May 2007 - Posts

• What next?

  Yes, it doesn't stop here. We have completed the 2006 challenge but already the 2007 challenge is beckoning - The Power Puzzle. This site will soon host a registration system allowing individual teams, or groups of teams to be easily registered for the 2007 challenge - and hopefully reduce the amount of administration involved! After attending any of the First Lego League tournaments or after talking to the teams you can be left in no doubt that this challenge is of tremendous benefit to the education and life skills development of the children taking part. We need to extend this opportunity to more children in the UK. How can you help? I have heard so many super stories from parents and children about the benefits of the challenge. Please tell your stories to your team's school and others, let them know the positive impact of participating and look for ways in which you can support the schools to ensure they can participate again in this years challenge. If you know of other schools not yet taking part, speak to them, let them know about this site, Chris and I will be very happy to answer their questions. If you know of youth groups or other such organisations let them know about the opportunity too. The First Lego League is open to all youth organisations and independent teams (like family entries). Two of the UK's successful teams in the 2006 challenge were independent/family teams: TechnoBotts and The Next Generation. Of course, having teams is only part of the challenge. The teams need mentors and coaches and a regional tournament to participate in. Talk to your employer or local University or Technology College about hosting a regional tournament. Birmingham University successfully fielded some of their Computer Science students as mentors for teams this year. Could your local University do the same or maybe you and your colleagues at work could help out? Funding. The UK Government, local Councils and a variety of other charities and trusts provide a wealth of funding that can be applied for to support the setting up of teams with the Lego sets (one time cost) and challenge entrance fees. Obviously there will also be travel expense and other miscellaneous expenses too. Be assured that myself and a number of other experienced UK First Lego League volunteers are looking into this and with their help I hope to produce a guide to publish on this site for reference by teams. Lets build on the success of 2006 and look to increase the number of participating teams in 2007, 2008 and beyond. All the children in the UK deserve to have this opportunity. PS. Next years Open 'European' Championship is in Japan! Posted May 22 2007, 06:24 PM by Paulfo with no comments

• Wrobotiers make CBBC Newsround!

  The Technobotts report seeing a news report on the Widcombe Wrobotiers on CBBC Newsround. I think (being a fan of Shaun the Sheep!) that Newsround will be repeated just before 17:25 today on CBBC so remember to look when you get home from school! You can see the written report on the CBBC site here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6670000/newsid_6678400/6678401.stm Thank you sharp eyed Technobotts! Posted May 22 2007, 04:14 AM by Paulfo with 3 comment(s)

• Widcombe Wrobotiers go wild!

  After a tremendously exciting final and the happy surprise of winning TWO awards Widcombe Wrobotiers relaxed Sunday evening by going on a Moose Safari. The weather was rather wet but nothing was going to dampen the teams high spirits! On the trip we learned about the tidal flow from a fjord into the sea which causes an amazing Maelstrom of whirl pools as the tide goes out. This was the 'white water' Up 'n' Atom experience earlier in the week in their boat ride. They reported that you could see a height difference between the water in the fjord and the sea level of over 1 metre. The fjord is very big and very deep - over 500m deep - it fills up with water as the tide comes in, but as the tide goes out the entrance to the fjord is so narrow that the water cannot escape quickly so it rushes through the gap but not as quickly as the sea level drops creating the difference in height and the spectacular rough water. After walking over the bridge above the entrance to the fjord we continued in our search for moose and we were very quickly rewarded. As the evening progressed we saw more and more of these funny looking animals. The moose is the largest European land mammal. It has very thin legs, a large horse, camel like body with a horse, llama, camel type of head!?!? Half way through the evening we stopped to allow the team to learn how to make a fire and roast marsh mellows. It had rained for most of the day so this was not going to be an easy task. Most of Norway is mountains and hills which meant the team had to find a site for their fire and fire wood in a hill side forest. Our Norwegian guides told the team the types of wood and bark that we needed to find and we set about the task with enthusiasm. We even found a reindeer antler! Having found silver birch bark and a suitable selection of wood the team worked together and soon had a fire going - which was very welcome as it kept trying to rain. Having each enjoyed a roasted marsh mellow, the fire was properly put out and we continued our search for more moose. On route we even caught a look at a sea eagle before it flew down behind a hill. The first sea eagle any of us had seen. After seeing several more moose we returned to our hotel. It was really late by then, nearly 23:30, but because the sun doesn't set during the summer months in the Arctic Circle Norway has daylight for 24 hours a day - no dark nights until the winter when the sun barely rises enough to give much daylight. So despite being late it was still day light when we got to the hotel. It was a fabulous trip out and we learned many things. Thank you for inviting me Wrobotiers! Posted May 22 2007, 03:41 AM by Paulfo with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Moose Safari, Widcome Wrobotiers

• Final results

  Compass from China win the robot challenge.  Widcombe Wrobotiers carry home the LEGOware for the UK! The Wrobotiers won not one but TWO trophies! The Innovative Design Award and the Presentation Award.  Well done to the Widcombe Wrobotiers and well done to all the teams taking part in this years event!   Posted May 20 2007, 07:36 AM by Paulfo with 6 comment(s)

• Semi-final scores

  The Son of the Wind - 350 First Edition - 400 Amaze Robinho - 360 Compass - 400 So the final is between: First Edition vs Compass   Posted May 20 2007, 07:03 AM by Paulfo with no comments

• Semi-finals are close!!!

