Well, as you can tell we didn't add any new pasts as we got ready for state.
We really focused on our programming, because this was our weakest area.
We were tryting to run two or three missions at a time every time we left base and it just wasn't working for us.
The night before state we stayed in a hotel and set up our board and tried to work out our programs for hours, but when it came down to the competition, we just weren't that successful.
In fact, we didn't ge the lowest score, but we almost did. One of our runs on the board at state was only a 65, that made us pretty sad, but state is still a fun expereince no matter what.
We have noticed that the winners the last two years have not been from school programs. The winners were Pi Pod, a home school team, and the Ladybugs, a girl scout troop. What is it about these teams that make it easier for them to compete? Something to think about as we move forward.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
State! WOOT! WOOT!
Congratulations Programming Padawans!
The team competed in their first regional qualifier yesterday and were selected to be one of seven teams to move on to the state competition.
The team wishes to thank all of those people who helped them succeed and came to visit this website.
Look for new posts as we continue to make things even better as we get ready for state!
Way to go TEAM!
The team competed in their first regional qualifier yesterday and were selected to be one of seven teams to move on to the state competition.
The team wishes to thank all of those people who helped them succeed and came to visit this website.
Look for new posts as we continue to make things even better as we get ready for state!
Way to go TEAM!
Friday, January 13, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
About Our Robot
Number of Sensors: 1
Drivetrain: Direct, 2
Number of Attachments: 5
Programming Language Used: NXT
Number of Programs: 6
Most Consistently completed Mission: Collect Corn
Strategy
How we chose our missions and their order: First we picked three strategies: a) based on areas of the board b) multiple task in a run (i.e. all viruses together) c) multiple strategies a run with divided baskets since viruses on different sides. We decided on c, but at our first scrimmage we couldn’t go to the table because we had no finished missions. We had 1 program that was supposed to accomplish 4 missions at once, but it was so complicated we never completed it. So we started over and just picked easy missions we thought we could finish. We now have five finished missions.
Favorite Mission and why:
The balls because they were easy and the corn because we were able to do it closely and consistently.
Design Process
We tried multiple design robot, but none of them worked very well. We tried a 4 wheel design, but the wheels skidded when turning. We tried a robot with tank wheels, but it also didn’t have very good turning. We tried a couple others but they were too complicated. Eventually we thought we were spending too much time trying to come up with an idea and we just needed to get to actually programing, so we stuck with a basic design that works. We would prefer not use sensors, because they are inconsistent in competition. However, without a sensor, it isn't really a robot. So we have used one sensor in order to find the wall for our program to touch the back wall at the end of the match.
Innovation
Features that are different or cool: Our coolest features are our attachments. Our coolest attachment is our basket used to collect viruses. At the moment, we have not seen another group use anything like it.Our attachment to pick up the truck is also very cool, but we cannot claim credit for the idea.
Mechanical Design:
Our robot has a basic three-wheeled design with two drive wheels and a free wheel to ease steering. The robot has two drive motors and a third motor for accessories.We have not implemented use of additional sensors but have created attachments to perform specific mission tasks.We hope this aids your understanding of our team. Thank you for volunteering your time to make this activity fun and rewarding.
Drivetrain: Direct, 2
Number of Attachments: 5
Programming Language Used: NXT
Number of Programs: 6
Most Consistently completed Mission: Collect Corn
Strategy
How we chose our missions and their order: First we picked three strategies: a) based on areas of the board b) multiple task in a run (i.e. all viruses together) c) multiple strategies a run with divided baskets since viruses on different sides. We decided on c, but at our first scrimmage we couldn’t go to the table because we had no finished missions. We had 1 program that was supposed to accomplish 4 missions at once, but it was so complicated we never completed it. So we started over and just picked easy missions we thought we could finish. We now have five finished missions.
Favorite Mission and why:
The balls because they were easy and the corn because we were able to do it closely and consistently.
Design Process
We tried multiple design robot, but none of them worked very well. We tried a 4 wheel design, but the wheels skidded when turning. We tried a robot with tank wheels, but it also didn’t have very good turning. We tried a couple others but they were too complicated. Eventually we thought we were spending too much time trying to come up with an idea and we just needed to get to actually programing, so we stuck with a basic design that works. We would prefer not use sensors, because they are inconsistent in competition. However, without a sensor, it isn't really a robot. So we have used one sensor in order to find the wall for our program to touch the back wall at the end of the match.
