Santa Claus, Physics, and More

So I did it this year, I came clean to Asa that there is no Santa Claus. You might think that at age 11, this would be a no-brainer, and of course she already knew. But I've always felt it's important to keep the magical thinking alive as long as the kid wants to. And as somebody who still anthropomorphizes my favorite plaid stuffed hippo, Horace, I'm a sucker for magical thinking. Of course, this means that Mackenzie has to give up his spot as Santa. He's stayed up the last few Christmases, stuffing stockings and having fun being the big brother. I don't know how this Christmas Eve will play out, it's an ever-evolving thing as the kids get older.


For those of you who still have younger kids, or kids interested in physics, or just like this kind of thing, here's a great physics-based proof that Santa Claus really exists.

In other physics news, our FIRST FTC robotics team went up to an event last weekend at Portland State University. In addition to working on their robotics stuff, the kids got to tour a whole bunch of the engineering labs there. We were very impressed! They got to help move a laser (over 800 pounds!), talked with a chemistry grad student about his work detecting nanoparticles in soil and water using an atomic mass spectrometer, saw a wind tunnel where they are testing wind turbine and wind energy farm designs, and best of all they got to spend a lot of time with someone from the robotics department discussing a robot called "Shrödinger's Cat" . Those of you that are physics buffs will understand why that's so funny. The cat lives in a box and is mobile, he runs around the building using two cameras, touch sensors, and other methods for object avoidance. He has a mental map of where he is, and can even go in the elevators and ask people to press the buttons to take him to another floor. He can interact with other robots in the lab, including a talking head of Nils Bohr.

I loved hearing all of the questions our kids came up with for the roboticist. Mackenzie was especially interested in the vision processing algorithms and how he could distinguish between objects and blank space (like a doorway). One of the things this tour really showed me was how much science being involved with FIRST has brought into his life. He already knew about Nanotechnology because back when he was on a FIRST FLL team, they did a research project on Nanoparticles and one of the things they discovered was all about the potential dangers of these particles when they end up in our water and soil. Another year, they did a project on alternative energy and it was his part of the project to research wind generators. So all of the things he was seeing in these science and engineering labs, he had already had a taste of through FIRST.

Crazy Weekend Part 1: Robotics

Last weekend was the culmination of several months of craziness: robotics team meetings and Nutcracker rehearsals, endless details to manage (where in town can I buy a pink leotard? tri-fold presentation boards? Do I have all of the team permission slips filled out?) Of course, it was all worth it as we headed off to the regional robotics competition with our team Veni Vidi Roboti excited to see their robot on the field and present their research project, and as Asa took the stage in her first dance solo.

Unfortunately, bad weather in the form of horrifying ice and sleet made the roads a skating rink (32 accidents in one stretch of I-5 alone) and this complicated our plans greatly. The night before the robotics tournament, we still weren't sure if it was even going to occur, but finally after 3 hours of delays, the tournament did take place on Saturday for which I was very grateful. These kids have worked way too hard to miss out on competing!

The team had a great time at the tournament. They really impressed me with their morale, their coolness under difficult circumstances, their ability to work as a team, and their overall positive and encouraging attitude. Unfortunately, the robot took on a mind of its own at the tournament, with programs that worked fine on the practice table suddenly going haywire on the actual competition table. It was very frustrating for the kids, but they really were very professional about it all. I was extremely proud, both as a coach and as a parent, of this team. I know that we coaches really did our job well not when the robot scored high (it didn't), but when the kids accepted what had happened, worked to fix what they could, and moved forward with a positive attitude. This is not easy for adult engineers, so to see a team of kids accomplish this was impressive.

Of course, the robot performance is only 25% of the total competition, with the rest coming from the teamwork judging, robot technical judging, and the research project presentation judging. I knew the team would knock the socks off of the judges in those areas and they did. They ended up winning first place in the research project category. I haven't posted anything about their project up until now, because I didn't want to give away their subject publicly. The theme this year was transportation, they were to identify a transportation problem in their community, and propose a solution for that problem. Almost all of the teams at the competition chose things like pedestrian safety, school bus scheduling, walking and biking to school, etc. Well, our team chose the solar system as their community, and the problem of orbital debris (or "space junk") as the problem. Their research involved things like calling up a NASA representative, metal recycling specialists, and arranging a tour for themselves at a local metal recycling facility. They really poured a lot of energy into this project and it showed. I'll have to post the text of it here later this week as it was truly impressive. I could tell the judges were really impressed with what they had accomplished.

Lastly, the icing on the cake for the competition was that they got a Core Values Nomination from the head judge. FLL takes their core values very seriously, and they place a big emphasis on teams exhibiting these values, including the value of "gracious professionalism" which means competing like crazy but respecting and exchanging ideas with your competing teams. Here you can see a moment that occured in a hallway between competition rounds where our team and another got a moment to discuss their robot designs. This is really what FLL is all about, right here, the learning and growth that occurs when these kids share what they've learned with each other.

