Championship Tournament Info

Here is the Info packet for the tournament, in case you haven't gotten it. The highlighting is when our team is scheduled, so please excuse this. Good luck on your "sleepover" work thing. 

Tournament INFO

There's an update. Apparently the research presentation and tech interview will be taking place in the exhibition hall across from the Blaisedell Arena. Thus, you'll have more time to prepare because of the close proximity to the presentation area. There will be sectioned off areas of the hall to present, so be prepared not to be presenting in a typical classroom. The settings may be different and we need to prepare for that.

ALSO: 

(Excerpted from a Coach's email)

Helpful resource link for you to review.  The ideas shared there will save teams a lot of grief at upcoming events.  For example, you'll learn...

1. How to Avoid Broken Links in NXT Programming and make it possible for many students to programming independently.

2. How to Calibrate NXT Motors with No Tools

3. How to Manage Files and Folders So You Don't Lose Your Work 

THE LINK

Thought I'd Share this.

Hey guys, remember those CORE VALUES?

You know, gracious professionalism?

Well. I hope you do. Because i found this piece of information on the US First Website:

 

FLL Values Teams: Approximately 12 to15 percent of teams globally will be invited through a nomination process submitted by the Operational Partner in your region, based on the team’s display of FLL Values during the season. The nomination process is not dependent on a team attending an FLL event, but rather by the actions of the team. 

This means that IF you guys can display gracious professionalism, you can qualify for nationals! Even if your robot isn't the bestest, if you work together as a team, there is still a chance that you could get nominated for this honour. 

The Link for the entire document is posted here

If that doesn't work, try this

Don't forget to review the rules every so often. I don't mean the normal rules. I mean the Q&A rules. I posted them on the sidebar. These are all the exceptions to the rules allowed. READ THEM. You might even want to be printing this and showing the refs if they screw up at the competition.

Lego aircraft factory

Do not try this at home

It only cost about $12,050

You cannot buy it at the lego store

It uses

25 RCXs

73 motors

and

a whole bunch of legos

Epic Robot

They did not get 400 points, but they still have a pretty epic bot. 

Watch it to the end, the NXT pops out of that red frame like from a VCR! (or fine, a DVD) to land in the stopping place (which is surrounded by this wall thing, unlike the circlish thing this year)

This is last year's challenge, which was rather difficult compared to this years. That house you see there was a main challenge for most of us and also that drilling machine in the right corner closest to the camera. As you can see, the robot completely dwarfs those components and often times leaves entire attachments behind, this is to lighten the load. 

Yes, it is made entirely out of lego and also fits completely inside base. Totally legit!

YES!

ok so i posted the link to the rules updates on the sidebar. 

in case you cannot find it, here's the link

RULES!

and also. Mrs. Kwock found a youtube video of last year's nationally qualifying team, Iolani's Roboraiders Black. Their project was extremely impressive and everyone should make an effort to at least watch it. I'll post the video and link here. If it's blocked at school, go on the blog at home and try it. Come on, i know you all have internet access. 

Project Updates

On Sunday, we once more reviewed the judges comments and found that our proposed solution was not very innovative, amongst other things. The judges seemed to have seen a great deal of similar ideas out there, and we realized that to stand out, we need to think just a bit above the rest. Amongst the brainstormed ideas were ones for a giant waterslide, a portal, a blackhole... yeh, it was that bad. Dark time in the robotics room. 

Then someone toyed with the idea of having several sensors to help the flow of traffic and to ensure safety. We found that majority of our members' parents preferred not to use the drop off at all and instead utilized the community center's parking lot, the back parking lot, and some even went through a nearby neighborhood in order to drop off people at the back entrance to the school. We remembered that in our robotics kits we're given a number of various sensors which could be used to even build a working model. We decided on a motion sensor to be placed at the crosswalk to make sure no kids were crossing in the wrong place or at the wrong time. This is still being debated and is subject to change. 

