United Problem Solvers

Today we looked at teamwork in a number of different contexts.  We did a game of charades, identified types of trash we could work on for our project, and prioritized the missions for the robot game.  In each of these activities we worked to:

a) Understand what the assignment was.
b) Plan an approach for completing it that included all team members and made the best use of the available time.
c) Solve the assignment as a team.

We call this approach UPS.  Interestingly, UPS is a parcel delivery service whose slogan is "United Problem Solvers"  That's what we're trying to be.  Their slogan used to be, "What can brown do for you?", and the secret word this week is Charlie, from Charlie Brown.

At the end of our meeting we prioritized the robot missions to decide which ones to work on.  We did this by:

a) Dividing the group into pairs and assigning each pair a set of two missions.
b) Having each pair think hard about how they would get a robot to do each of the two missions.
c) Deciding whether the mission would be Easy, Medium, or Hard to complete.

We then gave all the easy missions a score of 3, the medium missions a score of 2, and the hard missions a score of 1.

We then looked at the points awarded for accomplishing each mission.  If the number of points was 40 or less we gave the mission a score of 1.  If it was more than forty but less than or equal to 60 we gave it a score of 2.  If it was worth more than 60 we gave it a 3.

We then combined the scores to give a priority, with 6 being the highest priority possible (easy and lots of points) and 2 being the lowest priority (hard and not worth many points.)  This gave us a list as follows:

Mission	Pts	Pts Score*	Diff	Diff Score*	Overall Score
Compost ejected	60	2	Easy	3	5
Person in sorting area	60	2	Easy	3	5
Yellow bin east of guide	60	2	Easy	3	5
Engine/windshield installed	65	3	Medium	2	5
Other team's green bin in safety	60-120	2	Medium	2	4
Toy plane(s) in safety	40-80	1	Easy	3	4
Compost in safety	20	1	Easy	3	4
Valuables in safety	60	2	Medium	2	4
Yellow bar(s) in other teams Safety	60	2	Medium	2	4
Blue bar(s) in other teams Safety	60	2	Medium	2	4
Yellow bin on truck	50	1	Easy	3	4
Yellow bar(s) in bin	6-54	1	Medium	3	4
Animal(s) in circles	20-60	2	Hard	1	3
Methane in truck	40	1	Medium	2	3
Methane in factory	40	1	Medium	2	3
Yellow bar(s) in west transfer area	7-63	1	Medium	2	3
Blue bar(s) in bin	6-36	1	Medium	2	3
Blue bar(s) in west transfer area	7-42	1	Medium	2	3
Black bars untouched or in flower box	8-96	1	Medium	2	3
Car folded and in East Transfer area	50	1	Medium	2	3
Plastic bag(s) in safety	30-60	1	Hard	1	2
Chicken in small circle	35	1	Hard	1	2

What this table shows is that we should focus first on ejecting the compost, and work our way down to putting the chicken in the small circle.

Your assignment for next week is to:

a) Review the Lego Vinir robot videos.  They are the kings of the base robot / attachment world.  They have Youtube videos of their robot from an earlier competition, along with explanations of how it works.  There are a lot of good ideas there.  Check them out at:

Lego Vinir Overview

Lego Vinir Step 1

Lego Vinir Step 2

Lego Vinir Step 3

**Update**  We now have a team subscription to www.FLLCasts.com - a site that explains how to do a lot of interesting things with lego robots.  If you want access, give me your email address and I'll set up your account.**

b) Think hard about a trash problem we might be able to help with be either eliminating the need to create the trash in the first place, or finding a better way to handle the trash once it's created.

Jobs, Rules, and Missions

Last week we discussed the various jobs the would need to be done over the course of the season, and who would do them.  The jobs and the volunteers to do them were:

- Attendance: Georgia

- Finance: Ethan or Jadzia

- Research: Amy

- Equipment: Ethan

- Programming: Olivia, Amy

- Building: Tara, Macy, Ethan

- Rules and Updates: Ethan

The secret word for this week is Glen.  Olivia and I went to Bayview Glen Middle School in Toronto on Saturday for their FLL Kickoff.  Bayview Glen had three of the top five teams in Ontario last year, and won first place for research at the World Championships in St. Louis.  They're good, and they gave a lot of good presentations loaded with valuable advice.

One piece of advice is: read, re-read, and re-re-read the rules.  The rules are posted here: 

http://www.firstlegoleague.org/sites/default/files/Challenge/TRASH-TREK/TRASH-TREK-Challenge.pdf

  and updates to the rules are posted here:

http://www.firstlegoleague.org/sites/default/files/Challenge/TRASH-TREK/FLL%20TRASH%20TREK%20UPDATES.pdf

Everyone should read and be familiar with the rules.

This week we're going to prioritize the missions, i.e. decide what order to work on them.  That starts by understanding the rules, and the points for accomplishing each mission.  So read the rules.

