Livingston Robotics Club, in Livingston, New Jersey was conceived in August 2007 when the very first Livingston NJ FIRST LEGO League (FLL) team Landroids was formed. This neighborhood club at that time was known as Lancer Robotics Club, following Livingston’s tradition in naming all its school teams as “Lancer, in hope to kick-start a town-wide FIRST robotic program in the Livingston school district.
By the end of 2008, anticipating growth and future advance of older students into the high school level FIRST divisions, the Club was formerly registered as Livingston Robotics Club (LRC), and became part of the Healthy Community Healthy Youth of Livingston Initiative of Livingston, Inc. (HCHY). This enables the Club to structured as a community-wide, non-profit organization, and be eligible to receive corporate sponsorships.
Livingston Robotics Club is operated by passionate parents as team coaches and assistants on a voluntary basis. Our mission is to provide a community-base, experience-sharing network to introduce Livingston area youth to robotics design and real-life science research, consistent with the vision of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). The club is to inspire student’s interests in science, technology, engineering and math by engaging them in a parent/mentor-based program, that encourages innovative out-of-the-box thinking, and foster well-rounded life skills, such as self-confidence, time management, communication, teamwork and leadership. Club enrollment is open to all eligable students in the neighboring communities as long as their parents are willing and prepared to coach and mentor his/her child’s team. Each team is run independently, but will have the benefit of shared training resources and experiences, as well as being mentored by the Landroids.
In 2007, LRC consisted of 7 FLL members, 2 coaches, and a group of dedicated team parents from Landroids. Followed Landroids’ success in the first season, by Fall of 2008, LRC has expanded to four Livingston FLL teams, which included 7 volunteer parent coaches, 21 students from 7 elementary and middle schools in Livingston, Morris Plains, South Orange and Pine Brook areas.
During the 2008 FLL season, three out of the four LRC FLL teams received either the 1st place Champion’s award, or 2nd place in robot performance, robot design or the research project category at the 2008 New Jersey State tournament. This represented an unprecedented high percentage of recognition given to any New Jersey town, organization or school district for a student-oriented activity. These teams’ successes are due to the combined efforts of hard-working student participants, dedicated coaches who worked side-by-side with each other, as well as supportive team parents.
For the 2009-10 season, seven (7) FLL teams and one (1) JFLL team were formed, with 40 student members and 22 parent coaches. Members are from Livingston, West Orange, Short Hills and Kearny. Each team was formed among friends, coached independently based on members’ age, goal and committment level determined at the beginning of the season. Team sizes were decided by individual team coaches. The current teams are as follows:
Landroids #109
Team Type: Highly competitve, training 10 hrs/week
Coaches: John Yeh (robotics) and Pearl Hwang (project)
Members: Five 8th graders (not accepting new member)
Awards: 2009 FLL US Open 1st place Champion’s Award, Founder’s Award, 1st place Robot Alliance Award. 2009 Hillsborough Qualifier Champion’s Award. 2009 NJ State 1st place Robot Design Award.
SciBotech #2385
Team Type: Competitive, training 8 hrs/week
Coaches: Janice Pepper (project) and Michele Weis (robotics)
Members: Four 8th graders (team full)
Awards: 2008 NJ State 2nd place Research Project; Hamilton regional 1st place Research Project. 2009 Montclair Qualifier Judge’s Award
Landrias #3724
Team Type: Competitive, all-girls, training 8 hrs/week
Coaches: John Yeh (robotics), Pearl Hwang (project)
Members: Four 6th & 8th grade girls (team full)
Awards: 2008 NJ State 2nd place Robot Design; Montclair regional 2nd place Robot Design. 2009 Montclair Qualifier Champion’s Award
Thunderclan #3375
Team Type: Enrichment, training 4 hrs/week
Coaches: Shiming Yang & Julia Zhu
Members: Six 6th graders (new, team full)
Award: 2009 Hillsborough Qualifier 1st place Research Project. 2009 NJ State 2nd place Robot Design Award.
Alpha Force #3360
Team Type: Enrichment, training 4 hrs/week
Coaches: Jannie Zheng & Howard Tang
Members: Five 4th to 6th graders (new, team full)
Award: 2009 Hillsborough Qualifier 1st place Robot Design
Technophiles #3088 (West Orange)
Team Type: Competitive, training 6 hrs/week
Coaches: Stephanie Bash-Soudry
Members: Four 6th and 7th graders (new, team full)
r2d2 #436
Team Type: Competitive, training 6 hrs/week
Coaches: Yiren Wang & Elizabeth Mabrey
Members: Six 4th graders (new, team full)
Affiliated with Storming Robots Center for robot programming training
Award: 2009 Montclair Qualifier 1st place Research Project
(JFLL) Spongebots #103
Team Type: Recreation, training 2 hrs/week
Coach: Surasit Nithikasem
Members: Six 6 to 9 years old (new, team full)
Award: 2009 Jr. FLL Expo Complexity and Decoration Award
Parents Frequently Asked Questions (First time involvement)
Club Application Form (enrollment starts March 1, submit typed forms by May 15, via email to coach@landroids.org)
Sample NJ FIRST LEGO League season schedule (updated 7/14/09)
Parents are encouraged to form and coach new teams for their children and friends.