In the mean time, we headed out into the field to do research. Most of the team members were assigned a role in gathering data. If you guys forgot the assignment, you can check them here.

Jon- Interview Mr. Fong

Zoierae- email Mr. Fong for a proper time

Iokepa- Measure the length of the pickup (odometer)

Kara- To Be Determined

Brensten- To Be Determined

Cierra- To Be Determined

If any updates on this are available, please either email me or leave a comment below. 

the construction of the model will also be taken underway sometime in the near future, and in the meantime, here are some pictures of some various Mario themed stuff we were building for fun:

MARIO with heads. 

1-up

Also another thing that the judges noticed is that TOO MANY ADULTS were playing a part in the presentation aids, which means that you guys are going to need to do some of that by yourselves, don't let your parents do it for you. It's ok if they help you, but sometimes parents get confused and think it's their project instead. It's not. It's yours. Tell them that, but be nice! It's partly my fault because the pamphlet was mainly my writing. If you guys can, rewrite passages of it and email them to me so we can make it more Jagbot-y. But yeah, you if you guys need to scold me, do so. But remember, you still have to do your work. 

ok i think that's it!

haha...

thanks!

Late Night Practice Session Pics

You guys beat the record for longest practice i think. 8 hours. Wow you guys rocked that one.

Waiting for Matches to Begin at the Qualifiers...

ONWARD!!!

HURRAY WE MADE STATES!!!

Great job to all today!

After going through the score sheets, it is apparent that we can make some major improvements.

Here is the list of improvements required (in order of priority)

working under pressure (I think it was pretty obvious that you guys cracked)

the project (we got hammered in this area)

the robot (yes I think it was pretty apparent)

the robot design (we might not though to keep the program)

the tech presentation (just a few things)

remember, this has been great so far but we aren't done yet

lets go to states and prove we deserve to be there

New order

Change in plans (dun dun dun...)

THE DICE HAVE SPOKEN!!!

this is the new order

FIRST: Zoie and Cierra

SECOND: Brensten and Kepa

THIRD: Jon and Kara

make sure that you know this order because it is super important

for those of you with a life and don't check this blog every three seconds, I will tell you on Saturday

haha i can change noah's post? cool...

Tournament on Nov. 21

OK JAGBOTS!!!

This is it!! Time for the tournament!

Thank you for "surviving" the practices. I know they weren't easy but...

Parents thank so much for dropping your kids, off picking them up, bringing snax, waiting around when I went passed the time (sorry about that), encouraging you kids to do this, etc.

This is the order (drumroll)

FIRST: Jon and Kara

SECOND: Zoie and Cierra

THIRD: Brensten and Kepa

this means that...

Jon and Kara... You will be the first to march up to the "chopping block". You will be the first ones up. DO NOT FREAK OUT. believe... Jon... remember not to dominate and don't freak out if (and when) something goes wrong). Kara... If you know Jon is screwing up/ dominating, ASSERT YOUR SELF AND UNLEASH YOUR INNER...umm... KARANESS... teamwork is a must for you two.

Zoie and Cierra... You two must remember which way the attachment goes. Also the robot will not eat you so just pick it up. If You have to poke at it multiple times before you pick it up, that will hurt your score... a lot

Brensten and Kepa... You will be our last hope. No pressure... seriously. relax. take deep breaths. You guys need to make sure everything is together before you hit "run".

Some things I noticed today that you should fix before the tournament

1. First and foremost. MAKE SURE YOU RUN THE RIGHT PROGRAM!!!!!

loops: the robot will say "fantastic"

the back: the robot will say good job

2. Make sure the attachment is on correctly

make sure it is facing the right way

plug in the motor

3. Move quickly but don't freak out

don't spend so much time yelling at your partner saying "WHY DIDN'T YOU DO THAT!?!"

4. Check the mat

if you see something wrong, tell a judge

if you see something that is good for us (access marker down etc.) shhh... just kidding, tell a judge.

