Eagles Robotics Thanks You!

See you in 2014!

Our competition team competed at the First Lego League Competition at Westwood High School on Saturday. As our first year, we did not have expectations of winning. Rather, we wanted to enjoy what being in robotics is about - team building, learning, and working together to develop solutions. And, we did just that. Our team left with many ideas to improve upon for next year and a fresh batch of energy to push us through the rest of the year.

When we return in January, we will focus on building and programming so all students receive time and opportunities to develop those skills. When we return to competition season next fall, we should have a nearly veteran team!

Stay tuned for updates on any Round Rock ISD robotics tournaments during the spring. At a minimum, we hope to have a match with Deer Park Middle School.

Spring schedule posted!

This spring, we will still meet on Tuesdays in the computer lab from 2:45-4:00PM, but not as often. Since there is not a major competition, everyone will learn basic robotics skills to help them for next fall when we can take multiple teams!

Here are the dates:

1/21/14
1/28/14
2/11/14
2/25/14
3/18/14
3/25/14
4/8/14
4/22/14
5/6/14
5/20/14

Schedule for Saturday

Here is the more detailed schedule for Saturday's competition at Westwood: http://centraltxfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/2013-Westwood-HS-Qualifier-Schedule.pdf

Final Announcements

We just completed our last official practice of this semester! Our competition team will be meeting on Friday from 3-5PM and our competition is Saturday from 7:30AM until 4:00PM (approximate end time). We will have a party next week Tuesday at our normal time for all of those who want to attend. I will also give the schedules for the spring at that time. We will do robotics differently in the spring since there is not a competition - all will build and program base robots. So, it should be a lot of fun! We will also only meet every other week.

On Saturday, we welcome all to attend our first ever FNE Robotics competition!

Competition team Announcements:

• Please review your script (you can access it here to print it if you need to) for Friday. You should have your lines memorized.
• We will have practice on Friday from 3-5PM (I'll be there by 2:40PM)
• We no longer need the table to be moved. Ms. Fennewald can handle moving the supplies. Thank you, though, to all who offered.
• Please arrive at Westwood High School (click on that link to get directions) by 7:30AM (doors will not open sooner). You may meet right inside the front entrance by the main office and we will walk together.
• Food - I had originally thought we could pay FNE and then, FNE could write a check for the food, but FNE cannot do that. Therefore, you have two options: one parent pays for it all and the rest reimburse that parent. Or, you can grab concessions early. 
• Schedule: Individual Tournament Experience may vary
• 7:00 AM | Volunteer Check-In
• 7:30 AM | Team Check-In
• 7:45 AM | Judges Meeting
• 8:15 AM | Coaches’ Meeting
• 8:40 AM | Opening Ceremonies on Tournament Floor
• 9:00 AM | Matches and Judging begin
• 12:00 PM | Lunch
• 1:00 PM | Matches Resume on Tournament Floor
• 3:00 PM | Matches End
• 3:30 PM | Closing Ceremony on Tournament Floor
• Ms. Fennewald will be in attendance the entire time. Parents and other students are welcome to attend for as long or as little as they want. 
• If you leave, please plan to be back at Westwood by 3:15PM to pick up your students. 

I will send out a final announcement on Friday after practice to make sure everyone is ready for Saturday. For now, just plan to show up, play, learn and, of course, have fun! 

The final stretch

Robotics members worked on their skits, programming more mission models, building their base robot, and gearing up for competition today!

