Hello Teams,

We would like to take this opportunity to make you aware of the policies and procedures rubric for the 2016 ANIMAL ALLIES season. We’ll be using a different Project from the ones you will find on FIRST LEGO League websites. The updated rubric has an increased focus on the process of developing the Project and includes the following changes:

1. Project Pilot - New this season! - Illinois is participating in a pilot of an updated Project to their topic to be at the Accomplished or Exemplary levels.

a. The Sources of Information criteria now more clearly reflects the need for quality sources and a wide variety of sources. Teams must consult professionals in fields relating that will be adopted in Illinois for the Animal Allies season.

b. The Review Existing Solutions criteria has been combined with Problem Analysis and Innovation. Teams are still expected to review and analyze existing solutions.

c. When teams are describing their Team Solution, they are now expected to describe how it solves the problem.

d. The new Solution Development criteria encompasses the previous Implementation criteria. Teams should explain how they developed the solution, considered and narrowed alternative solutions, evaluated and improved the solution they chose, and assessed feasibility and implementation factors.

While the update will shift what teams should share with Judges, we do not expect it to have much impact on the work teams are doing for the FIRST LEGO League Project. Teams who are working toward the Accomplished and Exemplary levels for Solution Development may choose to spend more time designing their process than they did before, in order to ensure it is systematic and includes some type of evaluation or verification of their solution.

The final rubric will be posted on our website under ‘News’ on the weekend of September 24th at this link: www.ilfirst.org

2. Animals at tournaments – Teams are not allowed to bring live animals to the qualifying and championship tournaments in Illinois. Teams can bring photographs of the animal(s) they worked with but teams cannot bring the animal to the tournament. 

3. Table Specifications– The Illinois qualifying and championship tournaments will use competition tables with four inch walls. Illinois teams that attend post-season events may need to consider the possibility of three inch walls so their designs are robust if they venture outside of the Illinois competition arenas.

4. Illinois Qualifiers – We have made the following changes to the list of qualifiers available for the Animal Allies season. We will continue to add qualifiers to the list of tournaments available so please check our website frequently. Changes to your team’s tournament selections can be made until October 15th but tournament assignments will be made on a first come, first serve basis.

• The Southern Illinois tournament on December 3rd previously held at Edwardsville will be held in Troy, Illinois.
• We have added a qualifier in Evanston, Illinois on December 10th.
• The Peoria tournament previously held at Peoria Christian School will be held at Woodruff Career and Technical Center on December 17th.

5. Team Advancement Policy- Approximately 25% of the teams at a qualifier in Illinois will advance to a championship tournament. Teams are eligible for advancement if they meet the following criteria as required by the FLL Global Standards and Challenge document. Teams must: 

• Have between 2 and 10 members 
• Complete all required sections of the Project
• Have no disqualifying Core Values behaviors 
• Be competing at their first official FLL event of each qualifying level during the season
• Perform well in all three judged areas (Core Values, Project, and Robot Design)
• Meet the minimum Robot Performance hurdle percentage. The hurdle is based upon the advancement rate at the qualifier. At a 16 team qualifier, which is the size of most Illinois qualifiers, teams must have a table score in the top 48% of the table scores at the event to advance.

6. Robot Design Executive Summary (RDES) - Illinois tournaments will NOT use the RDES in Robot Design judging for the Animal Allies season.

• The Robot Design judging session will consist of an ‘interactive robot run’ which is a complete table run during which the team will talk about their robot and what it does, and the judges will ask questions. The balance of the 10 minute session will be Q&A. The judges will not time or score the table run.
• Teams may bring a RDES with them to the interview if they believe it will help them answer questions but teams will not be given an opportunity to present the RDES in the judging session.

7. Core Values Poster - A Core Values Poster will NOT be required in Illinois.

• We believe that the Core Values poster is a good way for teams to organize their thoughts in preparation for the Core Values judging session and is a good way for teams to celebrate the Animal Allies season as they interact with other teams in the pit area. However, due to the limited time available to judges, the Core Values poster is not required in Illinois. 
• Teams may bring a poster to the judging session but judges will not review the poster as part of the judging session. Teams may refer to an item on the poster if it helps them answer a question presented by the judges.

We wish all of you the best of luck this season!

FIRST Illinois Robotics
FIRST LEGO League Planning Committee

Homework for Robot

In last Friday's meeting, kids discussed all missions, and proposed ways to solve these missions. We agreed to finish Shark Tank, Honey Bee, and Animal Feeding first.
Following assignments were given:

Aiden: mechanic to send Shark Tank

Sammy: duplicate the refrigerator as our food delivery part.