5. GRACIOUS PROFESSIONALISM!!!!

if you don't know this by now, I don't know what to say...

6. Tech presentation

remember all we rehearsed

do not dominate

speak up

know your stuff

don't be fiddling with anything while you wait

7. Project

try to remember your script

don't get distracted by anything

8. Finally... HAVE FUN!!!

Good luck Jagbots!

See you on Saturday

Good Luck!

We wish you all well in preparation for the upcoming tournament! 

Whether the outcome be win or lose, remember we're always behind you

Hope to see you at the champs!

-Team 8723 "The Firewall"

Bob-Bot has been Outmoded!

New robot, built in an hour flat, according to Jon, has officially outmoded Bob-bot sr. I'll post pictures as soon as they come in. He tells me he skipped part of his lunch break to work on this thing and it looks pretty worth it. With a change of strategy suggested by Noah and Zheng, it became necessary to change the design. Remember, tell the Judges why you changed, not just "because it was unreliable and made mistakes" Tell them WHY. A better answer would be "Because the motors were only connected by the NXT, they were really wobbly and during turns, would tilt inwards, screwing up our program."

News-Another Collaborative Meeting

There will be another collaborative meeting at Punahou on Wednesday, thanks to the work of Mrs. Abdul and Mr. Morita. Same place, 2:45 in the afternoon. This time, though, since it's a weekday, I guarantee that there'll be a huge amount of traffic due to the fact that school just let out. You will, undoubtedly, have to park near the large baseball field. Once you get on campus, there will be a great deal of traffic everywhere on all roadways, so be prepared to potentially get drop your kid off quickly- or kids, get out of the car quickly- and meet up at the robotics room. This time, use the map labelled "In case the is no parking" and just enter in the main gate. Skip going up to the middle school and all. Continue along Wilder until the corner (main gate) If you enter via this route, there will surely be a lot less traffic to wade through, for the high school day doesn't officially end until 3:30. 

Good job on practice today- and see you guys at robotics, most likely for me, Jack, and Zheng at 3:30. Bring your bot, your jig, your attachments, your strategy, and probably anything you'd use for a tech presentation, except Bob Senior. Only bring your current bot. 

Collaborative Meeting Recap

On behalf of my team, I hope you guys had a great time and got something out of the trip. Our team enjoyed having you, as you may have noticed, many of us enjoy talking our heads off when it comes to robotics. It's always awesome to be able to talk with another team, and that's part of the reason why the tournament is something we all look forward to. 

Jack talking about robots, and robotics, and bot mechanics and cheese.

Here looms the competition style board... too bad Bob-Bot wasn't there to make an appearance.

Lots of Legos to fiddle around with...

Scoring the Punahou Team. Didn't you guys beat us later? Good job.

Final Shot

EPIC ROBOTICS WIN.

good luck to all.

Draft #492

Here is the new revised version of the script. Learn it, memorize it. If you find any problems with it, email me using your gaggle account or something. You all should have my email. Or tell Jon to tell me, but Jon doesn't have the bestest memory... so email me, ok? We haven't assigned roles yet and the grammar is horrible, but remember, this is only a rough draft. Each she can be replaced with he, and each blank replaced with someone's name. Et cetera. You get the picture. I'm going to keep it short because i have a boat load of homework to tackle. Good Luck!

Car #1 Driver: Zoie (car,  1 shirt +1 blouse)

Car #2 Driver: I’okepa (car, 1 shirt + 1 button shirt)

Student #1: Kara (small backpack, math worksheet)

Student #2: Cierra (small backpack)

Narrator: Jonathan

JPO: Brensten (JPO vest, hat, stop sign) 

INTRODUCTION:

Jonathan:  Hi!  We’re the Jagbots!

(Zoie wheels into narrator)

Jonathan: Ow!!!

