On Saturday, January 6th, FIRST® Robotics Competition teams from all over Alberta met at SAIT to view the live broadcast of the 2018 Game Reveal and Kick Off!
2018 Game Release and Kick off, hosted at SAIT Calgary, AB
FIRST POWER UPSM finds FIRST® Robotics Competition teams trapped in an 8-bit video game. Each three-team alliance has three ways to help defeat the boss: Tipping the scale or the alliance’s switch in their favor to earn points, exchanging power cubes for power ups (force, boost, and levitate) to gain a temporary advantage during the match, and climbing the scale tower to face the boss. The alliance with the highest score at the end of the match, which includes autonomous and teleoperated periods, defeats the boss and wins the game.
Over the next six weeks, teams will design, build, program, and test their robots to meet this season’s engineering challenge. Once their robot is built, teams will participate in the Canadian Rockies Regional at the Genesis Centre in Calgary, to compete against teams from USA, Mexico, Turkey and Germany.
If you missed the live broadcast you can still watch the full details below or check out FIRST® Robotics Competition YouTube Channel for the video playlist of the FIRST POWER UPSM Challenge.
On December 2nd, 2017 FIRST Robotics Society hosted the first ever Auto-Nation Invasion practice competition at SAIT in Calgary, Alberta. This event included all four levels of FIRST®.
FIRST® LEGO® League Jr. showcased their AQUA ADVENTURESM progress on their Team Model and Show Me Board. Thank you to Ultra Master Water Surfers (Team 11227) and Ultra Mega Golden Dragons (Team 12225) of Calgary, Alberta for coming out and showing off their surfing simulator and dog park fountain. Fantastic innovations on both projects!
FIRST® LEGO® League teams began their very first challenge of the HYDRO DYNAMICSSM season. LEGO® EV3 bots navigated throughout an exciting field of challenges such as pipe removals, man-hole covers, water treatment, collection and applications. What an incredible turnout with 10 teams! Thank you to Aqua Narwhales, MicroWave, Prehistoric Programmers, Nose Creek Kodiaks, Bragg Creek Robotics, University of Calgary The Spray and Unicorns of the Sea, Okotoks Waterlords, Blue Tech & H20 for your participation!
(Photo by Lydia Sobschak/SAIT)
Four teams with FIRST® TECH Challenge came to test their robots in this head to head challenge. SWAT Bots, Data Wolves, Canmore OLS & Xplorobotics showed off their Relic Recovery skills by scoring glyphs into the cryptoboxes and completing rows,
column, and ciphers, transferring relics to the recovery zone, retrieving jewels, parking their robot on the balancing stones, and navigating to specific parts of the playing field!
The highlight of the day was the FIRST® Robotics Competitions BetaBots Challenge. Teams competed against each other in this first ever Pollen Action event. Thank you to all teams who came out to compete, and Congratulations to Team 5630, the Nomads on winning first place this unique competition!
(Photo by Lydia Sobschak/SAIT)
(Photo by Lydia Sobschak/SAIT)
Quality Award for superb execution went to Team 6351, Rundle College whose machine was built with an exceptionally thought out and detailed plan in mind.
(Photo by Lydia Sobschak/SAIT)
Innovation in Control Award went to Rookie Team 7277, Mandela Robotics for solid programming, innovating while addressing the game’s challenge and building a reliable robot able to withstand the stress of competition.
(Photo by Lydia Sobschak/SAIT)
Creativity Award went to Team 1482, Grandin Ghosts. This team created this device/strategy rather than discovering it once the robot was built. This team was also the highest ball shooter of the day.
(Photo by Lydia Sobschak/SAIT)
Judges Award went to Team 4733, Scarlett Robotics whose perseverance shined when it came to troubleshooting their robot. This circumstance showed that the team fully embraced the principles of FIRST®, thereby catching the judge’s attention.
Thank you to everyone who came out to enjoy this incredible event! A very special thank you to our sponsors DOW, SAIT & the Government of Alberta, whose generous contributions continue to help us to inspire young people to become the science and technology leaders of tomorrow!
How often are children told to wash their hands or drink lots of water? Probably pretty often. Many have easy access to swimming pools, fountains, fresh water lakes, some even have the ocean right in their backyard. Unfortunately it’s a sad reality that accessible clean water is a luxury to many parts of the world.
So how do we teach young people to appreciate such a valuable resource when their accessibility to water is literally at the turn of a tap?
You let them discover the journey.
In FIRST®LEGO® League Jr., students learn about a very special outdoor play apparatus in South Africa called a PlayPump. In the communities where these were built, children are able to play on this practical merry-go-round that pumps water out of the ground and into a holding tank. From there, a tap can be opened so the community can access this clean water supply when needed. Students find out the benefits of this invention, and also the challenges that it faces. Furthermore, they learn that this isn’t a one step process.
In conjunction with their Inspire Model (a LEGO Water Pump), students build the different stages that water travels in order to get to where it can be used.
Team 11227 PlayPump/Water Journey
Team 11227 PlayPump/Water Journey
Team 12225 PlayPump/Water Journey
Team 12225 PlayPump/Water Journey
Next on their Aqua Adventure, students will choose a water use that they’ll focus their team model around!
Are you interested in becoming a coach or mentor? It’s not too late start a FIRST LEGO League Jr. team. Email us at mentors@frcwest.com today!
Getting pumped for the FIRST® LEGO® League Jr. 2017/2018 season? In the AQUA ADVENTURESM Challenge, more than 40,000 children will navigate the uncharted waters of this most valuable resource. In British Columbia and Alberta we have a combined total 31 FIRST LEGO League Jr. teams. On behalf of FIRST Robotics Society of western Canada, I’d like to extend a very warm welcome to all, especially to those volunteers, mentors and coaches who without your contribution, this program would not be possible.
FIRST LEGO League Jr. (FLL Jr.) is a non-competitive, hands-on, STEM based program designed for children ages 6 – 9. It is the first of four programs offered by FIRST. It sets the foundation for students to learn basic engineering and programming skills while igniting their creativity by using LEGO as their medium. Students are presented with a real world challenge and guided using research, critical thinking, teamwork, gracious professionalism and of course fun!
This week some of our teams learned about FIRST Core Values and built a LEGO water pump which they will incorporate into their final team model.
FIRST LEGO League Jr. Team 11227FIRST LEGO League Jr. Team 12225
This is sure to be an exciting season! Please stay tuned for more and don’t forget to follow us on our social media!
