Landroids

February ’09 Events

January 27th, 2009

Just when you think that the NJ FIRST LEGO League season is over, there are still plenty going on in the month of February.

First up is the NJ FIRST Tech Challenge on 2/7/09 held at The College of New Jersey. If you are wondering what do some of the FLL graduates take on as the next challenge, go check out the NJ FTC Championship tournament. You might see some familiar faces there from the former FLL teams. Best time to go is in the afternoon during the elimination rounds.

The week of 2/15/09 is the National Engineers Week. Landroids has started a FIRST LEGO League exhibition at the Liberty Science Center last year (see 2008 photos and 2009 flyer). We are again honored to have other elite FLL teams to join us as volunteers and FLL advocates for a day to show the visitors our robots and the research projects. This is truly a FLL play date in a non-competitive setting for teams to hang out together and have some fun. Come visit us at Liberty Science Center on President’s Day Monday 2/16/09. Say hi to RoboInvaders, SciBoTechs, Landrias, Robot Rangers, and Say Watt?. There will be other LEGO building and robotics programming workshops host by the Legomaster and Storming Robots Center.

Finally, let’s not forget about the high school level FIRST Robotics Competition at the end of February. This year, these FRC robots have to “play hoops” on a low-friction surface by skidding and sliding to dodge the balls thrown by the opponents into their robot trailers. Landroids and the FTC State Champion team will be at the NJ FRC tournament to cheer for the big robots. If you want to see all three FIRST divisions (FLL, FTC and FRC) in one day, come out on 2/28/09.

For more information about these events, see our team event calendar.

2009 FLL Challenge

December 16th, 2008

FLL 2009 Challenge

Transforming Transportation

Can FIRST LEGO League teams transform the way we look at transportation? The key to the 2009 “Smart Move” Challenge is accessing people, places, goods and services in the safest, most efficient way possible. In this journey, teams will consider many modes of transportation beyond their daily routine and streamline their options by making smart moves!

NJ State Tournament Winners 12/13/08

December 15th, 2008

1^st Champion’s Award: 653 Landroids
2^nd Champion’s Award: 3900 Robo Invaders

1^st Robot Performance: 3900 Robo Invaders
2^nd Robot Performance: 653 Landroids
3^rd Robot Performance: 6397 ARCTICS

1^st Technical Presentation: 3521 Short Circuit
2^nd Technical Presentation: 312 Landrias
3^rd Technical Presentation: 1324 Sci-Borgs

1^st Research Presentation: 6114 The Wizards
2^nd Research Presentation: 3804 SciBoTechs
3^rd Research Presentation: 2469 Robo Cows

1^st Teamwork: 3590 Green Hawks
2^nd Teamwork: 6397 ARCTICS
3^rd Teamwork: 3519 Robo Rangers

Adult Mentor Award: Lynn Roe
Volunteer Award: Monique Dituri

Aainst All Odds: 2341 Burning COOL Machine
Judge’s Award: 417 Robot Rangers
Team Spirit: 5763 Challengers

4 teams to ’08 NJ State

December 8th, 2008

Landroids, SciBoTechs #3804, and Landrias from Livingston Robotics Club, plus a Middletown team who Landroids mentored, are going to the NJ State tournament!

Congratulations to our little sister team, Landrias #312, for winning the Robot Design Award. It is hard to believe that these 10-year-old, ice chewing, non-stop bouncing and singing former Landroids cheerleaders could work wonders with the RCX robots.

A sincere congratulations to Sci-Borgs #1324 for the 1^st place Robot Performance Award at the qualifying event, achieving the highest robot score so far in NJ. You had survived months of rigorous Landroids training, and we are very proud of your persistence in against all odds, and your dedication to excel with your own team.

NJ FLL Qualifying Winners

December 7th, 2008

The FIRST LEGO League Climate Connections competition is well underway! Congratulations to the following 2008 NJ FLL qualifying event winners who are going to the State tournament on 12/13/08:

Monclair 12/6/08 (22 teams):

Champion’s Award: 6397 ARCTICS

1^st Robot Performance: 1324 Sci-Borgs 1324
2^nd Robot Performance: 1578 LEGO Minifigure Masters

1^st Technical Presentation: 3602 Holdrum Hawks
2^nd Technical Presentation: 312 Landrias

1^st Research Presentation: 2469 Robo Cows
2^nd Research Presentation: 5403 Panther Power

1^st Teamwork: 7172 NanoGurus
2^nd Teamwork: 7714 Climate Connectors 3

Hamilton (Steinert) 11/22/08 (12 teams):

Champion’s Award: 653 Landroids

1^st Robot Performance: 3900 Robo Invaders

1^st Technical Presentation: 5595 Generation Z

1^st Research Presentation: 3804 SciBoTechs

1^st Teamwork: 8332 Synthetic Generation

Metuchen (St. Joe) 11/16/08 (12 teams):

