William's view of "Animal Allies"

Animals aren’t really my passion, but as all things, they deserve rights.  Just like in the 1960’s there was the civil rights movement, we need to campaign for the stop of animal abuse and mistreatment. Sure, people have been saying that we need to help animals for decades now, but we need to take initiative and really push to the point that animals don’t have a worry in their mind.

Why? First of all, animals have equal claim to this earth and its resources as much as we do. This means that we cannot destroy their habitats and hunt them down just for trophies. Have you ever seen a lion kill a human just so it could hang that person’s head on a wall? No! In fact, the only lions kill humans in the first place is because they are provoked.  Another reason is because people need the animals. If one falls, it damages an entire ecosystem, and due to the butterfly effect, it would affect us humans, which nobody would like to happen.   

After reading articles from organizations like peta and the website that chungtai found, I learned a lot more in specifics about endangered animals, habitats in jeopardy, etc. it’s taught me that there are many liable reasons that people should save animals and protect ecosystems, one, being its cruciality to all life, and also because animals have feelings, they have needs and wants, just like humans.  That I think was the most important thing I learned through research.   

Chungtai's Revised version

Saving the animals; Animal Allies

This year’s FLL topic is Animal Allies. But what is Animal Allies? What does it mean? What is its importance to us? And that is what I am writing about today. I am writing about what Animal Allies means to me[1]. I will first write about my perspective now, then I am going to research and take a look at what other people think, and next I’ll explain how this changed my perspective.

So first of all, what are we doing to the animals? We are taking away their homes and killing them to benefit ourselves. We cut down forests for buildings, but many animals live in the forest. We hunt down animals to feed ourselves or to make decorations or other special things for ourselves. Once I write all of this, I feel like humans are sort of selfish. Still many people are fighting to help the animals. Some places, like pet shelters, find homes for animals like cats and dogs, while other wildlife foundations focus more on saving endangered species from extinction.

To me, Animal Allies means helping animals that are having a hard time living in the wild. Animals are amazing creatures, yet so many animals are becoming endangered because of our (the humans) actions. Pandas’ homes in the bamboo forests are being destroyed by us to make new homes for our people. Plastic bags and oil spills in the ocean are endangering animals like penguins and whales. There are so many more animals that are being put in danger by us. We need to stop these actions and keep the animals alive. And then there are the animals that are not endangered. We need to help them, too! Just because they are not endangered doesn’t mean they can’t become endangered! All animals deserve our help, and it is our duty to give them what they deserve.

Though I didn’t really find other people’s thoughts about what Animal Allies meant to them, I found a lot of organizations helping animals or saving them. Many organizations were finding homes for animals. Other ones were trying to cut back on using animals for food. A really good site is https://www.worldwildlife.org/.  It is an organization saving animals across the world.

Looking at these sites did not really change my perspective on Animal Allies. Their thoughts were similar to mine; we need to save the animals, and mostly just provided ways to save these animals. I think that with the growing community of people trying to save animals, we can very well give these animals a better life.

---

[1] This is from my perspective. You might think something else. Please don’t judge.

Saving the animals from Chungtai

Saving the animals; Animal Allies
This year’s FLL topic is Animal Allies. But what is Animal Allies? What does it mean? What is its importance to us? And that is what I am writing about today. I am writing about what Animal Allies means to me. I will first write about my perspective now, I will research and take a look at what other people think, and I will explain how this changed my perspective.
To me, Animal Allies means helping animals that are having a hard time living in the wild. Animals are amazing creatures, yet so many animals are becoming endangered because of our (the humans) actions. Pandas’ homes in the bamboo forests are being destroyed by us to make new homes for our people. Plastic bags in the ocean and oil spills are endangering animals like penguins and whales. There are so many more animals that are being put in danger by us. We need to stop these actions and keep the animals alive. And then there are the animals that are not endangered. We need to help them, too! Just because they are not endangered doesn’t mean they can’t become endangered! All animals deserve our help, and it is our duty to give them what they deserve.
Though I didn’t really find other people’s thoughts about what Animal Allies meant to them, I found a lot of sites that were organizations helping animals or saving them. Many organizations were finding homes for animals. Other ones were trying to cut back on using animals for food. A really good site is https://www.worldwildlife.org/.  It is an organization saving animals across the world.
Looking at these sites did not really change my perspective on Animal Allies. Their thoughts were similar to mine; we need to save the animals, and mostly just provided ways to save these animals. I think that with the growing community of people trying to save animals, we can very well keep the wonderful animals from extinction.