Zoie: Sorry!  My daughter is going to be late for soccer and I’ve been waiting so long in this pick-up lane. Where is she anyway? We’ve got to go and I can’t find her.

Jonathan: (rubbing his leg) Oh, wow!  Our pick-up lane seems to be so inefficient and dangerous.  Look!  School’s out! 

PART 1 

(Kara and Cierra walk up behind Zoie’s car)

Kara: Hey, Cierra!  I don’t get our math homework.  Can you help me?

Cierra: Oh, it’s easy.  Just add those 2 numbers, times it by 4 divide it by 5 and add 50.

Kara: Oh, I get it now.  Thanks!

Cierra: Hey, look! A car!

(I’okepa drives up with a screech)

Kara and Cierra: AHHHH!!!!!!  (Kara and Cierra run to the back then move to the side of the room)

Zoie: Hey, you lolo kids! What are you doing walking in the middle of the road?!

I’okepa: BEEP! BEEP! There’s so much traffic!

Kara: It’s so hot! Why isn’t my mom coming to pick me up?  This is taking so long!

Cierra: Soccer practice starts in 5 minutes and I’m going to be late!  Mom, why have you abandoned me?

Zoie: Oh, shoots! I’m all out of gas!

I’okepa: Hey, you’re blocking the lane.  Next time turn off your AC, motor and music when you’re idling! BEEP! BEEP!

Kara: No! The agony! The carbon monoxide is burning my lungs! I can’t breathe AND I’m late for gymnastics!

Zoie: Hey, I can’t help it! I’m just trying to pick up my kid.  I can’t find him.  This traffic is unreal!

I’okepa: (addressing imaginary other kids) Hey, you kids, stop goofing around and get in the car!

Cierra: Ugh, it’s so hot and I’m so tired.  The carbon monoxide fumes are so bad.  I just can’t move or think.

Jonathan: The kids are blaming the parents and the drivers are blaming each other.  What a horrible situation! So how can we fix this?

EVERYONE: We need to fix this problem NOW!

(Zoie and I’okepa move off the stage to change)

Jonathan:  Our Jagbot team discussed this problem and came up with a solution.  To create a second drop off area, the parking stalls were moved forward slightly to create a second lane leading to the extra drop off area.  The students are asked to wait in the first pick-up lane if their last name begins with an A-M and to wait in the second pick-up lane if their last name begins with J-Z.  An adult supervisor is stationed where the lanes cross to control traffic.  The cars are asked to display the last name of the children they are to pick up.

Brensten: (holding the pick-up A-M sign) As one of the JPOs,  I’m stationed at the beginning of a pick-up lane and I’ll call out the name of the student so he or she can come up to the pick-up curb and thus reduce waiting time.

Jonathan: 5 months (and a lot of cooperation) later!

PART II

Jonathan: It looks like there are two lanes now and the lanes are organized by the last names of the students.  That should help with traffic.

Brensten: Kara! Kara, come to the pick-up. Your mom is pulling up next.  Hey, Kara, get your backpack cuz your mom is coming soon.

(Zoie drives up)

Zoie: Hi, Kiddo! Guess what? It’s a whole 30 minutes until gymnastics.

Kara: Wow! That’s great! I can actually make it for warm-ups.

(Kara starts to get in the car)

JPO: Cierra, where are you? Cierra, come to the pick-up! Your dad’s almost here!

(Cierra walks up as Zoie drives off)

I’okepa: Hey, we have extra time before soccer practice.  Do you want to stop at McDonald’s for a snack?

Cierra: Sure Dad! Can I get a McFlurry?

(Cierra gets in the car and they drive off) 

CONCLUSION:

Jonathan: Things seem to be so much better now.

Brensten: Wasn’t it some First Lego League team’s idea to do these two lanes a few years ago?

Jonathan: Yeah, they are at college now.  We’re so grateful!

Brensten: Collaboration and teamwork sure pays off.