  The Son of the Wind and First Edition both appeared to have perfect rounds! Posted May 20 2007, 07:02 AM by Paulfo with no comments

• Semi-finals

  First Edition Compass Amaze Robinho The Son of the Wind Posted May 20 2007, 07:01 AM by Paulfo with no comments

• Quarter-final scores 2

  Amaze Robinho 395 First Edition 400 Super Hyper Quantum Kangaroos 350 Compass 398   Flying geeks 350 The son of the wind 393 Magic Creators 316 Edisons 360 Posted May 20 2007, 06:59 AM by Paulfo with no comments

• Quarter-finals

  Amaze Robinho First Edition Super Hyper Quantum Kangaroos Compass   Flying geeks The son of the wind Magic Creators Edisons Posted May 20 2007, 06:58 AM by Paulfo with no comments

• 16th final scores so far ...2

  Amaze Robinho 400 First Edition 400 Compass 398 Edisons 398 Magic Creators 395 Flying Geeks 385 Atraktivundpreiswert 359 Qwertzuiopu 358 Elite Engineers 350 10 minus 9 330 DAL 1337 220 Chang Zhou Team 180 Posted May 20 2007, 06:53 AM by Paulfo with no comments

• Rounds interrupted by alarm

  It is a false alarm so no need for concern!! A building alarm sounded and the main lights switched on and audible automated instructions where delivered. But we're all here dancing. Posted May 20 2007, 06:44 AM by Paulfo with no comments

• The last sixteen

  Amaze Robinho 10 minus 9 Chang Zthou Team, China Attraktivundpreiswert Compass Flying Geeks Edisons Dal 1337 Elite Engineers Qwertziopu Junkyard babies Picobello Magic Creators First Edition Super hyper quantum kangeroos The son of the wind   Eight of these teams have scored 400 in previous rounds, some consistently in all the robot rounds. Posted May 20 2007, 06:23 AM by Paulfo with no comments

• Round three update

  All the UK teams have now completed their round three at the robot tables. Widcombe Wrobotiers pulled a fantastic last run scoring 360 - a best ever competition score. They followed Fenibot's lead and ran a team relay taking turns to run the robot for each mission. A successful elevator firing giving them the extra 40 pts. Both Wrobotiers and Up 'n' Atom had near moments of disaster on route to the tables both dropping important robot parts but both able to fix in time. Up 'n' Atom had such a superb opening score they having been looking to better it each round but have been unable to. So Up 'n' Atom remain on 341. Fenibot and The Next Generation continued to have reliability troubles. Fenibot's robot was over steering and I noticed that on the third run that one wheel had the tyre partially off - I think this was a creative fix to the turning issue and not a fault. BREAKING NEWS :- the Fenibot tyre fix worked a treat they have scored 246! The Next Generation have had a challenging time at the Robot table and are looking to the presentations - a highlight of their regional and UK final judging - to pull them up the score board. Their best robot round score is 264 Posted May 20 2007, 05:50 AM by Paulfo with 7 comment(s)

• Team Party

  After the days competition the teams returned to the Bodo Spectrum for the party. They were entertained by local musicians playing a variety of styles from piano to rock! A new variety of stew was served for dinner - it was generally considered less appealing off the mountain   Posted May 20 2007, 04:09 AM by Paulfo with no comments

• Robot contest round two update

  Mixed results from round two. Despite having a team that could operate the elevator, Up 'n' Atom were unable to beat their first round score of 341. The team next to them was the Super Hyper Quantam Kangaroos who managed a full 400 in this round. There are five teams that have so far achieved the full 400 at the championship. Fenibots also improved on their round one score, achieving 136 in round two. Fantastically, the team worked together in a relay to operate the robot so they all had a turn. With the rules allowing only two team members at the table this required some fast moves! The Wrobotiers and The Next Generation both found the inconsistency of the tables a challenge in round two. Having achieved 350 in practice just before round two, The Next Generation were alot happier with their robots performance; but they couldn't better their round one score in the end. All teams have had great success in presentations today and are now able to relax before round three tomorrow. It has been a totally awesome day for me. Seeing the creativity of all the teams, the calm professionalism of the robot operators - even when things go against them - is truly up lifting. We so have to make this event bigger in the UK! Posted May 19 2007, 09:05 AM by Paulfo with 18 comment(s)