Competition member announcements:

• For homework, the competition crew needs to review their portion of the skit.
• If you didn't bring a shirt to Ms. Potral, please bring a plain white shirt by Monday and Ms. Potral will make our team shirts.
• Programmers - review this site: 
• Information on Schedules: http://www.nxtprograms.com/index1.html
• Teams should check-in at their Qualifiers at 7:30 AM. TEAMS SHOULD NOT ARRIVE BEFORE 7:30 AM. Tournaments are expected to last until between 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM depending on tournament size, with judging ending before lunch break from 12:00 – 1:00 PM. The breakdown of tournament schedules have been included below. (Note: The information provided here will be constantly updating, so regularly check this schedule for any updates regarding the event you have registered for)
• SAMPLE SCHEDULE - Individual Tournament Experience may vary
• 7:00 AM | Volunteer Check-In
• 7:30 AM | Team Check-In
• 7:45 AM | Judges Meeting
• 8:15 AM | Coaches’ Meeting
• 8:40 AM | Opening Ceremonies on Tournament Floor
• 9:00 AM | Matches and Judging begin
• 12:00 PM | Lunch
• 1:00 PM | Matches Resume on Tournament Floor
• 3:00 PM | Matches End
• 3:30 PM | Closing Ceremony on Tournament Floor

Practices left:

• December 3 - All members
• December 6 - Competition members
• December 7 - Competition at Westwood
• December 10 - Party!

We will start the spring semester in January with everyone building robots and a fresh start! Thank you all and have a great break!

Mission Status

Today, our teams were focused on naming our missions for our competition, getting our skits ready, finding answers to judge questions, programming our base robot, and building our base robot. Everyone had a job and everyone was hard at work. We are excited to see it all come together.

A few announcements as we reach the end of our first semester:
We have just a few practices left -

• Friday, November 22 from 2:45-3:45 (FOR COMPETITION ONLY)
• Tuesday, November 26 - ALL
• Tuesday, December 3 - ALL
• Friday, December 6 from 3-5PM (FOR COMPETITION ONLY)
• COMPETITION DAY - Saturday, December 7 from 7:30AM to 4PM at Westwood HS. More info will be shared next week in terms of what time to get there, what supplies we need transported, etc.
• OPTIONAL DAY - Tuesday, December 10 at normal time - PARTY TIME

We will continue robotics in the spring, but dates will be announced when we return from winter break. Spring robotics will be building for everyone and should be a great time for all.

Thank you, all, for your support during our first year of competition robotics! 

3 more official practices left this season!

This season has flown by! Thank you to all who have worked hard to make our first competition season happen.

Right now, the competition team is figuring which of the 12 missions they want to focus on to conquer. They are also building a robot to conquer those missions and a program to help control the robot. Our researches are nearly done researching wildfires - our project. And, our presentation crew is nearly done writing a script to share with the judges for why our solution is the most innovative.

Both teams have been hard at work and have been completing all tasks!

We only have two practices left before Thanksgiving and one after it. We will have a robotics party on 12/10 at our normal class time to celebrate our season. Then, we will break until after the new year so stay tuned for more information on our spring season.

For those in the competition crew, we will also have practices on 11/22 and 12/6. Our competition is on 12/7. Location is still waiting to be announced. All competition members must be in attendance. Those in the non-competition team are encouraged to come, support their team mates, and learn more about the game as they will be in it next year!

Thank you all for your help!

Committees coming along

Today, committees created plans for the presentation - the props, characters, and story line - drew out plans for their robot, created a list of research questions and persons of interest, and began programming the robot.

We now have four meetings until the competition! For those in the competition, we will hold two extra practices on 11/22 and 12/6 after school. Please check your email for calendar invites. Students in the competition team also need to be sure to complete both forms out online in order to participate.

There was no homework this week. However, next time, students will:

• begin building the robot for the game and for the wildfire solution
• find answers to research questions (and talk to professionals)
• begin programming bricks for robot
• review requirements for competition
• write out script and begin making props and practicing

At any time, if parents would like to join us, you are more than welcome! Stay tuned for more updates and thank you all for your support!

Dividing into our committees

Our competition team will be competing at a to-be-decided location on December 7, 2013 from 7:30AM-4:00PM. We will, more than likely, need to work on a Saturday as we get closer. Please think about times that may work for you. We can also stay late on a Thursday or Friday night as well. We will try to order pizza or ask for any treats on those nights. 

