Category Archives: FIRST Lego League

Our new friends at Carriage Inn Assisted Living Home

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The RoboRangers met 24 new friends at Carriage Inn. They told them about their team and all about this year’s FLL theme, Senior Solutions.  As part of the team’s research, they surveyed residents at the Carriage Inn about their mobility problems, specifically the dangerous issue a lot of seniors face, falling.  After they interviewed the seniors, they shared with them their new medical device idea.  Most of the residents were enthusiastic about it’s possibilities but they raised some very good questions to the team about cost, longevity, and timeframe for availability.  All great questions that they team will research further.  It was a fun experience for everyone!

RoboRanger_CarriageInn

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The wheels on the robots go round and round…

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Today’s meeting was all about building.  The team broke down into subgroups and built different prototypes of a robot to use in this year’s robot game.  Each were different in size, different wheels, some were geared up, some weren’t, crazy steering system, no steering system… After the crude assembly, the team tested out their designs, keeping record of what worked and what didn’t work.  From their, they will take the best of all the designs and hopefully combine them into one awesome machine!

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DaVinci Bridge

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The team had a fun teamwork challenge this week.  Damian gave them each a box of paint sticks and told them to make a bridge that could stand using only the paint sticks.

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They completed the challenge and built a bridge that could stand on its own.  Then Damian built “DaVinci’s Bridge”.  He went over the history and neat mechanics of how the bridge was designed and constructed.  Cool!

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The RoboRangers and FRC Team 624 CRyptonites

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The RoboRangers had the amazing opportunity to attend one of CRyptonites build meetings. Armed with curiosity and safety glasses, the RoboRangers learned all about the process from build to final product and Elizabeth showed them all the heavy machinery used to create their robot. They were just beginning to build their final robot but the RoboRangers got to see the prototype in action. The kids loved having basketballs shot at them! Thanks again to the CRyptonites for inviting the RoboRangers to hang out with you. Best of luck at the Bayou Regional. We hope to see Panzer in action at the Lone Star Regional!!!


























FLL Global Innovation Award

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The RoboRangers have submitted their project idea The “COOLER” Cooler for consideration of this year’s Global Innovation Award.  Voting is now open and continues until March 2, 2012.  Follow the link to our team’s submission.

http://fllinnovationaward.firstlegoleague.org/cooler-cooler

Thank you for your continued support of the RoboRangers.  We’d love your vote!

The RoboRangers and the HDHHS

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The RoboRangers had the opportunity to present back to their mentors at the Houston Department of Health and Human Services – Bureau of Consumer Health.  We brought the competition table and their robot so that they could show Carolyn, Larry, and the other sanitarians how the Food Factor field missions incorporate all the topics of food safety that they have discussed with them.  They went through each robot mission and how it relates to a real world problem.  They also showed them some of their programming and talked to them about the mechanical design of their robot.  They gave their project demonstration and shared their research, much of which incorporated the information gained from their mock inspection of Memorial Hermann hospitals kitchens and the presentation given to the team by Carolyn over the summer.  The team also presented plaques and custom Lego mini-figures to them as a thank you for their continued support of the RoboRangers.

CP, Carolyn, Bob, and Larry in Lego form

Engraved names on back

Duncan, one of the “Brick Breakers”, a Jr. FLL team consisting of 2 siblings of the RoboRangers (future RoboRangers?) and 2 other friends, was also able to present his teams’ SNACK ATTACK Lego model and poster.

Thanks again to all the folks at the Bureau of Consumer Health. Here are some highlights of their day.

Going over some of the field missions

Ray explaining to the Director the Pest Removal mission

Aidan and Alex explaining some of their programming and how the sensors on their robot work

The team talking about their research findings

South Texas Qualifier at Cinco Ranch

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The RoboRangers competed in one of the first qualifiers for the area this past Saturday.  24 teams descended on Cinco Ranch Junior High School for what turned out to be a great tournament.  CRyptonite 624, the Cinco Ranch High School FRC team, hosted the qualifier.  Their army of volunteers made the event run smoothly and their spirit energized the crowd.

The team started the tournament by first going to the Core Values Teamwork judging.  Although they couldn’t complete the challenge, they united as a team, gave it their best, and had a lot of fun doing it.  Next up was their first robot match, with Bobby as robot handler and Marcus as his pit assistant.  The pair managed to give the team their highest table score of the day.  After the first match, the team was ready to give their project presentation.  As always, they gave an enthusiastic performance and the judges loved that it was clear that the team works really well together and that they put in a lot of effort into their research.  The judges gave excellent feedback that they can apply to further their research project.  Match #2 was next with Aidan and Alex handling the robot.  Aidan felt that one of his touch penalties wasn’t warranted and he had the courage to approach the head judge for a reversal decision.  In the end, it didn’t affect the team’s overall score but it took a lot for Aidan to make that challenge.  Match #3, led by Trent and Fiona, was a bit difficult.  The sensor on their robot fell off after the first mission and they worked as hard as they could to get it back on and functional.  Grace under pressure!  The team went for Technical judging of their robot design and programming after the matches were complete.  They did a fantastic job as a team explaining the robot design process throughout the season, their many different prototypes, and how they got to the robot they competed with that day.

After lunch, the waiting began while the judges deliberated who would be awarded advancement tickets and awards.  Team CRyptonite 624 and the emcee did a great job at keeping the teams engaged.  It was especially fun when they called the coaches up for what they thought was acknowledgement, and it turned out to be a coaches dance-off!  Coach Damian got his groove on doing the bull rider and even took a spin on the floor.  The chicken dance, the macarena, and more made Coach Damian a sweaty mess but he had a blast!  Even the RoboRangers were caught dancing!

It was a fun event and a lot of teams were recognized for their awesome efforts.  The RoboRangers didn’t have a strong robot game and I wasn’t sure if they would be up for any awards.  All awards were given except for the 1st Place Champion’s Award.  The emcee read the winner…team #5374…the ROBORANGERS!!!  The team graciously accepted their award and their advancement ticket to the Lonestar Championship to be held January 7th!!!  There were tears by the team members, proud coaches, and parents.  Their accomplishment as a team is outstanding!

Here are some highlights of their day.

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Here is a funny video of Coach Damian and the RoboRangers dancing!

FLL Qualifier – December 3, 2011 from Susan Lynch on Vimeo