William: design the bin and pulling bar to collect food from the refrigerator.

Chungtai: modify the base, so it can go through the bumper smoothly, and go back and forth the ramp.

I hope all kids should think their design before we meet tomorrow. Our meeting time should be used to build and test your designs.

Homework for the project

Goal: determine what to do for the farming project 

Homework:

1, Why animals are important to a farm and farmer?

2, what does chicken/pig/sheep/cow benefit the farmer? Choose one to study 

3, what things can be done to improve the soil and prevent desertation and erosion? 

4, why Bee is an important animal to human beings?

5, what's bio-diversity and why it is so important to farmers and the animals?

6, what is sustainable agriculture? 

Each kid can just pick one specific animal to study, here is one link for many animals, they can find their own for research. 

Working Animals - The Permaculture Research Institute 

Working Animals - The Permaculture Research Institute

Aiden: Manure

Chungtai: Worms

Sammy: chickens

William: sheep/cow

Robot Design Assignment

Dear Team Members,

We started our robot design brainstorm last Friday. Each team member worked independently on this year's robot mission assignments. We discussed the first three missions, and identified challenges each mission has.

This week's assignment is to finish all missions before our next meeting. We will finish the discussion this Friday, and start to work on the robot design. The document can be found at:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bwisms0In6D3T1drakY0blgwR0U

The picture of this year's mat is attached at the end of the document.


To Parents:

Please spend time to discuss the assignment with your child. For each mission, I've listed possible design questions. Answers to these questions should be general ones like "Design a robot to finish the job." They need be specified to each mission. If there are any design questions you think should be added , you are welcome to do so.

Volunteer's arrangements

Parent Volunteers’ assignment

Robot Team

Head coach:  Feng Tian

Assistant coaches:  Jun Lu

Tasks:

·       help the kids decide how to tackle robot design and mission

·       Help the kids design their technical notebook and presentation

 

Project Team

Head coach: Robert Tang

Assistant coaches: Bing Tong, Qun Cai

Tasks:

·       Help guide the kids in project research, solution development and how to present their findings.  

·       Coordinate a meeting with an expert in the field of animal allies.

·       Coordinate sharing the research with the community. 

·       Help the research assistant coach and kids with the research binder, customers and presentation materials

Others

Practice Judge: Bing Tong, Robert Tang (robot)

                             Feng Tian, Jun Lu (project)

                             Qun (core values)

Coordinator: Qun

Tasks:

·       Organize team parties.

·       Prepare tournament.

·       Accountant

Tournament Snack and lunch Coordinator: Bing Tong

Video and Photo Historians: Everyone

·       Everyone takes pictures/videos and provide copies to Qun Cai

·       Help kids to create a team slide show for the session.

Aiden FLL homework

Aiden's assignment- Animal Allies means helping animals come through the problems that we’ve caused. We have to A) Stop creating problems B) Help endangered animals and C) Keep the animals that have stable populations healthy. Most problems that all animals have are made by humans, such as Global Warming, Bycatch, Habitat Loss, one of the biggest ones, Illegal Wildlife Poaching and Trade, and other problems. I created a chart that has endangered animals on it which includes the threats they have. Every single one of the reasons is manmade. We have to stop polluting (Air and Water), developing land, poaching, and enforce stricter laws. Project Ideas: How to raise money, Stop poaching, Raise awareness, and Save endangered animals.

Sammy FLL homework

To me, animal allies means helping other animals and taking care of them and preventing them from going extinct. Animals are our allies because we use them for food, entertainment, and research, and now we should help them back. Many animals have been hunted over hundreds of years and are becoming endangered, and many animals are being abused and mistreated, like chickens. We should respect our animal friends, by taking care of them and preventing animal abuse. Animals are our friends, and I love animals, so I know how they feel when they are mistreated. If everyone works together to help their allies, the animals will be fine.

The websites I found didn't change my perspective on animal allies, but their perspectives were the same as mine. Some were about giving shelters to homeless animals. I learned about pollution that kills animals living in the ocean and on land. I learned that animals are necessarily for the food chain, and can be used for food and research. When all animals go extinct, we will run out of food and the food chain will go out of balance. I already know that many animal species are endangered, but the species that aren't still need help. There is much evidence that factory food is being abused and that many animals are being treated inhumanely. I have found many organizations and websites dedicated to why and how we will save the animals. I have learned that animal allies isn't just about saving the animals, but treating them well so that they won't be endangered again. Animals have been used in agriculture for hundreds of years and used in war times. In world war one, dogs were used in warfare and pigeons were used as messengers. Basically, the overall idea of animal allies is saving and helping the animals, because of the history with humans and what they do for us.