This week, we divided into competition and non-competition teams. Our teams, then, split up into committees to begin work. Our presentation crew started to think of ideas for their presentation. The researchers drafted questions to ask others and to research. The builders drew an outline of our robot model. Our programmers reviewed the competition rules and judging requirements. And, our captains and competition crews assisted the other groups. We were also able to finish building our mission models. 

There was no homework. Next week, we will start off in our teams and committees and work on finishing our tasks. There are only five meetings before competition so we will all be working hard! 

Thank you for your continued support!

Teams picked, Grant received!

Today, competition and non-competition teams were announced. Students not on the competition teams will continuing working on tasks, but in new, smaller project groups. Dell awarded our team a $300 grant to help fund portions of our program so students utilized Google Presentation to make an interactive Thank You card. Next week, we will finish up building our mission models, split into our new, smaller groups, and start getting jobs ready for competition. For homework, students are to look at the committee task list (linked on the 10/22 assignment page) and pick three jobs they will complete. They should write these down on notebook paper or a Google Doc. We still await hearing our actual competition date. Thank you for all of your support!

Answering project questions

Today, our committees continued working on building the mission models. We are nearly finished! Next week, we will announce the students who have made it to the competition team. Though, all students will get to continue as robotics members. For homework, students will be answering the essential project questions located on the outline for today (check out the outline page of this blog). These project questions will be questions the competition judges will ask all members. Therefore, all members will need to have input and answers for all of the questions. We look forward to another great week ahead! Thank you to our volunteers again this week!

And, the building has begun!

Today - thanks to help of numerous parents and volunteers, we started building on our Mission Models. These are the tiny replicas that will go on our field mat. We have many great builders and team players among us. We look forward to the work they will produce! There will be no homework this week. Next week, we will finish up our mission models, start on our table, and work in our committee groups. Stay tuned for pictures on their progress!

Naming a solution

Update: the team has chosen to create a solution to aide in wildfire evacuation and warning. Specifically, they have decided to utilize an existing system (like the weather channel) that will send out information to three places: radios, roadway signs, and to devices in homes. The devices in homes will release a safety kit upon warning. They were thinking of labeling certain areas within a community (Arizona) as wildfire zones and just having those devices in homes in those areas - like how people in flood plains have to buy flood insurance, these homes would need those devices. Next week, we will start building on the field mat and building our model city

Naming a Problem

Today, members of the Eagles' Robotics team narrowed down our topic from wildfires to finding an innovative solution to aide in informing the public in the event of a wildfire. Students divided into their committees to plan out solutions. For homework, students must brainstorm five ways to help inform people in the event of a wildfire - they can be solutions they have invented or current solutions to the problem. When we meet next week, we will choose a more specific solution. And, that, will become the focus of our team and the focus of our robotics solutions. In two weeks, October 8, we welcome parents to join us in our discoveries.

Two practices underway and going strong

Yesterday, we had our second practice! Last week, we chose jobs for all team members and today, we chose a natural disaster to study for our robotics challenge. Our goal is to find a solution for wildfire (or natural disaster of choice) prevention, evacuation, or education. Our members chose wildfires due to the devastating wildfires that hit the Bastrop area exactly two years ago as well as the constant threat of fires Central Texas resides in with the drought.

We would like to thank Mr. Yarbrough of National Instruments for volunteering to be a team mentor!

For next time, all team members will research a place where a wildfire has struck. Then, we will choose a community that we want to dedicate our solution to. We will also start the basics of robotics programming next time, after establishing our team goal.

Way to go, Eagle Robots!

First practice today!

Our first practice is today from 2:45 to 4:00 PM. Please be sure to arrive and be picked up on time. You will receive a lot of very important information today. See you soon!

Applications accepted September 3 - September 9!

Fill out your online application between Tuesday, September 3 and Sunday, September 9 in order to be considered for Eagles Robotics! All 3rd through 5th grade students are welcome!