Everyone faces the judges with their props and bows.

Recap From Sunday 2

The girls enjoyed taking control of the project script. Jonathan's computer willingly complies.

Robot speeding down the course with no field damage this time!

The girls try their hand at programming. This week, their program beat the boys' in terms of points. Outcome: success!

Expert Builder.

Brensten programing/brainwashing the robot

More pictures, thanks to a lot of kids with super charged cameras. Lots of work was finished today regarding the project, the script of which will be shortly posted on the blog. It's awaiting the OK from Mr. Belnap, but I think things should be finished in time for the tournament. There's a few fixes on it that need to be made, I'll point them out so they can be easily fixed. If any of you guys (Jagbots, I mean, not parents!) have fixed it, email it to me so i can post the final copy. Attach it to the message or Copy Paste it into the body of the email. (copy-paste= highlight text, c, then move cursor to body of email then v.)

Mentoring

Since everyone seems to like taking pictures of him so much. I swear, there's about a million random pictures of him. You're a much looked-up-to mentor/coach, Noah.

look in the last picture there's the claw.

Concerning Prep Time

Hey guys, Happy Veteran's Day Eve.

I have some stuff to clear up for the tournament that you guys might want to know. It was decided at the coaches meeting that ALL teams will be alloted a minute of setup time for both the mission and the project. All the judges should have been made aware of this, so be sure to let them know you will be using this valuable time for set up of any props and such. ONLY the kids will be allowed in the room for the project, no mentors, no coaches, no parents, no cheerleaders. So guys, MAKE SURE YOU USE THIS TIME! Sometimes the Judges won't know. TELL THEM. You have by right a minute of prep time. However, it's ONLY for this tournament. Don't expect it anywhere else. Also, the same runs for the pit challenge (the robot competition). There are 3 minutes between each team in the pits. So that means you get that three minutes from when the team before you goes to set up. There is not really a specific timed setup thing. Get to the table early and use whatcha got. It's not a free for all though. They might not let you right away, just let them have enough time to reset the table, but then again if you offer to do it, you'll get more time. Up to you. By the way, there will be practice tables and I recommend you make use of them. See you Monday. 

One last thing: on Monday, if you don't want to meet in the courtyard or at the base of the stairs, there's an upstairs lobby thing you can also meet in. Also, Jonathan will not be able to make it to this practice, but will be able to make it to the Tournament. 

Bob-Bot in ACTION but Not Failing.

Another shot of some limited edition footage by Cierra. 

This time, things are looking up.

Important Information For Kalani Qualifiers

click on any image to enlarge.

Map Of Kalani High School

Team Job Assignments

We should find out if Mr. Belnap is organizing this.

Note To Coaches

Schedule for Tech Presentations, Mission, and Project Presentations

notice, the interviews are scheduled one after the other, so be ready to do two in a row.

Code Of Team Names and Numbers

the one at the bottom is my team. Yes, there are 5 Punahou teams.

Iolani has a pretty good team as well.

It also includes your team's number which should have been given to you ages ago. Apologies for the late post, I just got it today from my coach. Apparently there was a coaches meeting that nobody I know of from the team went to. This is the Coaches Packet that was distributed there. Someone would do well to download it and print a good copy. Some teams assign a parent to be the "scout", a very committed, organized parent or mentor who will help the team to get where they've got to go, at the time they're scheduled to, and generally be at the ready in case of disaster. If we have a scout, both them and the coach need to have this information at the ready. Not sure if you'll actually need a scout if who ever is going to be the "coach" is really organized.

Alrighty, i think that's it. See you all on Wednesday. Punahou should have snacks for everyone that day, I'm not sure, though, so we'll see. Oh yeh, I'll also email this packet out, but I'm not sure I have everyone's emails, so might as well post it, right?

Special! Video Clip

and... wrecking the field, as usual. Quite the gymnastic robot.