To clarify how the scoring works, there's an interactive scoring app at:

http://educatedrobot.com/trashtrek.html

Sept 21, 2015

Don't forget the homework for this week, which is to think about things you throw away that mist otherwise be put to use - recycled, upcycled, composted, etc.  

And the secret word for this week is Steve, as in Steve Jobs.  This week we're going to assign various jobs for people, including:

- Finance Manager

- Equipment Manager

- Update Manager

- Programmer

- Builder

See if you can think of any other roles that need to be filled, and which ones you'd like to do.

Ecole Catholique Cathedrale FLL 2015

Ecole Catholique Cathedrale FLL 2015

Welcome back, Comets!  If you thought time was short last season, it's even shorter this season.  School started a week later and the competition is a day earlier, leaving us no time to waste.  The competition will be held November 21 at Duncan MacArthur Hall (Queen's West Campus).

We'll be using this blog again this season to keep you informed about news, tips, progress, dates, and so on during the season.  Please check back regularly to make sure you get all the necessary information!  Each week there will be a secret word contained in the week's blog post.  Please show up each week knowing the secret word for the week.  The word for this week is Oscar (who lives in a trash can on Sesame Street.)

Remember that the First Lego League competition consists of three main parts: 1) core values, 2) the project, and 3) the game.  The core values define how we work together as a team, and how we interact with other teams.  The project is a team research effort in a specific area, with the team required to develop and share a solution to a particular problem.  The game involves the design of a robot to complete as many missions as possible on a specially designed board.

Most participants find the robot component the most fun, but remember that the overall score is based on all three components, with each counting for roughly one third.  Your robot could complete every mission in the game successfully and your team could still finish last overall if you don't do well on the project and don't demonstrate the core values.

To get up to speed quickly on the core values, the project and the game, please check out the videos below:

Overview:

Project:

Game:

For more details check out the First Lego League site at 2015 TRASH TREK Challenge

We made a changing conditions program. It goes forward, registers of the wall and drives forward. Our program included the gyro sensor and various My Blocks.

What it does is;
1. Reset the gyro
2. Goes forward
3. Uses the TurnHeading my block to turn efficiently
4. Stops the motor
5. Goes forward
6.Usesthe TurnHeading my block (again) to turn efficiently
7. Stops the motor
8.Goes forward.

-Olivia

Following a Line using a My Block

One of the challenges we've had with this year's competition has been following lines efficiently. The lines are different colors, sometimes we want to follow the left side of the line and sometimes the right, and we have different criteria for when to stop following.

Since we had this problem we assume others did as well, so here's our solution.

After programming a bunch of different missions and reproducing similar code several times we decided to try creating a My Block to do the work.

FollowLine My Block (click to enlarge)

This My Block takes four inputs: 

1) gain: the amount of correction to apply for a given size of error

2) power: the power applied to the driving wheels

3) light: the light level on the bright side of the line

4) dark: the light level on the dark side of the line

Using this My Block we can follow any color of line, along either side of the line.

We found some good advice online that said not to try to incorporate the end condition (when to stop following the line) in the My Block, and not to pass in the motor ports.  The end condition could be another light sensor detecting another color, a touch sensor being pressed, etc.  The way to accomplish this with this My Block is shown below:

In the example above, the robot drives with power of 40, using a gain of 1 to correct the steering, and stays between a white region of 40 and a dark region of 9, exiting the loop when the light sensor on port 3 sees black.  Note that changing the sign of the gain (-1 instead of +1) causes the robot to search to the left for the line instead of the right, allowing it to follow along the right side of a line instead of the left.  Also note that if you're using more than one light sensor you may want to add a "port" input specifying which sensor you want to use.

We hope this was helpful.  Good luck with your programs!

Does Your Child Confuse Letters or Write them Backward?

How to Correct Mirror Writing

Problem:   Children in grades 1 to 3 often write letters and numbers backwards, most commonly b's and d's, 3's and 5's, and 6's and 9's.  For example:

Solution:  Give the child a Rainbow Loom bracelet to wear on their wrist. Every time they go to write the letter or number they tend to reverse, they need to stop and move the bracelet to the other hand, then write the letter or number.

Why?   Moving the bracelet makes them stop and think about what they are doing. 

How it works:

1.         Determine the number/letter to change.

2.         Wear the bracelet.

3.         Before the student writes the number/letter they have to move the bracelet to the other wrist.

Most children who reverse letters and numbers know how to write them properly  When they write the numbers they tend to rush through it, without stopping to think about what they are writing. An example of this kind of mistake that happens with adults (and kids) is shown in the Stroop test. The Stroop test requires people to read the colour the word is written in, not what the word says. If you try it with the photo below, you might find that it is harder than it sounds.

Now, if you try it again, deliberately pausing one second between each word, you will likely find that you make less errors than before.

In the reverse writing solution, the bracelet forces a pause before writing, and the child is more likely to write the letter or number correctly.

If you try this solution, please let us know how it works in the comment section below.  Thanks!

--Olivia