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 In the News 2008 Climate Connections 2007 Power Puzzle

 



Exciting News!

...and it's happening in our own backyard! Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Wright State University will be the hosts for the first-ever FIRST LEGO® League United States Open Championship! In 2009, 600 young people from all over the United States will converge at the Ervin J. Nutter Center to compete.

Related Lego Robotics Links

Related Robotics Links

Other Links

Our LEGO® Robotics Teams are seeking monetary donations and/or working desktop or laptop computers.

 

  minimum computer
  requirements:

  • Intel® Pentium® processor or compatible,
    800 MHz minimum

  • Windows XP Professional or Home Edition, Service Pack 2

  • 256MB of RAM minimum

  • 300MB of available hard disk space

  • XGA display (1024x768)

  • 1 available USB port

  • CD-ROM drive

For more information on making donations, please contact Coach Nettling.

 

 

 

 

Team Happenings

FIRST LEGO League

2006 Nano Quest

The Hotshots' Website

Building LEGO Robots

2005 Ocean Odyssey

Make a donation to Carlisle's Robotics Team  Also, see THANK YOU!

Why "Robotics"
belongs in schools
Please watch this video!

2009 FLL Challenge:

Smart Move

We're Gearing up for 2009's Challenge: Smart Move!

 

         ..and Sharing with Others

 

  • Feb., 2009. The Middletown Journal article with a photograph about our preparation for state competition! Read it...
     

  • Jan., 2009. Our Clibot and LEGO My World Hotshots teams presented their skits and research at the School Board meeting. The presentations are being aired on community access cable TV. Thanks, CLSD School Board!
     

  • Dec., 2008. The Middletown Journal article with a photograph about our Regionals performance, announcing that our two teams are heading for state competition! Read it...

  • Nov., 2008. ABC News 22 and FOX 45 Meteorologist Mike Terwilliger visits the Hotshots! Meagan Engle and her photographer of The Middletown Journal stopped by to take pictures and cover the story. Thanks, Mrs. Newkirk, for setting this up for us! Read it..

 


 


Congratulations to our Hotshots Robotics Teams
48 Teams competed February 14th and 15th
at the Nutter Center at the
FLL Ohio State Championship Competition

LEGO My World Hotshots scored 7th highest in the state on table missions!

 

Clibot Hotshots received "Excellent" rating in Teamwork!

 

Ohio's FLL State Competition!


2008 Clibot Hotshots and LEGO My World Hotshots
Clibot Hotshots earned"Innovative Solution". LEGO My World Hotshots earned "Creative Presentation". They also earned "Robot Performance" for getting the highest score on table missions.
...And they LEARNED from everyone!

 

Feb, 2009. Our Carlisle Hotshots robotics teams competed at Ohio's FLL State Competition at the Nutter Center on February 14th and 15th.

Some of the most stressed FLL Core Values competition are teamwork, gracious professionalism, and having fun. We saw great evidence of that in both our Hotshots teams! First thing Saturday morning, the Clibot Hotshots were tapped for showing "gracious professionalism" and their whole team received pins in recognition! As the weekend progressed, many individuals of the LEGO My World Hotshots, were also spotted showing "gracious professionalism", and they received a pin as well.
 
Another of the FLL Core Values is "What we win is not as important as what we discover." That can be very difficult as you watch trophy after trophy being handed out at the end, and you are not a team that receives one. Our teams handled this with grace while retaining great proud in their own accomplishments. They did extremely well on this high-quality, high-level state stage. Both teams improved their research and projects for the PROJECT/RESEARCH of the competition. Both teams continued to strengthen their TECHNICAL skills and conversations.  Both teams showed great TEAMWORK in practices and at competitions. Both teams improved old MISSIONS and added new ones to their table challenges in robotics. Both teams added concrete evidence of all they had done and experienced to their notebooks. Both teams got their best table mission scores this weekend at state!
 
While both teams did extremely well in all areas, some of the best news of the competition is the Clibots' tremendous Teamwork skills and LEGO My World's success with this year's challenging Table Missions.
  • The Clibot Hotshots received an "Excellent" rating and certificate in Teamwork! This is certainly no surprise because this team showed spectacular teamwork throughout the entire robotics season. Each Clibot team member will receive a copy of this Certificate of Excellence when we get together next Saturday for our team celebration! Congratulations, Clibot Hotshots, on this great accomplishment for Teamwork Excellence!
     
  • The LEGO My World Hotshots won 7th highest score in the state on the Table Missions! This is an amazing accomplishment. As the only public part of the competition, we all witnessed their disappointment in their first and second table runs. Disappointing, because they knew they had the missions engineered and programmed to succeed, yet things were not quite coming together when it counted. They problem-solved, took a deep breath, and succeeded in their final run to capture 240 points. Seventh in the state! And more importantly, they stayed true to their commitment to get the Random Agreement mission -- a mission that nets BOTH teams 40 points. They were successful 100% of the time: all runs at Regionals, and all runs at State. They made a grand total of 240 points for other teams this year! That is certainly gracious professionalism! Congratulations, LEGO My World Hotshots!

The teams will celebrate with a team pizza party on Saturday, February 20th, from 12:00 to 3:00.

Dec., 2008. Our Hotshots teams competed at the Sinclair Regional Championships on December 13, 2008. Congratulations to all the amazing teams who were there. We had fun meeting you, and we learned a lot!

