Henry's first
FLL Lego Robotics tournament was on Saturday, and what a day it was! We're still excited about it.
We all got up at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning (including my dad, who was visiting on an extended layover and who had arrived the night before), got ready, piled in the car at 6:45, and got to Plymouth Middle School by 7:30.
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| Gearing up for the big day... |
We found our pit area, and started getting ready for the day and the first event, which was the project judging. The kids prepared a skit with the things they had learned about food safety. Food safety was the challenge that the whole league was working on this year, world-wide.
You can learn more about the challenge and what it involves here.
They took a bit of time to run through their skit a couple of times, before it was time to head to the judges.
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| Heading in to the judging room! |
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They performed their skit for the judge, and then discussed what they had learned, how they learned it, who they had shared their knowledge with and how, and many other details. It was very in-depth.
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| Performing the skit about food safety for the judge. |
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| Discussing their project with the judge. |
After that was over, they had a performance round (there are three in all during the day). This is when the teams go to the performance tables, four at a time, and each go through their missions at the tables, or playing fields. The programs have been worked out over the last couple of months by each team, and sometimes a little tweaking is done during the competition, between rounds, at the practice tables near the pits.
Here is a little taste of what the performance rounds are like (sorry the pictures aren't the best, the gym had no lighting other than over the tables):
I tried to upload a couple of short videos here, but it just wasn't working, sorry! (If you are interested in seeing the videos--and I know you!--let me know and I can send you a link to view them.)
The team went through a judging round dealing with their team values--only one adult was allowed into that round of judging--where they were given a challenge to work out as a team. This was to see how they worked together, and how much they resembled the Core Values that the FLL holds as an ideal.
They also had a round of technical judging (no pictures were allowed in there), dealing with their robot's construction, the performance on the table, and looking at their programming on the computer. This round of judging really yielded the most help for the team, we all thought--the judge gave them lots of ideas to work with, and encouragement. They were told that if they could master the use of a sensor that can be tricky to use, they could be one of the top teams in this area. Some of what the judge said was difficult for them, of course, but it was all really great advice.
After a long day of judging and performance rounds, by about 2:45, they were ready for the head-to-head single-elimination competition. Unfortunately, they didn't make it past the first round, which was very disappointing for the team, especially for the two oldest members. This was their last year with the team, and for some reason, when they were at the competition tables, they had problems with the programs. The robots did fine while on the practice tables though! That was definitely frustrating.
At 4:00, we assembled for the awards ceremony. There were two divisions in this tournament, division 1.0 (with 16 teams) and division 2.0 (with 8 teams). The divisions are for age groups. If the oldest member of a team is in 4th, 5th, or 6th grade, that team would be in division 1.0. If the oldest member is in 7th, 8th, or 9th grade, the team is put into division 2.0. We were in division 2.0.
There are five awards and five certificates awarded for each division. Awards are given for Core Values, Research Project, Robot Design, Robot Performance, and a Judges' Award. Certificates are given for Innovative Programming, Innovative Design, Head-to-Head 1st and 2nd Place, and Team Spirit.
As we watched the awards being given out, the announcer would read the judges' notes about the teams who won before saying who the team was. It was a learning experience to hear why each team won what they did, and how our team could improve for the next tournament. It was also extremely exciting, however, when we learned that our team won two out of the five awards for their division!
They won the Core Values Award: "Presented to the team that best exemplifies the FLL Core Values. Judges look for teams that work well together, and focus on task specific activities during the day of the tournament. This can be observed in all judging sessions."
And they won the Robot Design Award: "Presented to the team whose understanding and application of sound mechanical principles produces the most solid, predictable, and dependable robotic design."
We were all so proud of the kids! They did this pretty much all on their own, as the adults are only allowed to facilitate, not give ideas or help program or build.
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| Receiving the first award (bad picture, sorry)! |
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| The team and coaches with their awards! |
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| Henry--so excited! |
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| With the awards. Henry told me he felt like he might cry! |
We're all definitely hooked!
