Young Engineers return from Atlanta World Festival
A team of young engineers from Trimley St Martin Primary School in Suffolk, have just returned from the trip of a lifetime after competing in the FLL Robotics World Festival held in Atlanta, USA.
TSM Roboteam UK had previously won the top award at the UK and Ireland National Finals held in Birmingham from an initial 400 teams nationwide. This qualified them as the only UK team to take part in the World Festival in Atlanta.
After winning the UK Finals there was much to do. Fundraising was a major issue, how were we to raise the estimated £12000 needed? Parents stepped in to help with events and raffles, and local people, businesses and larger organisations helped greatly with donations – not to mention the help of Young Engineers!
There was also the problem of cutting down our research presentation material to reduce weight and bulk. It was fine for travelling to Birmingham in a minibus, a journey of approximately 170 miles. Now we were faced with a 4000 mile flight in a 777 with baggage weight and size limits, and baggage handlers at each end! In the end a ‘trimmed’ version of the material was packed in various people’s suitcases and all was well. We just had to hope they would survive the journey without loss or damage.
Oh yes, mustn’t forget, there’s also the robot. The basic robot is built around a Lego Mindstorms NXT intelligent brick. It’s quite small and sits within the area of an A4 sheet of paper. We were lucky to be able to use a large food container (kindly donated by a local hardware store) to protect it, along with extra foam packing. Then we had a fright. We were told that the robot would have to go into the aircraft hold. We had visions of it self-converting back to some sort of a kit, and bits of lego strewn across a baggage carousel. Fortunately, that information proved to be incorrect and we were able to keep it in its container in hand baggage – phew! By the way, the robot has lots of attachments which were stored in a similar container, also kept in hand baggage.
After much preparation, we set off early on Monday 14th April, the team somewhat daunted at the prospect, but also very excited and determined to do their best. Whilst on the flight, one of the team noticed a familiar face in a seat nearby. It was singer Kate Nash, travelling economy to a gig in Atlanta! She was very friendly and interested in our team. Now they all have autographs and photos of this encounter. After a long but pleasant nine hour flight, we arrived in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
We spent absolutely ages passing through security. Passport check was fine…but baggage check and reclaim was a nightmare, especially considering we were now around 23:00 UK time. We had to go through the same process as at Gatwick (not so bad), but after reclaiming our baggage normally, it all had to be sent off for yet another security check only to be reclaimed AGAIN at another part of the airport. And this took an eternity! Also standing next to us was Kate Nash’s crew, hoping that they’d see their guitars once again. Fortunately they did, and we finally collected our bags all in good shape.
Now back to more pleasant things.
Prior to our visit, we had been in touch with a primary school a short way outside the city, so on the Tuesday we went to visit them. Here, the team were delighted to be able to talk about our home area and to present and demonstrate their work to a large number of enthusiastic students of a similar age. The effect was such that the school is seriously considering entering the FLL Challenge themselves in the near future. So once again, Young Engineers spread the word. It was also the birthday of one of our team. The school had found out about this and made a special cake which was much appreciated and enjoyed by all.
Wednesday 16th April
On Wednesday morning we took the opportunity to visit the World of Coca Cola. Here, they show you a small bottling plant in operation. This was an interesting display of engineering in it’s own right. The highlight was to be able to try samples of up to 70 different flavours of Coke from around the world. Some of them were absolutely revolting! But it’s a shame that some of the other more pleasant examples aren’t available in the UK.
In the afternoon the team went to register for the event. It was our first close look at the Georgia Dome and the World Congress Center (sorry, have to spell it that way). Not surprisingly, we met several other teams converging on the area. We were given our official team badges and were all set to go!
Late afternoon we headed for the nearby CNN Center (sorry, that word again) where they have a huge food hall. This rapidly became a favourite eating establishment for the visit. But soon our thoughts drifted to what was in store the next day.
Thursday 17th April
The contest started today. We arrived early to set up a display in our pit area (team table). We had hundreds of team badges, pencils and other items to give away, and it wasn’t long before we had visits from other teams wanting to exchange similar items. It didn’t stop there either. For example, there was a team from Hawaii giving out chocolates and you could try your hand at painting traditional face masks with the team from China.
Later it was our turn for the first part of the competition. This comprised the three judging sessions relating to three of the main competition areas. In a one-hour period, the team was judged on their energy research project, robot design, and teamwork. This was an intense and demanding time, but the team performed admirably. Judges also paid impromptu visits to our pit area through the day to speak to the group informally.
Everyone also had the chance to visit other teams at their tables and see the various Mindstorms and FLL sponsor display stands.
That evening, all the teams headed for a special celebration at Centennial Park, a short walk from the Dome. It was a fun event where free ice creams were served and several teams put on special song or dance performances. The weather was great. It was a perfect end to the first competition day.
Friday 18th April
The next day saw the official opening ceremony for the robotics competitions. This took place in the huge 70,000 seat Georgia Dome, the arena used in the Atlanta Olympics. It was addressed by non other than George Bush senior who is a strong supporter of FIRST and its objectives and values.
Shortly after the ceremony, the team started competing in their robot performance rounds, also held in the Georgia Dome. Here, the sophisticated lego robot, designed and programmed by themselves, had to undertake a series of complex tabletop missions, completing as many as possible within 2.5 minutes. The mission tables seemed tiny in such a huge structure, whereas our table tends to dominate the school ICT Room. There were slight technical hitches in the first two rounds, which were a bit worrying and mainly outside of our control. However, all three rounds were high scoring and our team was thrilled that in the final round they achieved a maximum possible score of 400 points! This was the first time we had achieved this in any competition so far. As a result, we knew that we should be amongst the highest scoring teams. 
Late afternoon saw the Awards Ceremony. Everyone in the team was given a special participation medal, but sadly, no prizes for us, but it was great to see all the teams together again and cheering the various winners.
In all, 81 teams took part from 25 countries. The majority were from all over America, but others were from as far afield as Australia, Egypt and South Korea, to name but a few. This gave all the teams a fantastic opportunity to meet people from these countries – and all in one building! There was obviously a language barrier between many of the teams, but communication was universal with smiles, handshakes and the exchange of badges, pencils and other mementoes.
The event was extra special as it was also a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the FLL Challenge (over the years our teams have competed in six of them), and the 50th anniversary of the Lego brick.
“This was an occasion not to be missed. We know that we are not in the top three overall, but this is not the real point, it was worth all the effort just to be able to take part in such a prestigious event. The team have had a wonderful time simply being there and participating in a friendly multicultural atmosphere. All of us will remember this experience for many years to come”.
To quote our youngest team member, “The best experience for me was just being there in Atlanta! It was just so amazing to actually go there for someone so young as me at the age of nine! Atlanta is so different from the UK, going there for the World Championship for the FLL Lego Challenge is probably a once in a lifetime experience and it was just so brilliant!”
Since our return, our team has featured on local radio, and BBC and ITV regional news. If you would like to see a short video report featured on BBC Look East, please click on the link below:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7363896.stm
The cost of our trip was in the region of £12000. We are very grateful to everyone who helped to fundraise and who donated, but we still have a shortfall and have had to have deep pockets to cover this. If any individual or business is able to help us to recover some of this cost it would be greatly appreciated. It could also help to fund the initial costs for a new team attempting the next FLL challenge later in the year.
Our next team is waiting in the wings………
Derek Edwards
Young Engineers Club Leader
Coach/Mentor – TSM Roboteam UK
With contributions from team members