An interesting website for 2016 project

https://www.worldwildlife.org/

Just got the email. Any comments?

Hello Teams,

National registrations for the Animal Allies season are now underway. Illinois registrations will be open on August 1st. Field set up kits will begin to ship at the beginning of August and will be shipped on a first come, first serve basis. The Animal Allies challenge will be announced on August 30th.

We will offer coach training sessions again this summer in various locations throughout the state. Details will be announced in the next few weeks.

We are aware that many corporations throughout the state offer matching donations or sponsorships for teams that are coached or mentored by their employees. Examples are Boeing, Motorola, Baxter, John Deere and Caterpillar. To determine if there may be funding available for your team, we recommend asking the parents and/or mentors to contact their employers.

We have received the following specific information with regard to Boeing-mentored teams. 

Boeing is adding FIRST Lego League to its suite of program grants offered to Boeing-mentored teams in For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) competitions.

The addition of FIRST Lego League expands the company’s funding opportunities to engage younger students in robotics and engineering concepts. Boeing also is a supporter of the FIRST Tech Challenge and the FIRST Robotics Competition.

Boeing employees can get involved with FIRST Lego League by mentoring a team. Mentors will work with up to 10 children (ages 9 to 14) throughout the year to research a real-world problem and develop a solution using Lego Mindstorms as a construction base. Employees do not need to be in an engineering field to mentor.

The company will provide grants to cover the $225 FLL registration fee for teams mentored by a Boeing employee or retiree. Current and new Boeing mentors are encouraged to put together teams before the end of the school year. The internal, online, Boeing FIRST Grant Application tool will be available to employees May 4 through June 30, and includes applications for all three categories of FIRST competition: FLL, FTC and FRC.

We have received the following specific information with regard to John Deere-sponsored teams.

Applications for John Deere FIRST team grants for the 2016-2017 season are now open for FLL, FTC, and FRC using the link below. Applications for FLL Jr. will open on 8Aug16.

www.JohnDeere.com/Inspire

The grants are available for participants within a 50 mile radius of 14 U.S John Deere home communities for all four FIRST programs. Additionally, teams can apply for a grant in any U.S. location if they have a John Deere employee or retiree committed to actively supporting their team regardless of location. For Illinois, this includes Champaign, Quad Cities and Dubuque, Iowa (which includes parts of NW Illinois).

Teams must apply and get approval for the John Deere / FIRST grant prior to completing (paying for) registration for the 2016-2017 FIRST season. You can register with FIRST, but should not pay for your registration as you may potentially forfeit your grant.

We are looking forward to the Animal Allies season!
The FLL Planning Committee 

How the trash trek missions were completed by other teams.

Chungtai spent quite some time on the mission, but kept on failing. This led us to think our approach may not be right. So we searched on YouTube to see how other teams accomplished these missions. Here are some very interesting ones:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10U9NbF3rz4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqEvKem1-nQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-1eS_v8IJY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P1EREM1Yzc

M11 Purchasing Decisions

This is the toy factory mission which requires the robot to move the toy plane back to the Safety. It has two steps, first pull the trigger and release the toy plan from the toy factory, second pull the toy plan back to the Safety. This is a mission that we have accomplished in the tournament, but the result was not consistent. Questions we have met include:

. How will you locate the trigger? We could not pull the trigger successfully every time during the tournament. Can this problem be fixed?
. How will you pull the toy plan back? Our initial design had a problem, the hook went out of the safety, and we had to make change during the tournament. Do you plan to use the same structure, or not?
. How will you design the robot to include all these components?