Innovation
Features that are different or cool: Our coolest features are our attachments. Our coolest attachment is our basket used to collect viruses. At the moment, we have not seen another group use anything like it.Our attachment to pick up the truck is also very cool, but we cannot claim credit for the idea.
Mechanical Design:
Our robot has a basic three-wheeled design with two drive wheels and a free wheel to ease steering. The robot has two drive motors and a third motor for accessories.We have not implemented use of additional sensors but have created attachments to perform specific mission tasks.We hope this aids your understanding of our team. Thank you for volunteering your time to make this activity fun and rewarding.
Other Cool Pictures
Our own backyard chicken coup.
Our robot.
Working on the script for our presentation skit.
At a scrimmage at Hill Field Elementary. We also went to the scrimmage at North Layton Jr. High.
Our Research
There is an ever increasing interest in raising backyard chickens. Backyard chicken farmers must be ever increasingly aware of their own flock and food safety.
Sixteen scientific studies published in the last five years compared Salmonella contamination between caged and cage-free operations found that those confining hens in cages had higher rates of Salmonella poisoning. Commercial flocks had a 25% contamination rate, while organic flocks had a 5% rate.
Backyard chicken farmers are less likely to be contaminated with Salmonella. However, when a chicken does have Salmonella there are no outward signs to detect. So the only way a backyard chicken farmer can protect themselves is through how they handle their eggs.
Salmonella can infect the ovaries of hens. Eggs from infected birds can be laid with the bacteria prepackaged inside. One out of every 20,000 chicken eggs contains a small amount of Salmonella that is deposited into the sac by the hen. Chickens get doses of salmonella bacteria (of which there are 2,300 kinds) from their environment, which is easily contaminated by rodents, birds and flies. Those few contaminated eggs that come out of a hen usually contain a very low levels of bacteria - totaling between two and five microorganisms. It takes a level of at least 100 bacteria to make a person sick. Salmonella doubles every 20 minutes under ideal conditions. If an egg sits there for an hour, two microorganisms could become 32. At two hours, there would be 1,000 organisms. At eight hours, it would be in the range of millions - in one egg.But even if chickens remain salmonella-free, their eggs can become contaminated from the outside in. Every egg has about 9,000 pores that salmonella can essentially climb in from the outside as well.
Salmonella can survive sunny-side-up, over-easy, and scrambled cooking methods.
In order to keep Salmonella from multiplying an egg must cooled to lower than 45 degrees shortly after being laid and must be kept constantly at that temperature. If an egg needs to be washed the temperature of the water should be 20 degrees warmer than the egg. If not the contents of an egg will contract and produce a vacuum inside the egg that will pull in more contaminates. Egg shells naturally have a protective coating to keep bacteria from penetrating the porous shell, so washing should be gentle.
The problem with backyard chicken farmers is that they may day jobs and could leave eggs out to be collected for hours in the hot summer sun. This could be a breeding ground for contamination.
In U.S. commercial egg production, approximately 95% of laying hens are confined in battery cages, small wire enclosures that afford each hen roughly 430 cm2 —a space smaller than a single sheet of letter-sized paper. These cages are placed side-by-side in rows and stacked in tiers commonly 4-8 levels high. Each cage may hold 5-10 birds. Hundreds of thousands of hens may be confined within a single building.
Introduction to First LEGO League
Watch this short video first to learn about what FLL is.
In a nut shell we build a robot out of Legos and program it to do a certain tasks. We also learn about team work and core values such as gracious professionalism. Finally, we do a research project on whatever the topic is. This year the topic is called Food Factor.
For our research this year we decided to find a way to get eggs from chickens from backyard coops chilled faster in order to protect those eggs from Salmonella.
In a nut shell we build a robot out of Legos and program it to do a certain tasks. We also learn about team work and core values such as gracious professionalism. Finally, we do a research project on whatever the topic is. This year the topic is called Food Factor.
For our research this year we decided to find a way to get eggs from chickens from backyard coops chilled faster in order to protect those eggs from Salmonella.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)