Monthly Archives: August 2012

FLL portable walls

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Note: August 28 is Robot Game release…WooHoo!!

Last year I worked with a team at a school with almost no storage space near the robot room. There was little enough room for the boxes of Robot Lego’s, much less a practice table, even a portable one. We practiced on the floor on missions that were in the center of the mat with no need for walls.

This year, I don’t want any teams to fall into the same predicament. I had heard rumors of how to build portable walls but hadn’t found the plans. So I came up with the follow plans for portable walls that fit in a small storage area and are cheap to build.

It can be used for practice on the floor, or they can be taken to qualifiers and used for your own practice area.

Here’s the link – http://www.qweztech.com/OtherRobotics/FLL Floor Practice Table.pdf

It’s at my FIRST mentoring website – http://www.qweztech.com

It costs less than $25, stores in an area about 48″ X 4″ X 12″, and weighs less than 25 lbs.

I hope this can help some people. Good Luck

FLL Organizing a team

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There are many different ideas about how coaches should organize an FLL team. Some of the organizational methods are good, some not as good. The key thing is to come up with a way that fits you’re (or the coaches) organizational style…unless that style is chaotic, I haven’t seen that style work yet.

These are my thoughts based on watching teams from either a mentor’s perspective or as someone who was brought in to teach/trouble shoot/guide for a short time, which seems to be something I do a lot of. I’ve also read others FLL’ers thoughts on team organization. Here are some of my thoughts.

  • The coach doesn’t need to be technical – just good with kids and organized. Understanding NXT-G programming and building helps. The FIRST organization has some good information on coaching on their international FLL site.
  • Recruit parents/mentor’s – The coach can’t do it all, you need help. They can help keep the kids on task with the project and robot missions moving. Mentors can really help with the programming and building ideas.
  • Manage and Administer the team – keep the team organized and moving toward the FLL competitions. Set practice schedule, meet deadlines from FIRST (i.e. registration, event sign up, etc.), and getting things done on time. A bigger task is sometimes managing the parents (probably the hardest part). Don’t let the parents use the FLL meetings as “babysitting”. If kids don’t want to be there, then they don’t need to be there.
  • Kid interaction – Depending on the mix of maturity of the kids, this can be tough. And, yes, there may be some crying and hurt feelings. Also recruiting the right mix of kids. Some want to be technical only (i.e. work on the robot) and some want to be project oriented. Some want to tell everyone else what to do. All of this needs to be managed.
  • Time management – have a schedule and stick to it. As an Engineer, I know the schedule will most likely be missed, but it’s a goal to shoot for. Keep the meetings on time (for the sake of the parents).
  • Area organization – There needs to be enough room for kids to work on the robot missions (4×8 ft table plus area to move around the edge, about 2 ft on each side. There also needs to be enough area for work on the project. This depends on the project, building/creating the parts of the project and area to practice. Also, a storage area for mission models, project parts, and table storage.
  • Stay connected – Communicate with other coaches and regional groups. The North Texas FLL forum is at (). Don’t go through this on your own. If you need to contact me (frc704mentor@qweztech.com) and I’ll check my contacts to find out who can help in your area. If you’re in North Texas, I can help.

Volumes have been written on coaching so do some reading.

Kid management and robot resource management is another topic. If there is only one brick (Robot Brain) this can be tough.The main thing I have is patience. Since all kids are different this is more of a coaches issues to determine how to organize the kids based on their personalities. Here are some suggestions on organizing the kids.

First, have the team come up with a basic chassis design that will accommodate attachments and can move around the field. This would include, at minimum, a light sensor for line following. Have the best builders build the chassis.

 

1.       My belief is to let every kids who wants to work on the robot, work on it. The robot portion FLL is organized into missions. They can be logically grouped for the robot to do multiple missions after leaving the base. A good idea is to pair up the kids and have them make the robot do a set of missions. They both work on the programming and the attachments for the mission. Not all kids have a technical aptitude but, I believe, that if they do, it should be nurtured. Also, have the kids help each other if some of them get stuck.

