Project Homework 9/25 ~ 10/2

On Sunday 9/25, we had a discussion about the assignment from the last week. Also we watched the video about Swale, which gave us a big picture about how a healthy farm system has been created. Also we  did brainstorm about the real-world problems that we can work on. We got a list of problems:

1. Bad food that farm animals eat
2.  Monocultrure
3. Fertilizer (chemical and natural)
4. Pesticides 

here are questions for pesticides reaserch?

1. Why use pesticides? (http://prairiecalifornian.com/why-do-farmers-apply-pesticides/)
2. Pesticides benefit
3. What are dangers of pesticides
4. How to get rid of pests without using pesticides (what is natural way)
5. What are the natural pesticides? What are they habitat? How to help them?
6. What are existing ways to help the natural pesticides(animal)?
7. If yes, how can we improve them?
8. If no, what can we do?

Your assignment for this week are:

1.  Find more real world problems that are related to farm, like animal system, soil system, insects system. Also please do some research on it.
2. If you cannot find more, you could research  one or two of the real world problems that we already listed on top. 

Everyone will share his researches during the project meeting on 10/2.

Robot Homework Week 9/24 - 9/31

On Friday 9/23, we made some progresses on our robot design.
. Sammi duplicated the refrigerator for our food delivery mission. It is not finished yet, but we are on the track.
. William finished the bucket to collect food from the refrigerator, and the hook used to pull the release bar of the refrigerator.
. Chungtai changed the rear wheel to make the base more compact. He also tested the idea of running over the ramp. It turned out that due to the structure and surface of the ramp, it is very hard to control (or predict) the direction of the robot after it climbs the ramp. We had a discussion on it, and agreed that the most possible mission will use this route is to deliver the manure to the R & D area. So we decide to leave this idea for future study.
. Zoey built the fork that sends the Shark Tank.

Your assignments for this week are:
. Sammi: needs to finish the refrigerator duplicate next time. Things you need to think include: 1) Current "refrigerator" has a slop at the bottom. This slop will let the food roll away from the refrigerator once it is released. However, when we deliver the food to animals, we need to make sure that food falls right in the feeding circle. Is current structure feasible to the mission? Do we need to make any change? 2) What route do you want to take to feed animal? 3) What other missions do you plan finish together with the feeding mission? Please start to think the programing part.
. William: We will test the task that collect food from the refrigerator next Friday. You need to think: 1) How do you want to hook up your mission blocks with the base? 2) What mechanics you plan to connect your release hood with the motor? 3) Make a testing plan to decide what you want to test, and how to test them. Also write programs that will help you do these tests.
. Chungtai: Finish the robot base. Test the Shart Tank mission as the building block is already finished.
. Aiden: Present your mission studies to the team, which you missed on 9/16. Pick the mission you want to work on (please see above to know which missions have been assigned and finished) and start to think about the mission block design.

From next Friday, we will have a short plan meeting at the beginning of the meet, and a summary by the end. So be prepared.

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.