Champion’s Award: 7719 Climate Chasers

1^st Robot Performance: 7719 Climate Chasers

1^st Technical Presentation: 5965 Androids

1^st Research Presentation: 3901 Quicksand

1^st Teamwork: 5714 Weather Workers

Hillsborough 11/15/08 (21 teams):

Champion’s Award: 2996 Atoms Family

1^st Robot Performance: 2996 Atoms Family
2^nd Robot Performance: 4035 Truthbots

1^st Technical Presentation: 3521 Short Circuit
2^nd Technical Presentation: 2533 Ultrabots

1^st Research Presentation: 3519 RoboRangers
2^nd Research Presentation: 6756 Cavallini – LEAP

1^st Teamwork: 3590 Green Hawks
2^nd Teamwork: 3192 LEGO Knights

Landroids at Livingston Mall

November 13th, 2008

Landroids will be at the Livingston Mall grand re-opening celebration this Saturday, November 15, 2008 from 2 PM to 6 PM, in the upstairs Sears court.

Our sponsor, Langan Engineering has recently completed the Livingston Mall expansion, which includes a new Barnes & Noble bookstore anchor, a new 400-seat food court, interior furnishing upgrades, and other site improvements.

To celebrate these new amenities, Livingston Mall will have special events and exhibitions this Saturday. Landroids will display the LEGO robot and present our “Climate Connections” science project regarding beach erosion and beach protection.

This is a neat way to check out the newly renovated mall, find out what FIRST LEGO League is all about, and see the Landroids in action.

NJ Local Event Registration Due 11/1/08

October 16th, 2008

Reminder – Registration form and a $50 fee for participating in the NJ local tournament are due November 1, 2008. Individual event organizers will send out the team lists around first week of November.

Landroids’ FLL Table

October 7th, 2008

Due to popular demand, we are sharing the Landroids FLL table build instructions. We bring our own FLL play table to all tournaments and exhibitions, and share it with other teams as a practice table. People often asked how it was made, some took pictures, and some crawled underneath to get a closer look. Well, the design calls for it being sectional for easy storage, light-weight so it is transportable, and esthetically pleasing since it is set up inside the house for many months. The table is finished on all sides, so it can be flipped over to use as a large party or work table. Wood working tools and extra build time required. For build instructions, download it here.

NJ FLL Local Event Registration Starts 10/1/08

September 29th, 2008

The NJ FLL local events are now posted on the FIRST website and listed below. The NJ event registration will start on 10/1/08, use the new website link (not nycnjfirst.org) to sign up during 10/1/08 to 10/14/08.

11/15/08    Hillsborough                    24 Teams
11/16/08   St. Joe’s, Metuchen          24 Teams
11/22/08   Hamilton/Mercer County 12 Teams
12/6/08     Montclair                          24 Teams
12/6/08     Rowan                              8 Teams*
12/6/08     Jersey City                       (Jersey City Public School teams only)
12/6/08     Newark                            (Newark Public School teams only)
12/13/08   Mt. Olive NJ Championship (Need Pre-qualification from above events)

*team register at Rowan will advance to Deleware Championship

Four FLL Teams in Livingston, NJ

September 15th, 2008

Livingston now has 4 FIRST LEGO League (FLL) teams for the 2008-09 Climate Connections season! Two new FLL teams were formed in September 2008.

Landroids #653 lead by John Yeh and Pearl Hwang will be focusing on mentoring this year. Both the coaches and the team members will take every opportunity to pass on our knowledges to all new teams in order to expand FLL in the local communities.

SciBoTech #3804 lead by Po-Shing Lee and Sue Wasserman, along with Michele Weis as the robotic coach, will work intensely with a group of eight (mostly 12-year olds) to compete in this season.

Landrias #312 comprised of three little sisters (age 10) from Landriods and SciBoTech. They are the former team cheerleaders but are ready to take on the FLL challenge themselves. Landrias will be a joint training effort between various team coaches to provide a non-competitive environment to inspire girls’ interests in science and engineering.

Lancer Alpha Force #7125 is coached by Janea and Jojo Agbayani. This team is for children of younger age (age 9 and 10) to get a taste in FLL.

All four Livingston FLL teams will work closely together as a part of Lancer Robotics Club for a fun and educational season. Current members including students from Livingston’s Heritage Middle School, Mt. Pleasant Middle School, Collins and Harrison Elementary Schools, as well as students from Morris Plain, West Orange and Pine Brook, NJ.

“Climate Connections” is Here!

September 5th, 2008

FIRST LEGO League has introduced its new website and announced the Climate Connections missions and project in details today. Click here to download a PDF copy of the Missions, Project, Rules and Field Setup.