Sunday Practice

Thanks to a lot of really helpful parents and camera happy kids, we got a whole bunch of pictures to share on the blog. Thanks everyone. To recap for anyone who might have missed the meeting, we worked on the script, and rehearsed the project and made a record score of 160 (?) with the robot. All in all it was quite the most efficient day. We had issues with the alignment of the robot and are trying to come up with a solution for this. 

Learning to Program

Zoierae Is Really Speedy, isn't she?

Setting up For a Practice Run. Yes, the sensor wall is our jig.

The boys are working on the Project Script. As always, there are stick figures on the board. I'm such a good artist, aren't I? XD

BOB-BOT!

is triumphant!

Wednesday Collaborative Meeting

The Meeting on Veteran's Day will take place at Punahou in the robotics room there. As the campus is rather large and confusing, here's several maps that should help you locate the room. Also, as parking may be kind of limited, I recommend some of you carpool, because it is most likely that you would be parking at the pickup, and it's not a huge place. Maybe 10 cars max could park there. We should be fine. 

How to get to the Robotics Room once you've gotten to Punahou:

If there's no Parking.

How to get to Punahou from the East: (assuming that's where all you live)

Exit off the town bound freeway onto Wilder and keep following Wilder past 7-11 . You'll see a whole bunch of apartments and houses and such. Keep on going until you see the Night Blooming Cereus creeping along a low stone wall. It's the cactus-y looking plant. To get up to the middle school, which is where the Robotics room is, look for two large square stone pillars with some lighting fixture atop each. Once you turn into this driveway, go up the steep hill, turn around the traffic island with two monkeypod trees on it, and down to the 7-8 grade pickup. There will be signs and sometimes a traffic officer. This is where you want to go. It has an awning shelter thing and an enormous cement staircase going up to a courtyard. If you go up the first set of stairs, the robotics room is right in front of you. We'll have the doors open because there's no AC on the weekends. There might be a person stationed near the gate to the Middle School from Wilder. 

Oh, and for more detailed instructions from your house, use this link:

http://maps.google.com/

The Address for the Main Gate (near the highschool) is 1601 Punahou St, Honolulu, HI 96822

click on "get directions"

If you can't find parking or there's some event and they tell you not to park at the pickup,

you can alternatively go down the ramp, back onto Wilder, and reenter via the Main Gate at the

corner of Wilder and Punahou. If you go along the road around the field, you'll eventually come

to a parking lot where you should be able to park. Then, just walk up the car ramp you went

down earlier.

Updates and Tech Presentations

So, I changed the layout of the blog. Like the new header?

Anyway, I'm going to post the basics for the Question-Answer sessions that we determined on Sunday here. Remember, you don't need to know all this stuff. It's just you should know at least a bit of it from each category... like know a bit about the program, a bit about the robot, the strategy, and so on. 

What You Need To Know About:

The Robot

-What's so special about it?

-Why'd you design it that way?

-Who helped come up with the design?

-How'd you come up with the design?

The Strategy

-Explain it

-Why'd you decide to skip/get certain things?

-How does your robot design affect the strategy?

-What's really important to watch out for when you're in the Competition? (like the jig?)

The Program

-What does it accomplish really well?

-Who helped write the programs?

-Is there anything special about it?

-Show them a picture of your program.

Extra Stuff To Talk About

-The Jig 

-How do you use it?

-Why is it important?

-Attachments

-Third Motor

The Major Rules of Talking to Judges!

1. Act Confidently- Eye contact, don't play with random stuff in the room, don't mumble

2. Never run out of smart stuff to say- keep the conversation moving!

3. Be Polite to both the Judges and your Team

4. Everybody needs to say something, and if that means interrupting politely, you may have to

5. Pay attention to the Judges-they are deciding whether you win or not! That means don't show them your backside. They don't want to see it that much.

6. If someone interrupts you, that probably means you are talking a little too much. 

7. Don't freak out. Things will go fine.