Before we went to this competition, I had told the team that I didn't care a bit if they won or were the absolute last on the robot table, but if they came away from the competition having done their best and worked well as a team I would be very happy. Well, they accomplished all of that and then some, and as always I'm honored to have been a part of their journey, and very proud of all the work that they put into this competition. Having the head judge acknowledge their teamwork and core values really just confirmed what I knew about these great kids.

They Did It Again!!!!!

I'm still trying to wrap my head around this one, but the kids won the robotics tournament yesterday. As in got the champion's award. Wow!

The tournament was very up and down for them. They were the first ones to go through project judging, and the judges seemed kind of "eh", but maybe they were still waking up. Regardless, the kids did great in the project (I think!). For one thing, they memorized all of the lines for their play, and some of them (most especially Asa, the narrator) had a LOT of lines.

Then they went on to technical judging, which I think they really aced. Although they're a pretty young team, they attempted a lot more technical sophistication this year, using sensors, loops, variables, and subroutines in their programs. They all explained themselves very well, and the fact that they each wrote their own programs was a real bonus I think. Mackenzie was able to explain to one of the judges his program that used input from a sensor that fed into a decision tree and executed one of several sub-routines, and I could see that the judge was really impressed.

In teamwork judging, I know they did awesome. It's clear that these kids are all good friends and they work together very well. As always, I am proudest of the fact that they are a great team and are positive to each other and to all the other teams there.

On the robot table, their first run was an unmitigated disaster. I think they scored 20 points, LOL. That's out of the 170 they could get if all of their missions went well. One of Mackenzie's programs that we thought operated within the rules was ruled otherwise by a judge, and a well-meaning volunteer interrupted one of Mikke's programs with a ruling that was then over-ruled by the head judge mid-round. So it was very confusing. Their second round wasn't much better, with Asa's program going haywire for unexplained reasons.

By that time they decided to head to the practice room and re-write some stuff in the 30 minute break between rounds. Mackenzie re-wrote his program to conform to the new interpretation of the rule, and I tried to soothe the kids' ruffled feathers. They felt like things were being changed right out from under them, and I explained that it might not be entirely unintentional. After all, in the real world when you're an engineer you might work on a project for months only to have the marketing team come tell you that due to their latest focus group or marketing survey you now need to rework it an entirely different way, or discard those features and write entirely new ones. It's good for them to be able to quickly re-think their strategies or re-work their programs. After that, they buckled down and got to work and their last table run was much much better.

It was clear that all of the teams were struggling with this year's table, which seemed much harder than last year. So I knew that even if we weren't scoring as high as we'd hoped to, the other teams were in more or less the same pickle. I figured we had a good chance of being a runner-up and going to the state tournament, but when they announced the runners-up and we weren't in there, I wasn't sure what to think. But as it turns out, they did it again and won the overall champion's award. They didn't score the highest on the table, same as last year, but their work on all aspects of the project including trying our best to exemplify the FLL core values pulled them through!

I just looked through all of the photos which are so great, and will have to post some soon. Right now though I'm just so proud of all the work these kids have done!

Insanity, Continued

Five kids, a mom/coach, a car, lots of sleet, rain, and wind, darkness, an hour and a half drive, a motel where the power keeps fluctuating due to the storm, and a robotics tournament tomorrow.

Actually, the kids are having a blast. They're in the hotel room playing D&D and just generally having a fun time. They've all worked so hard in the last two weeks, with robotics team practice several days in a row each week. Their research project is simply awesome (I'll share after the tournament) and their robot runs have been getting better and better (although as the team is largely young and pretty new to this, it's not quite as advanced as some teams will surely be.) More than anything, they're having fun and really enjoying the experience.

I'll update after the tournament tomorrow!

Our New FLL Robotics Team Blog

We've been up and programming (not to mention building, researching, and planning) with this year's FLL Robotics team. The team has chosen their new name: Veni, Vidi, Roboti (I came, I saw, I built a robot) and I've got a new blog up for the team with some photos and video of one of the challenges we build from the Mayan Adventure NXT book this summer. I'll be adding more as the team progresses into this year's Climate Challenge season.

One Step Ahead of Total Chaos

We leave for Atlanta in a week and one day! Having just got back from D.C. last weekend, and having a ton of stuff to do as the coach of a Team in Training triathlon team (a position I took on when I had absolutely no idea that our kids would end up going to this robotics World Festival thingie), and having our usual activities and homeschooling and all that, I feel like I'm just one step ahead of a gigantic rolling 8-Ball. I know once we get to the World Festival, it will be a total blast. The kids are very excited about meeting other teams from around the country and around the world, and they've been working very hard on their robot.

