Robotics Education And Design for Youth

What is Jr.FLL?

Karla — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:17:17 +0000

Check out a brand new video on the Jr.FLL YouTube channel called “What is Jr.FLL?”, http://www.youtube.com/jrfllglobal. This is an exciting way to encourage the “youngest scientists” to get involved in FIRST!

Let’s Build Robots

Karla — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:44:02 +0000

Building robots and automation with embedded tools and projects.

Through Techgeek.com I found the site http://letsmakerobots.com – The first part is a set of instructions for making wall racing robots. – Using remote control cars. Besides some instructions (takes 5 hours to build) there are some really cool videos.

Click on Start here for some step by step robot building instructions.

Warren County Robotics Club

Karla — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 22:39:00 +0000

The Warren County Robotics Club will meet on Tuesdays (every other week) at 6:30 beginning Tuesday January 10th.

Meetings will be in Room 129 in the Business Accelerator at the Old Mall by Big Lots.

Contact the Warren County Extension Office for more information or to sign up.

2011 FLL KY State Robotics Championship Volunteers Needed

Karla — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:40:00 +0000

2011 Kentucky FLL State Robotics Championship! Weneed volunteers to assist with the tournament. We will be holding the event onSaturday, January 14, 2012 at Diddle Arena, from approx. 7am-6pm. This eventhas been held at WKU since 2005. Each year 42 teams of 9-14 year old kids loadin with their LEGO robots (that they build, program and have to successfullyrun through a course) and their themed innovative solution, and projects (thisyear, Food Safety) that they present to a panel of judges. They have toidentify a Food Safety problem and come up with a creative solution that theyexhibit in their presentations. They compete for a variety of awards, which aregiven in the closing ceremony. FIRST LEGO League (FLL) promotes childrengaining an appreciation of science and technology, learning creative innovativesolutions, showing gracious professionalism, and being involved in thecommunity. We would really appreciateyour presence and skills, and thinkyou will enjoy watching a large group of young children having fun whilepresenting and competing with projects they have worked very hard at.

There are multiple volunteer jobs of which you can stayin one or enjoy doing a few. You can spend half a day or the whole day. A freelunch will be provided at Fresh Foods in DUC, and you will receive a freeT-shirt. All she needs to know is whichday, which job(s), how much time you would like to volunteer, and what yourT-shirt size is!

KY FLL http://www.wku.edu/kyfll/

FIRST http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/fll

The days and jobs:

Friday January 13, 2012

Load in tables andequipment, plus set up (8-10 people) –10:00am–12:00pm,1:00pm–2:00pm

Saturday January 14, 2012

Registration(5-6 people) –7:00am –9:30am

Information(2-3 people) –9:00am–4:00pm

Crowd/Trafficcontrol (8 people) –7:00am–4:00pm

Floaters (4people) –9:00am–4:00pm

Pit Manager(1-2 people) –7:00am–4:00pm

Pit Announcers(1-2 people) –8:00am–4:00pm

Pit Runner (3-4 people) –8:30am–4:00pm

Team Queuer(3-4 people) –8:30am–4:00pm

Practice TableManager(1-2 people) and Assistants (2-4 people) –7:00am–4:00pm

Field Manager(1-2 people) –8:30am–4:00pm

FieldAttendants (2-4 people) –8:30am–4:00pm

Time Keeper(1-2 people) –8:30am–4:00pm

Video Operator(1-2 people) –8:30am–4:00pm

Emcee (1-2people) –8:30am-4:00pm

Load Out ( 10people) –3:30pm–5:30pm

If you are interested in any position, just email Maggie Mahan and she will get everything set up! Assistingthe next generation of young scientists and engineers is a great way to spend aSaturday .

Volunteer Coordinator Needed (KY State Championship)

Karla — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:50:00 +0000

If you would be interested in volunteering as the VolunteerCoordinator for the Kentucky FLL State Robotics Tournament in January, please contactJohn Inman at 270-745-3048 or john.inman@wku.edu. The Volunteer Coordinator recruits and “trains” people tohelp the day of the tournament. We have a pretty complete list of pasthelpers, but would need everyone to be contacted and “trained” forthe event.

Coordinator would also help the day of the event making sureall event jobs are covered throughout the day.

FIRST LEGO League Kickoff

Karla — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:40:00 +0000

Check out http://www.mdfirst.org/fll2011kickoff for great powerpoints and videos for the FLL 2011 Kickoff! They are even available as PDFs. Yeah!!!!

New Carnegie Melon Robotics Site (Beta)

Karla — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:37:00 +0000

Check out the new Carnegie Melon Site at http://www.cs2n.org/. There are lots of great activities there including Robotics, programming, and game design.

Teacher’s Challenge (Gift Cert to Think Geek)

Karla — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 17:38:00 +0000

Teachers! We know you spent the summer getting your classrooms ready for the school year and we want to see them!Post a picture of your classroom to our wall by this Friday, September 24th, and you’ll be entered to win one of twenty $50 gift certificates to ThinkGeek. (One entry per teacher!)

Check out the challenge from Thinkgeek and Donorschoose.org

If you’re not a teacher, don’t think that you can’t participate. Anyone can donate to DonorsChoose. There’s no minimum donation, so don’t feel sheepish about only donating a dollar or two. Every little bit helps, and reminds

And anyone can ask for help also for a great project! Check it out at DonorsChoose.org

OCTC, Discover College, STEM Innovation Celebration

Karla — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 01:26:00 +0000

Discover College, the dual-credit program at OCTC, and the Mechatronics program are hosting the STEM Innovation Celebration this Thursday, Sept. 15 from 5-7 p.m.

Please join OCTC to learn about the new game themes for FIRST LEGO League and FIRST Tech Challenge and enter for a chance to win a free national registration fee. In addition to these exciting opportunities, FLL teams that register at OCTC only pay a $15 site fee ($10 savings) and FTC teams that register at OCTC only pay a $50 site fee ($100 savings).

They are proud to present Dr. Bruce Kessler, Associate Dean of the Ogden College of Science & Engineering at WKU. He will present about his exciting work with “Operation Comics,” a series of comics following Wonderguy a superhero that find himself in need of using math more than strength. It promises to be an exciting evening celebrating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. For more information please contact Katie Payne at 270.852.8616 .

FLL in Kentucky Living

Karla — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:32:00 +0000

The current issue of Kentucky Living has an article on Creativity + Learning = Fun (Ideas to help you think inside, outside, and upside down in the box!) The first part is about mathcounts (another great thing my kids participate in) and on page 40 there is a section on a FIRST LEGO League team. The LEGO Barbarians from Greenup County. You can find the article here (with out pics and no formatting). I love the quote:

That’s the power of a creative educational approach: it’s learning masked as fun.

I love that about FLL. It’s ‘sports for the mind’ There is more info on page 42 and 43 including pics of the table with the team the Accellerators.

Besides great info about FLL check the article out for info about Mathcounts, RCX (A robo Challenge Xtreme – search for Robo on the site), Destination Imagination and more. There is also information about IdeaFestival which is coming up September 21 – 24 at Louisville. Leonard Miodinow a physicist and former author of Star Trek will be a speaker this year! Yeah!!!