Nov., 2008 - Dr. Roger Kimmel, Aerospace Engineer for the Air Force Research Laboratory, brought his expertise to our teams. Dr. Kimmel brought with him a model he had constructed of a city situated along a stream with a "glacier" melting nearby. Students made predictions as to whether the city would flood or not, based on the mathematics of measurement of the area and of the ice. Twelve out of 19 predicted that the city would indeed flood, although it would be close. Dr. Kimmel provided a heat source to start the process of melting the ice, while he discussed the importance of using models to make predictions and understand what is happening or what could happen. Some models can be physical models, and some mathematical models become data-driven computer models. This was a perfect tie-in to Mike Terwilliger's discussion earlier in the day as Mike had described how meteorologists use different computer data-driven models to make weather forecasts! Dr. Kimmel also discussed how models play an important role in other areas of science and engineering, such as in the use of wind tunnels for designing planes and rockets. Dr. Kimmel is long-time supporter of our Carlisle robotics teams, and parent of one of our first-year team members. Here is a site he showed us that uses models to predict different climate changes:
 http://jcm.chooseclimate.org/jcm4/ 

Nov, 2008 - Learning from experts. On Tuesday, our 5th grade team members were visited by ABC22 and FOX45's meteorologist Mike Terwilliger! Mike opened his visit by discussing air pressure as a key to understanding weather and forecasting, then he took a lot of time answering students' questions. Mike's friendly interaction with students was both comfortable and informative. Meagan Engle and her photographer of The Middletown Journal stopped by to take pictures and cover the story. Read it..   Wednesday morning at 7:30 a.m. and again at 7:57, 8:02, and 8:32 a.m., Mike Terwilliger followed through on his promise to give us a shout out during the morning news program. He showed Carlisle on the map, then talked about having visited 5th graders at Grigsby Intermediate, answering lots of really great questions, how much he enjoyed the visit, and that these students were "sharp as tacks".

Nov, 2008 - Learning from experts. Dr. Dan (Scientist Dr. Dan Michael from WCESC) visited our teams to discuss ice core data and climate. He brought with him the read-outs of the Vostok Ice Core data which had allowed access to air bubbles for analyzing gases dating back 400,000 years! Team members graphed the data and then discussed what that data may mean. The graphs showed that CO2 in the air has gone up and down over all those years. What causes CO2 to go up and down? How much of that is earth's natural processes (volcanoes, etc.)? How much of that is the varying emissions/energy levels from the sun? How much is man's activities contributing to the current variations? Good questions!

Sept.-Oct., 2008 - This year our teams got a strong start by working with a Carnegie Mellon engineering tutorial. Already we have learned to build robots, attach and understand the sensors, program robots to move forward and stop, program robots to make swing and point turns, program robots to respond to a loud clap (sound sensor) by including sound threshold level commands in the code, and follow a dark line by including light threshold level commands in the code. We have even learned how to loop program code so that the action will repeat! Check out the Hotshots' website!

Sept. 2008 - Team members were required to:

  • fill out an application form committing to FLL Core Values and to doing the work as a team

  • provide academic background (grades)
  • do an essay saying why they wanted to be on the team and why they would be an asset to the team
  • do climate research in order to be eligible for the team

We had a strong turnout of interest, and ended up with two teams!

 

FLL Team Creed (Core Values)

  1. We are a team.

  2. We do the work to find the solutions with guidance from our coaches and mentors.

  3. We honor the spirit of friendly competition.

  4. What we discover is more important than what we win.

  5. We share our experiences with others.

  6. We display gracious professionalism in everything we do.

  7. We have fun.

 

Sept., 2008 - Our coach, a parent, and a team member attended the Kickoff Event at Sinclair. Through a video linkup, we heard information from Dr. Lonnie Thompson, distinguished Ohio State University professor at the Department of Geological Sciences at the Byrd Polar Research Center. 

What do we do on Carlisle's LEGO® Robotics Teams?


The 2007 Powerbot Hotshots 1 and 2

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THANK YOU!

Thanks to your donations and your fundraising efforts, the robotics team was able to purchase a Smart Board. This will help our Hotshots work collaboratively as a group to research their challenge, to discuss mission strategies, and to program the robots!

 

 

The 2008 FLL Challenge

Climate Connections!

Building a Global Game Plan
The winds of change are blowing, and with them comes FIRST LEGO League's 2008 Climate Connections Challenge!  The causes, contributions, and consequences are all interconnected and the experts are telling us to "think globally and act locally."  People, resources, and local actions need to be united to establish a global game plan. Do FIRST LEGO League teams have what it takes to make these global Climate Connections?

The Official FLL Challenge

Our Hotshots' Favorite Climate Links and Bibliography of Resources

What is the difference between weather and climate?

Is the climate changing?

How does climate affect food production?

What is flooding, and how does climate impact it?

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Do you want to learn to build LEGO Robots?
Here are some great connections to get you started!

LEGO® Parts

Investigations

Building Instructions

Programming

Challenges

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Peek at 2009's Challenge:
Transforming Transportion!

 


                 ...and Related Resources

MSNBC

MSNBC on High School Level FIRST Robotics Competitions:
 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18559702

Happy 50th Anniversary, LEGOs!

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