 

2.       At significant milestones in the missions, have the robot pair present what they did to the group (not every meeting). That way, every one kind of knows what’s going on and it helps toward team work.

 

3.       All the kids need to work on their project. Most of the time, when one pair is working on the robot, have the others working on the project. Occasionally everyone will need to work on the project for presentation organization.

 

4.       The kids need to work as a team. Work together, value each other’s ideas, and value each other. There will be the overpowering kids, the ones to talk a lot and telling others what to do. However, there will also be the quiet kids who think things out. These kids need to be given the time to be heard and their ideas are  listened to as much as the overpowering kids ideas. These are the introverts (which is a great thing) whose ideas will become the next Google or get a colony on another planet.

 

·         Los Altos Robotics (http://www.losaltosrobotics.org:8080/Main/FLL/coaching.html)

·         FIRST Lego League Coaching (http://www.legoleaguecoaching.org/)

·         FLL Resources (http://firstlegoleague.org/challenge/teamresources)

Dr. Ken Berry (Head Referee for the North Texas Region)

Get Prepared for FLL

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As most of us FLL’ers know, the kickoff date for Senior Solutions is August 28, 2012. WooHoo! (link to where the material will be) Here in North Texas the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science will host a kickoff, tentatively planned for Sept. 8, 10 am to 12 noon in the auditorium at the Museum. There will be more information at the Museum FLL Link.

There are many new teams out there who are saying “what does that mean?” What it means is the field and missions will be released as well as the Rubrics for each area being judged.

For all the new coaches and mentors out, there are a lot of questions. While I’m happy to answer any and all questions, here are some links to information to get coaches and mentors started.

Official Resources:

Some other FLL resources:

Programming Resources

Mentoring and Robotics

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“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”
— Benjamin Franklin

Technical mentoring is very important in any STEM (Science, Technical, Engineering, and Mathematics) and especially in Robotics. The kids typically have the desire but not the know how. They need the proper guidance and knowledge to go forward. I’ve worked with several FIRST teams and seen various styles of mentoring. Some good some not as good. I would like there to be more of the good mentoring.

First, some general ideas on mentoring. I was looking around the web at mentoring and there was a pretty good blog on mentoring at the Center for Mentoring Excellence where there is a wealth on Mentoring. I would like to encourage everyone to read about mentoring in general.

Second are some of the things I’d like to share on being a mentor in FIRST. Here are FIRST’s mentoring resources . Here are some of my thoughts specifically on Robotic mentoring.

  1. Before the Robot season starts, get to know the kids. Talk with them what they like to do, what are there area’s of interest, and who they are. A lot of the kids won’t know much about robotics or engineering, but if they have a desire, then it will be up to you to help them explore different area’s.
  2. Share your experience with the kids – let them know how you work in the real world. What is your job like, what you work on, how you work, and how your company works. Let them know sometime you make mistakes.
  3. Talk “With” the kids, no just to them – That means listen as well as talk. Listen to what the kids are saying and ask questions to draw out there thoughts and ideas.
  4. Guide the kids in their learning – Show the kids how to do something. Get the kids to do it while you watch them Then get them to do it. Get the kids to check each others work, because here always needs to be quality control.
  5. Help keep the kids focused – Sometimes this means keep the parents and other  mentors focused, too. When it’s time to work, try to guide the conversions toward the issues, at hand. That means if your brainstorming keep the conversations on the robot and not on the days events. Leave the other conversations for later.
  6. Have fun – Try to make it fun for the kids and have fun yourself. It all goes easier when there is some fun mixed in with the work.
  7. Learn from the kids – The kids have lots of ideas and creativity and you should always listen and learn. They have a lot to give.

One more thing, always watch for the quite kids. These kids have a lot to give and don’t always know how to express themselves. Work with these kids, get them involved, and guide. Theses are the introverted kids with more to give than you can imagine. I know because that was me when I was young and I needed a good mentor to draw me out.

For First mentoring, here are some preseason reading on FIRST resources.

Mentoring is a big part of FIRST Robotics program, or any of the robotics or STEM program for that matter.

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. – Winston Churchill