also about the critical life skills our team members learn — such as creative problem solving, collaboration, and teamwork — that will guide them in their mission to transform the world through innovation, science, and technology.  Please join us as we listen to what they have to say — and discover what all the noise is about. Click on Championship links to the left for additional event details.See you there! The FIRST Staff THANK YOU! To our 2012 FIRST Championship Sponsors...  Official Championship Sponsor: Qualcomm Foundation; Lead Championship Sponsors: Abbott, Autodesk, The Boeing Company, SAIC, Saint Louis Science Center, Siemens, U.S. Air Force, and United Technologies; FIRST Championship Sponsors: Coca-Cola and National Defense Education Program (NDEP); FIRST Shipping Sponsor: FedEx; Machine Shop & Satellite Broadcast Sponsor: NASA; FIRST Safety Partner: UL; FIRST LEGO League World Festival Pit Sponsor: Intel; FIRST Event Sponsor: Google Inc.; FIRST Robotics Conference Sponsor: Rolls-Royce; Championship Supporters: Army’s Rapid Equipment Force, Avnet, Central Intelligence Agency, and International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE)Our Founding Sponsors... Boston Scientific Corporation, Baxter International Inc., The Chrysler Foundation, DEKA Research & Development, Delphi, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Motorola, Inc., and Xerox Corporation And our Strategic Partners... BAE Systems, The Boeing Company, DEKA Research & Development, FedEx Corporation, General Motors Corporation, jcpenney, Johnson & Johnson, Motorola Solutions Foundation, NASA, National Instruments, PTC, Rockwell Automation, Rockwell Collins, and Time Warner Cable FIRST • 200 Bedford St., Manchester, NH 03101 • (800) 871-8326 • www.usfirst.org Our Vision: "...to transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders."Dean Kamen, Founder.

LEGO Sympisium - May 19, 2012

Register: http://www.uft.org/events/lego-education

NYC FIRST LEGO League Award Winners - March 18, 2012

Champion’s Award 1st Place

6963 Veryl Greene, coach

Brics-2-bots

RoboGbots

Congratulations to Veryl!! Her team will be attending the Florida FLL World Invitational Open Tournament.

NYC did not make the lottery for us to send our 1^st place champion award winners but we managed to get them into the Florida Invitational.

Good luck Veryl we are rooting for you and the girls!!

Go Bric-2-Bots!! Girl Power!! 

Here are the slides from the Powerpoint

Norm's March 15 Update

Dear Teams

Attached --  the floor diagram and game/judging schedule/spreadsheet with pits/consent forms

Only a few days to go and we have lots of information for you which may require more than one update today and tomorrow.
I'm trying to avoid sending out more updates and if I forget something I will post on the blog. Keep checking.
If you notice something missing or have a question email me ASAP.
MY PHONE: 917-992-3734

REMINDER: The FLL event is part of a 3 day event at Javits.
FRC runs from Friday- Sunday and you should try to make some time for your kids to see that during the day. We used to offer Friday tours to schools visiting on that day but that is not on the table this year.
FTC runs in the same FLL  space but on Saturday. If you are thinking of trying it out next year stop by on Saturday to check it out. If you can get your kids there on Saturday to check out both FRC and FTC do so.

I am posting as much information as possible on the blog:  http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/
I am attaching the schedule which I believe is final. The pit table number is the key -- for performance times 3.1 is pit 3 round 1 etc.
We may have some copies available but best to print your own.

Pit numbers are now posted sorted by pits and team numbers.
I'm attaching a spreadsheet sorted by pits and team numbers -- sheets one and two.
I tried to meet your time requests and also keep all multiple teams together. If I screwed up holler. It may be too late to make changes but I will try. The pit area has some weird odds and ends so at times this was tricky.
Requests for groupings based on Poly teams and those working with Veryl have been met (I hope.)
Parents are free to go directly to the pit table. Please try to keep within your space. We are very crowded with 82 teams.