LEGO Olympics

August 20th, 2008

The Hong Kong LEGO User Group has created a 3m x 8m Lego Sports City, modeled after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, built entirely with 300,000 pieces of Lego bricks and 4,500 mini-spectators. See construction photos.

“FIRST LEGO League: The Unofficial Guide”

August 18th, 2008

New book release: A very useful and comprehensive resource about FIRST LEGO League, compiled by a former Built On The Rock member, Jonathan Daudelin, and best-selling LEGO NXT author, Jim Kelly. According to Amazon.com:

“FIRST LEGO League: The Unofficial Guide explores the complex workings and structure of the FLL competition, including its four key components: Robot Game, Technical Interview, Project, and Teamwork. You’ll learn how to organize, recruit, and manage a team; find equipment, mentors, and funding; design, build, and program winning robots; tackle each of the four FLL components-from Robot Game to Teamwork; use strategies and techniques from FLL masters to increase your scores.

No matter what your role in the FLL competition, FIRST LEGO League: The Unofficial Guide will make you a better competitor, builder, designer, and team member. The only ingredient you need to add is your competitive spirit!” (Download 25 sample pages).

All Landroids can say is: “Wish we had this book last year!”

Built on the Rock is trying out the FIRST TECH Challenge this year. Thank you Built On The Rock for your contribution in the FLL community and best of luck with FTC.

P.S. Please also write a FTC guide for us!

NJ FLL Grants for new FLL teams

August 11th, 2008

A Hardship Grant is available through New Jersey FIRST LEGO League to a limited number of new FLL teams in New Jersey for the “Climate Connections” season. Funded by Sanofi-Aventis, application for this grant must be completed and submitted via email by September 15, 2008 to NJ FLL for review and approval. For more information and details, please download the (revised 8/29/08) grant application form here (Word).

A new FLL team in Livingston, NJ

August 1st, 2008

Lancer Robotics Club is growing! There is a new FIRST LEGO League team in town! On July 24, 2008, in the local newspaper, Landroids called for the formation of a new FLL team in Livingston, NJ area. In 7 short days, team #3804 has enlisted 8 new members and two new coaches. Head coach Dr. Po-Shing Lee, a physician by trade, and assistant coach Sue Wasserman, a former school HSA president, will be leading this rookie team. Team #3804 exemplified the progress we made, and marked Landroids’ first anniversary as an advocate FLL team in the local communities. With the help of all of these dedicated parents, who recognized the values of FIRST, we hope that more people will be able to experience FIRST LEGO League in the near future.

NJ FLL Team Directory

July 23rd, 2008

Landroids is compiling an unofficial New Jersey FIRST LEGO League team directory for the 2008-09 season to start a network in the NJ FLL community. All who want to join this list, please contact us by 9/5/08 with your team information. If you do not want to be contacted by others, your email information will not be shown. To view this list, click the “NJ FLL Team Directory 2008” icon on the right side bar. Have a great FLL season!

New Middletown Area FLL Members Wanted!

July 16th, 2008

Landroids is assisting and mentoring a new Middletown, NJ area team for the First LEGO League (FLL) 2008-09 season. FIRST LEGO League is a volunteer base event to inspire children’s interest in science and engineering.

Qualifications for new team #1324 members:

LEGO Mindstorm enthusiast age 9 to 14, no prior experience necessary;
Willing to learn building and programming skills;
Willing to learn research, writing and presentation skills;
Good team player;
Willing to work hard with good time management skills;
Willing to take on “Climate Connections” challenge along with 100,000 children from around the world;
Commit to attend all team meetings and 2 tournaments in mid-November and first week of December;
Parents are willing to assists in team functions and duties.

Serious inquiries only, space is limited (10 members per team max). To join this new Central Jersey team, please contact Coach Gladys at gladys3214@verizon.net before Septmeber 1, 2008. FLL season starts on September 5, 2008 when FIRST LEGO League announces this year’s global robotic mission and project challenge!

2008 Power Puzzle World Festival

April 20th, 2008

First Lego League team Landroids, is the 2^nd place Robot Quality Design and 3^rd place Robot Performance awards winner at the Power Puzzle World Festival, which was held at the Georgia Congress Center/Dome at Atlanta , GA from April 17 to April 19, 2008. (Watch video)

Out of 82 FLL teams from around the world, Landroids which comprised of a group of 5^th and 6^th graders, was the only team to receive two major awards. Students were judged on project research, team work, robot performance and robotic design.

