Alimento para Mascota
Las 3 piezas negras de comida ser*n usadas como alimento de mascotas. Deben estar separadas del resto de la comida y ser mantenidas en la Base (no van asegurados al tapete), en dondequiera que el equipo desee guardarlas antes de cargarlas manualmente al robot para una misi*n.
Es decir, el alimento para humanos y para mascotas est*n en la Base pero separadas. El alimento para personas se guarda en su taz*n.
My wife and my son had gone in to one company's "public relations office" somewhere on a middle floor of the building, and had just learned that the company had a policy of no donations for our kind of activities. On the way out, my wife and son stepped into the down elevator wearing their "Mayhem" shirts; my son was carrying the robot in an open-topped storage box. There was a VP already in the elevator on his way out of the building. He saw my son with the box, and asked him "What is that you have there?" Well, to make the long story short, that company ended up on the team's list of sponsors...
We did attend the "team social" (aka "wrap celebration") last year, but not because we really had much of a choice. Last year, we didn't get going on travel accommodations soon enough, and only tried to get group airfare and FIRST packages until both were nearly sold out. However, we managed to piggyback on extra air seats and hotel rooms which had been reserved by two local FRC teams. Those arrangements were to stay at the Omni Hotel with the FIRST package, so they included tickets to the "team social."
Due to the way that FIRST priced things last year, however, the "team social" (wrap celebration) tickets were absurdly expensive - $90! That was because much of the overhead of their venue costs was in the "wrap celebration" tickets. They changed that this year by increasing registration costs for both FRC and FLL teams by $1000 (from $5K to $6K and from $0K to $1K respectively) and instead pricing the wrap celebration more appropriately.
This year's "wrap celebration" adds a cost of $25 to the hotel packages. The hotel packages just went available a couple days ago at http://www.ths-frc.com I fear that if you want to take advantage of one of these packages, you will need to move quickly. Some hotels are starting to fill up already.
Last year's wrap celebration was basically a "buffet barbecue" in Centennial Park. The food was what you would expect for a large catered outdoor BBQ. There were things like BBQ chicken, burgers, sausages, potato chips, pasta salads, etc. with various canned drinks to choose from and dessert tables with things like cookies and brownies. All you can eat buffet style, self-serve. Nothing special on the food front, but filling. Lines weren't too bad, as they had a zillion buffet tables. Seating to eat one's meal was more of a challenge. Finding a table for a group of 20 would be right out. Splitting up into groups of 4-6 worked okay.
Apart from the food there were fireworks, and a whole bunch of midway-style fair amusements like would be at a traveling fair. Various "games of skill" all free to try. These were the kind of games that are at carnivals where you launch a frog onto a lily pad to win a prize. However, no cost to play, and no prizes. There were also a whole bunch of various "air-filled" bouncing amusements (kind of like the "castle/trampoline things" I'd seen at fairs before) for kids of all ages to play on. There were a whole bunch of different ones of these which were kind of neat that I'd never seen before (like a "tug of war" one, or "obstacle course") that were fun for high schoolers, too. I think there were also a couple tents with free video games and pinball machines.
It was a neat barbecue and a fun event. Was it worth $90 last year - no way. This year at $25, it isn't a bargain, but it is relatively reasonably priced. Personally, I might have paid $15 to attend last year if it were a separate add-on to the packages. We'll go again this year, as the price isn't outrageous and it's in the package. That said, I think the kids would have just as much fun going out to eat at a restaurant and having some time to run off some energy playing in the fountain at Centennial Park.
If you have the tickets in the package, it would be neat to go. However it is by no means an essential part of the World Festival experience.
BTW, a few photo notes:
- FLL photo "1 of 25" features many of the Thunderbolts prominently, although Laura Melnik is mostly cut off on the left side of the photo. (The Thunderbolts are also shown on the newsletter index, too!)
- FLL photo "8 of 25" shows Scott Evans at the extreme left of the photo, in case you are looking for a face to go with the name of the FLL Mission Challenge Creator.
- FRC photo "19 of 25" shows the FRC pits. I assume this year's FLL pits will be in a similar area.
SOFTWARE: The robot must be programmed using LEGO MindStorms Robotics Invention System or RoboLab software (any version).
