Insights from a technical judge

I ran across this little nugget from Dave Parker on the FLL forums.


As a judge, I would like to hear more than "Bill made that one, and Sue made this one" from the kids, and hopefully also more than "This one has a light sensor, this one doesn't". I might ask "Why use the one without the light sensor, since it can also count motor degrees?". There may be practical answer, but I want to make sure the kids are on top of it.

I have judged at the state and WF (World Festival) levels, and listened in on many judging sessions at the local/qualifier level, and I would also add that in general, at the lower levels (e.g. qualifying tournament), design judges are interested in stuff you haven't finished yet (even attachments that are in progress), but at the higher levels, it moves to more of just what the final robot can do.

Having said that, at WF last year, one team showed me two robots, one of which was a redesign since winning their state championship, which was designed to go faster in an attempt to get more done in the time limit. After putting a lot of work into it, they still couldn't get it to score any higher than their original slower one, so they ran that one, but I was impressed that they tried and were able to explain the whys.

Okay, this is really cool! - video works now

Coaching FLL is like...

 (for me at least) :)


 

Easy huh? Prove it.

There are a couple kids on our team that have repeatedly commented that this years missions are easy. I agree the individual missions are easy but getting to them isn't. 

I spotted this comment on the FLL forums and thought it was worthy of a bump.

As someone who has been involved since the beginning, I believe this year's challenge is the best ever for the real goal of the competition: making successful autonomous robots... I think the rest of the problems are very good. And if there are more 400's, so what?... I think the top robots will be the best that we have ever seen. There is a much more realistic feel to everything. There are few items which can be scored by aiming. There are definite "zones" which have lots of things to do, but little benefit from multiple trips, meaning the robot has to be very flexible. In short, the best ever. The rules are the best ever as well... It is great! If you are new to this, enjoy it. It has taken 11 years to get this far.

Navigation

Most of our team has seen this video but it still stands as an excellent example of team strategy and robot navigation. Notice how little time the robot spends in base and how often it realigns itself with the sides of the table. Very smart!

 

Another reason to respect Dean Kamen

It's here! The challenge is released.

Time to get busy!

Click here for all the details. 

Growth

Last fall I extended an invitation to a young lady to join our team and even though it looked like a sure thing sometimes circumstances come up. So as that door closed another one opened and I had an opportunity to observe two young men that show tremendous promise. After talking at length with their parents about the commitments of being involved in FLL I extended an offer to the boys.

We are now a team of seven. Rookies, Roger and Ryan, will join our team of five veterans for the 2009-2010 Smart Move season.

Congratulations and WELCOME!

Ideas From Anywhere

I was reading the FLL forums and ran across this link about Lego Guards, an FLL team from California, who were selected to go to Copenhagen Denmark and present their project idea.

Of all the teams invited, Lego Guards was selected to have their project developed.

The Forest Guard team flew to Basingstoke to meet with Sony engineers and Director of Research and Development, Morgan David, to further expand their ideas for the wildfire detection system including the development of software, servers and solar CCTV camera prototypes.

In this clip we follow the Forest Guard kids as they continue the development of their innovative wildfire detection system.

Tremors

It's been a couple months since our trip to Ohio to the U.S. Open and it's felt good to decompress and relax a little after an intense rookie year. My wife and I have run in to the our team members at church and 4-H events over the summer. They've grown taller. Watching our kids see their team mates has been fun--it's like a family reunion with all the chatter and they just pickup where ever they left off the last time.

I wonder if there's a 12 step program for FLL? It's contagious. Once you catch it you can never really shake it. Oh, you can put it out of your mind for a little while but soon it creeps back from the recesses of your mind to the forefront--next thing you know you're thinking tactics and training again.

But now there are tremors. Small, almost imperceptible little quivers of activity in the FLL community that will build with frequency and intensity until the FLL competitions.

About every other week I'll take a glance at the FLL forums to see if there are any recent posts. Last seasons comments have been archived and the forum boards have been swept clean making room for fresh comments about this year's challenge by a few newbie coaches trying to get an early start and the die-hard old timers that live FLL 24/7/365. As September approaches I've noticed the activity on the board is beginning to show more activity--not much--but a little. I've also noticed some groundwork activity from a few coaches I know who are sizing up potential sponsors.

I'm thinking more about FLL again too. I spotted a bargain on Ebay and bought some parts that will be handy for competition. I've also started to think a lot about the "Smart Moves" field mat, which FIRST placed on the cover of the new coaches manual just to tease and torture us, and how to go about preparing the team for more sensor reliant navigation.

It's a healthy obsession--right?