Here is the pit layout.

Field Set Up Kits
Sometimes we give away extra kits at the end of the tournament. No guarantees yet. Every system I set up often turns into a disaster with the chaos at the end of the day. So far I've had one request. If you want one the best thing to do is to email me a request and I'll put you in the order of responses. If they are available check with me Sunday after things settle down and I will tell you which judging/tech room to get your kit from. Bring a garbage bag or box to carry it.

We will not have practice tables set up as far as I know. Most people bring their mat to put on the floor. No need to drag a heavy table. You can create your own borders. The two inside aisles look pretty crowded from the floor plan. But maybe there is more room.

There will be no room for tables though one teams is bringing a portable one and asked for a space to set it up. I gave them pit 76 which has some space. SHARE EVERYONE! GRACIOUS PROFESSIONALISM!

Here are direct links to what I've posted so far:

FLL Championship Pit Layout/Floor Plan - March 18 (SEE WHERE YOU ARE LOCATED IN THE PIT)

FLL: What to Bring to an Event

2012 CONSENT AND RELEASE AGREEMENT FLL.pdf 2012 CONSENT AND RELEASE AGREEMENT FLL

FLL Championships - Pit Table ASSIGNMENTS -March 18, 2012

I'm trying to avoid too many attachments to make sure you get this email. If you want me to send something to you email me.

WARNING: Streets may be closed and be sure to check MTA for weekend changes/potential nightmares so take that into account. See below.

Make sure to fill out an hand me your team info sheets as you enter. Otherwise we have no way of knowing you have arrived. If you need another email me ASAP.

Consent forms: They are for your protection so have them filled out and bring them with you but we are not collecting them.

From Susan:
Remember when you go up for judging that you are judged in all categories at once, so please bring your research and your robot for technical design to the judging area when you are queued up.

There will be a table for the display in the judging area.

Stuff to Bring to an Event

·       Robot and attachments

·       Signed Consent and Release forms - English/ Spanish  

·       Parts kit

·       Print out of programs and robot specification page

·       Materials, props, and equipment needed for Project presentation

·       Laptop computer with batteries and/or AC adaptor, extra batteries, extension cords

·       Team scrapbook

·       Team banner, posters, or other  decorations for pit space

·       Snacks and drinks

·       Storage box for personal items

·       USB cable or IR tower

·       Programming garage

·       Team introduction page

·       Fun, inexpensive gifts to share with other teams (pins, hats, personalized, team playing cards)

There will be a mini marathon so there are street closings: West Side Hwy (usually southbound) will be closed from 42nd St to Chambers. Please allot for enough travel time and make the bus companies and parents aware in the event they need to re-route.

March 18: Closed For Half Marathon

FOOD REMINDER:

If they see it when you walk in they won't let you past the entrance to the event. So bury the food beneath the equipment or put food in closed containers disguised as robot materials. Will there be food for sale at Javits? Sunday is kind of tricky so I don't know. Last year people ordered and had it delivered -- I think you can eat outside at some seats set up. Not really sure since I rarely get out of the pit area. The experienced coaches know more so let me know and I'll post on the blog.

Affordable Places to eat:

Subway

612 8th Avenue, New York, NY 0.6 mi E

(212) 221-9480 () ‎

Burger King

255 West 34th Street, New York, NY 0.7 mi SE

(917) 351-0500

 

McDonalds

427 10th Avenue, New York, NY 0.3 mi SE

(212) 564-7115

 

Dunkin Doughnuts

466 10th Avenue, New York, NY 0.3 mi SE

(212) 564-7613

 

White Castle

525 8th Avenue, Manhattan, NY 0.6 mi SE

(212) 736-4746

In the surrounding areas there should be deli’s

 I hope I covered everything but I'm sure I forgot something. See you Sunday.

FLL Schedules: Judging and Performance: March 18, 2012