[The scene: morning of the first day of the tournament, arrived at Georgia Dome and finally got inside a little after 9:00am]
... By this time, I have the reg. packet open and look for our schedule. As I mentioned, the judging was going to be done back-to-back-to-back for research, tech, and teamwork. 10 minutes for each, with 5 minutes to switch in between. All judging over in 40 minutes for a two-day tournament! It's now 9:10. Opening ceremonies involve all teams, start at 9:30, and run until 10:10. The kids open the boxes with the robot attachments in it, and find that two of our five attachments look like a kit that you would buy at Wal-mart -- almost 100% disassembled; only one attachment is 100% intact (fortunately, the transmission!), and the other two have minor problems. Apparently airport security had gone through the transit case and had problems repacking stuff. It is at this moment that I find the info on the judging for the day. We're the first team to be judged at 10:30. Pandemonium at this point. (Well, probably more accurately, "mayhem" at this point.) Some kids assemble the stuff to go on the A/V cart (remember, we need to be ready for research and tech at the same time), others making sure the bot is programmed, others getting out the backup attachments, others signing up for a practice table, and others asking where we should line up for opening ceremonies!
Backup attachments also found to have been opened and disassembled (nice of TSA to leave little notes inside saying they opened and inspected!) One of the two de-constructed attachments is fine in the backup. Other is similarly in pieces, although better. Kids working on re-assembling -- what box is the team binder with the MLCAD instructions in, anyway? Fortunately, FIRST running behind due to the late start; announce that opening ceremonies will be delayed until 9:45 but that they'll start the judging on time! OK, so that really didn't buy us any time, after all!
Robot attachments finally put back together at 9:42 am. Teams lining up for opening ceremonies. Fortunately, no set order. Our team jumps in at the end of the line, one other team sneaks in behind us. My eldest son stays behind to run the robot on the practice tables one time with the robot and newly-assembled attachments while the line is filing in. I watch from 100 feet away. Amazingly, everything seemed to work, except only two ice cores. My son rejoins us about 5 teams before we file around from the back of the main stage. ...
... Quick lunch, then official practice round on official tables. Use tag-team approach. Mayhem results. Ice cores attachment refuses to go on; kids can't figure out what is wrong. Finally get the attachment on. Again, only two ice cores. MAV gives a dry launch. Rover mission delivers habs but then attachment fails to lift rover due to poorly attached attachment. Time up, but ref allows team to finish out since just practice. Robot succesfully lowers ramp, but when student goes to pick robot up, transmission drops off; transmission doesn't seem to want to stay on robot. I didn't even score the round. Probably about 200.
Leave table, kids try to figure out what went wrong. Kids find that robot had main 3rd-motor-drive gear support installed one stud off. Ice core attachment was never going in correct place. Hab mods/rover attachment was not going on properly as a result. Find that the attachment plate for the transmission is missing; must have come off in shipping. All problems now accounted for. Run robot on practice table in tag team fashion. Robot runs without trouble. Students having real problems with transitions; one mission runs wrong program, MAV launcher forgets to load ball, transmission installer takes about 20 seconds to connect (rather than his typical about 5 seconds). (I wonder what happened -- they did it 400/400 three times in a row at home on Monday night!)
... Now time to embark on special assignment. Alliances of 4 teams. Robot / Teamwork / Research. Robot is to have teams work in sequence on a single table to do all missions. Teamwork is to make a team cheer for new alliance, including state/country names of each team in cheer. Research is to find out what "Six Sigma" is. Kids all work really well together. All clearly having fun. Smiles abound. Students having fun. I get a chance to talk to other coaches a little...
| Rank | Team Name | High | R1 | R2 | R3 |
| 1 | EAGLES | 375 | 56 | 349 | 375 |
| 2 | McKelvie Dark Seers | 357 | 274 | 190 | 357 |
| 3 | The Munchkins | 357 | 230 | 357 | 265 |
| 4 | MCA Minds in Motion | 351 | 218 | 351 | 231 |
| 5 | Nitro Hogs | 339 | 339 | 329 | 324 |
| 6 | Batteries Not Included | 335 | 319 | 289 | 335 |
| 7 | Mindstorms Mayhem | 334 | 299 | 20 | 334 |
| 8 | Robotic Trees | 326 | 326 | 163 | 222 |
if (light sensor > 40)
F T
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| if (light sensor > 99)
| F T
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| Turn right |
Turn left | |
| | We hit so panic stop
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| |Fork merge ------+
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Fork merge-------+
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