That's one thing I'm always excited and impressed with about our team. They're never content to just rest on their laurels, they're always trying to improve. When we won the Regional Tournament, our robot's top score was 230 points. We mostly won on the strength of our research project and our 100% teamwork score. At State, the kids had added programs and totally re-worked our table run, and the robot scored 290 points, which they were extremely excited about. Of course, the team that won state managed a whopping 400 points, wow. This last couple of weeks they have been working hard to implement two new missions, and that brings our best table run up to 325 points. We all know we won't be in the league of some of the incredible teams at Worlds, but I am very proud of them all for continuing to improve on their robot's performance and on the number of missions they're attempting. They are awesome!

Amazing News

If you've been reading this blog, you've seen the journey that we've taken this year with the FLL Robotics team that the kids are on (and that I've been coaching), the Solar Dragons. Well, we just found out this weekend that we have been selected to go to the WORLD Robotics Festival!!!!!! We will be one of 84 teams from the 10,000 around the world competing for 3 days in Atlanta, Georgia (I think in the Georgia Dome). I think one of the most exciting things about this nomination is how they were nominated. FLL has a set of “Core Values” that they promote among the kids participating in their robotics program. The values include working as a team, sharing their experiences with others, exhibiting “Gracious Professionalism” at all times, and honoring the spirit of friendly competition. There is a special process by which teams who exhibit exemplary core values can become nominated for a chance to compete at the FIRST World Festival. The Solar Dragons received just such a nomination, one of 12 given out in the world. Wow!!!! These kids are truly amazing.

Now, we just need some very very good thoughts and prayers that we can fundraise the money needed to get the whole team there and register them for the championships. Keep your fingers crossed for us, and if you know any individuals or corporations that might be willing to sponsor our team, let me know (the back of our team t-shirts is definitely up for some sponsors!)

Exciting News - Robotics!

I am excited to share two things about our robotics team today. One is this video slideshow I made chronicling our entire season so far. You can really see the heart and soul these teammates poured into meeting the challenges of the robotics competition:


The second thing I want to share is that out of 400 robotics teams in Oregon, our team has been chosen (along with another team) to represent Oregon in the selection process to attend the World robotics championships!!! The selection is based on your team exemplifying the "Core Values" of FIRST Lego League:
• We are a team.
• We do the work to find the solutions with guidance from our coaches and mentors.
• We honor the spirit of friendly competition.
• What we discover is more important than what we win.
• We share our experiences with others.
• We display gracious professionalism in everything we do.
• We have fun!

Our team was recommended by the teamwork judges at the competitions to be nominated, and the kids had to write an essay answering six questions about these core values and how our team worked. From this process, they were chosen to represent Oregon. Now their essay (along with those from 200 teams around the world) will go on to the World selection committee, who will choose 10 teams to attend the World festival based on these Core Values nominations.

Please keep those fingers crossed for us! Our team has been simply amazing this year, and these kids have been awesome and worked so hard and are such great teammates. I am so proud of them over this nomination!!!

Robotics State Tournament

Wow, if you have any kids (or are yourself) interested in engineering, technology, or robotics, or just want to be impressed by the minds of young people, find one of these FIRST Lego League state tournaments and go to it. What you'll see is dozens of teams of young people who have taken the exact same challenges and built an amazing array of robot styles, shapes, programs, and attachments to complete these challenges. It was so cool to see how each team approached the design differently. And not just the robot design, but how it went about the missions, whether it combined them, had attachments that worked for multiple missions, or came back to base for attachment changes and sending out again.

The robot table competition was in a big gym, with six tables going at all times. Two of them appeared on the big screen at the back of the gym, which was great because you could really see the details on all of these different robots up close, and how they approached their mission objectives. The kids also thought it was pretty cool that they got to be on the big TV screen.

Our team did really well, with the most exciting moment coming on their first table run. Every one of their robot's ten missions executed flawlessly, with the last mission being accomplished just at the ring of the 2 1/2 minute final buzzer. This gave them a table score of 270, the highest they've ever achieved. Given that some of these programs were written in the weeks between the regional competition and the state championships, they were very excited to have such a perfect showing. Their top score at regionals had been 220, so this was a big leap up. Of course, the other teams here were also all regional champions, so some teams posted scores as high as a perfect 400. Still our team scored in the top 1/3 of all the teams there, and I consider that exceptional for their first time at State.

Their research presentation, teamwork judging, and technical judging all went well, and as usual I was impressed by the poise and hard work that all of the kids exhibited in these intense environments. At the end of the day, they won an award for robot reliability, which is quite an honor. I know the kids would've liked to win some big overall award, but I think they did very well to be there at State and getting an award at all was icing on the cake. Next year, they'll have a much better idea of what areas they need to focus on if they're going to perform even better, but right now I couldn't be more proud!