This year, the robot performance competition was extremely fierce; many teams were able to achieve multiple perfect scores of 400 in 2 ½ minutes. At least 18 teams got 400 points in one of the rounds. The 1^st place awards went to the Taiwan team Black Ocean Current and the New Hampshire team Green Man Group, who both got 3 rounds of 400 points. Landroids, though able to finish the missions in less than 2 minutes, got the next highest score of 400, 400, and 385, placed third. Landroids’ robot was fast, efficient and able to self-expand, therefore, also won 2^nd place in robot design, after the Germany team Alleskönner?!, who was praised for their simple, functional and consistent design. (Watch NASA FLL webcast downloads to find your favorate teams).

The World Festival was a great opportunity to meet the best of the best, whether they are the FLL, FTC or FRC teams since all three events were held concurrently. The atmosphere was always with high energy especially when the former President George H.W. Bush attended the opening ceremony, to recognize the importance of promoting science and technology advancement of young students through the FIRST world-wide competitions. Everyone worked hard, compete intensely, exchange ideas and souvenirs during the day. Then at nights, teams played and ate together at the ice cream social, visited the aquarium, and partied at the Finale extravaganza. The experience was definitely worth missing a few days of school! We worked hard and played hard!

NJ Regional FRC – FLL Exhibition, 3/1/08

March 3rd, 2008

FLL team Landroids was at the NJ FIRST Robotic Competition (FRC) Regional at the Soveriegn Arena Bank in Trenton on 3/1/08. We demonstrated our robot and presented the Power Puzzle project to the visitors. It was an honor to have the President of US FIRST and the NJ General Assembly Deputy Speaker, as well as many veteran FIRST sponsors and mentors visited our exhibition area. FRC team MORT gave us a guided tour throughout the pits and the competition floor, and the champion FTC teams shared tips and strategies over the pizza lunch.

In the afternoon, the big robots battled out during the elimination rounds, interjected with line dancing and mascot cheering from all teams. The competitions, the amount of team support and alliance efforts, were much more intense and complex than the FLL missions. Good luck to all the FRC teams, every robot and every team were impressive!

Liberty Science Center Eweek Exhibition, 2/18/08

February 19th, 2008

The 1st annual FIRST Lego League (FLL) Exhibition during Engineers Week at Liberty Science Center was a great success! Several NJ elite FLL teams joined the Landroids for a day of project presentation, robotic demonstration and alliance races.

Renewable Robot Rangers, Nano Gurus, Say Watt, Energy Fusion, MORS and “Legomaster” Eric Sophie were all there to help making this event fun and memorable for all.

Visitors were fascinated and inspired by various Lego robots in action. They got to hear about our research projects on the “Power Puzzle”, learned about renewable energy and simple ways to conserve energy. The coaches also had a good time chatting and exchanging training ideas, while the teams set up for 2-team and 4-team alliance races.

In addition, the Legomaster had brought along his new creation Grelnix, and demonstrated construction techniques using Lego Technic pieces.

FLL at LSC was a fun and exciting day for the FLL teams to socialize in a non-competitive way and to learn from each other. More importantly, this was a great opportunity to introduced the vision of F.I.R.S.T. and convey the energy conservation messages to a large audience .

For more information regarding FLL, see “Related Links” on the side bar of our website.

NJ State Championship 12/8/07

December 10th, 2007

Landroids attended the First Lego League (FLL) State tournament held at Mt. Olive High School on December 8, 2007. In the final round of robot performance, Landroids had an 8-second delayed start due to confusion over the starting command. We managed to complete all missions with 3 seconds to spare scoring 395 points against last year’s champion team ”Built on the Rock“. They scored a perfect 400 point score in the first round and won 1st place in the Robot Performance category.

Landroids won the 2007 FLL NJ State Championship, placed 2^nd in Robot Performance, and received an Adult Coach/Mentor award. Our team now has the honor to attend the FLL World Festival held in Atlanta, GA in April 2008. We were so excited and our coaches were in shock! This only means they would have more “play dates” at their house!

Montclair Qualifying 12/1/07

December 3rd, 2007

The Montclair regional qualifying tournament was held on December 1, 2007. There are 6 regional events held at different dates throught November and December. The purpose for each regional qualifying event is to qualify 5 teams to advance to the State tournament. There are about 120 FLL teams in NJ this year. This event was the last scheduled event prior to the NJ state championship. Being the last event it gave us the most time to prepare for the competition. Obviously, many other teams must have thought the same way because the teams roster read like “who’s who” in the NJ FLL. Many had been Landroids’ idols for the last few years. It was nerve racking to compete against them as a rookie team. However, we were pleased to receive 1^st place in Robot Design and placed 3^rd in Robot Performance to qualify us for the State Championship on 12/1/07. That was our goal as a first-year team!

In the week leading up to the State tournament, our team debriefed and outlined what we could do to improve in each category: Project, Technical Design, Robot Performance and Team Work. We refined our project presentation and practiced the mission deployment every night. The song “In the End” by Linkin Park became our theme song to choreograph the moves.