A four months long Moonbots Challenge season condensed down to a 5-minute video.  For more information about the Landroids’ Moonbots design, see the Lunar Landroids website.

All those long summer days and nights are counting down to the last 24 hours of the Moonbots competition deadline on August 22, 2010, midnight. Actually, it has been more like long nights and short summer, with all work and little play.  Landroids is wrapping up our files and programming, with only 3 men left standing…or sleeping, so there is no team meeting this weekend.   We will get together for the Moonbots live webcast on Tuesday, August 24, 2010, noon EST.  For now, here is a preview of our robot mission run.

It wasn’t easy, but we managed.  It was the first time this summer when we were able to round up most of the team members (except for Brian who is out of the country) to attend the NJ FTC workshop. Everyone has either been on vacation, attending summer schools or summer camps, or taking turn working on Moonbots Phase 2 Challenge. As our team transition from FLL to FTC as team #4220 this September, there are so much to learn.  We have also added two new members for FTC, Sam and Vijay, so the FTC workshop was a nice opportunity for everyone to meet and greet.  We learned about robot construction, RobotC and LabView programming and was introduced to PTC.

Landroids is celebrating our 3rd-year team anniversary on August 1!

Exactly 3 years ago on this day, invitation letters from our head coach were sent to a group of 6th grade neighborhood students, who came together to form the FIRST LEGO League team Landroids and Livingston Robotics Club (LRC).

In three years, it went from one team, 7 members, 2 coaches, to today’s 10 LRC teams, 60 members and 20 parent coaches, participating in FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), FIRST LEGO League (FLL) and Jr. FIRST LEGO League (Jr. FLL) in Livingston area.

The Landroids members have also grown up, grew taller, and now readied to move up to FIRST Tech Challenge in this coming season as FTC team #4220!

It is here! Some of the FLL teams have received the “Body Forward” field kit already. If you have not register a team yet, best to hurry up. Have fun and good luck!

Landroids is the 2010 eCYBERMISSION National Judging Educational Event (NJEE) 1st place 8th grade National Winner!  This US Army sponsored free web-base science competition has awarded the Landroids $32,000 of EE bond on June 25, 2010.  See our Facebook postings for event photos and videos and US Army’s press release.

Landroids is one of the 20 teams selected to proceed to Moonbots Phase 2 challenge!

A total of 212 teams from 16 countries participated in the Moonbots Challenge from April 15 to May 28, 2010, each team was  to produce a research video blog, conceptual robot design rendering using LEGO Digital Designer and create a blog site.  Only 20 teams will advance to Phase 2 to construct a robot to perform the pre-determine lunar missions by August 14, 2010.  For a complete list of Phase 2 teams, click here.  For details on our team’s Moonbots challenge, see our LUNAR LANDROIDS website.

Read about Landroids’ team spotlight on the eCYBERMISSION blog and learn about our Deer Avoidance project.  See other 2010 regional winners in the May and June issues of the eCYBERMISSION blog.

Thank you, all you participants, volunteers and exhibitors who made the Livingston Jr. FLL Expo and Bike Rodeo a success on May 29, 2010!  Photos from the event are posted on Landroids Facebook.  Be our fan and keep up with the latest news and photos!  For Jr. FLL Expo award results, click here, also see TheAlternativePress and West Essex Tribune.

Lunar Landroids is a special Landroids blog released on May 28, 2010, dedicated to the 2010 Moonbots Challenge.  Our team documented all the sensor testings (Gyro, EOPD, Compass, Accelerometer, IR Link, Ultrasonic, etc.), robot design, LEGO Digital Designer (LDD) renderings, and the process of making our video essay during our 5 weeks of Phase 1 design. Check out this new website for design information and inspirations!

As a part of the Livingston Youth Appreciation Week, Livingston Robotics Club (LRC) will have 2 outdoor tents set up at the Livingston Township Oval (near the high school) to showcase six Jr. FLL teams, some of our FLL teams (Landroids and Landrias), the high school Lancers FTC robot, and other interactive space travel and transportation related exhibits.  The event is free, all are welcome. Come join us on Saturday, May 29, 2010, from 10 AM to 3 PM, follow by the Bike Rodeo hosted by Livingston Police and team Landrias.  For details, click here.

Better late than never…Landroids has decided to sign up for the international Moonbots challenge with an upcoming Phase 1 deadline of May 28, 2010! Read more »

It is not all about robots!

Landroids’ FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Smart Move “Deer Avoidance” research project has won the 2010 eCYBERMISSION 8th grade Northeast Regional 1st place Award!

Landroids will be one of the 16 out of 3,306 (grades 6 to 9) teams  in the country to compete at the National Judging & Educational Event (NJ&EE) during the week of June 21, 2010.

Read more »

What can be more rewarding than competing at the World Festival? Volunteering of course! (Also see team member’s reflection on this experience). Read more »

Landroids was nominated as a FIRST LEGO League Core Value team. Read more »