Posts

Posted on

FLL Edmonton Wrap-up

I would like to begin by thanking the 500 students in over 50 teams, their teachers, parents and guardians along with over 300 hundred volunteers who attended and helped host our AMAZING First Lego League tournament, INTO ORBIT.  To see students from ages 9-14 tackle real-world problems and challenges such as space, and then work together to develop a solution made it such a wonderful event.  Of course, we can’t talk Lego robotics without mentioning the countless hours that teams put in designing, building, and programming complex robots that were able to complete a series of table-top challenges. 

As both a parent and teacher, I was left breathless when I saw the sheer passion that our young people applied toward what they have learned in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math, and as a result made it something unique to them, their understanding and their resiliency.  I was able to witness first hand, students working in challenges that they had never seen before and create a strategy that allowed them to achieve great success.  Additionally, those students were able to further their presentation skills when sharing their designing, building and coding strategies with our local volunteers who brought their own gifts and talents to share.  I would like to thank our volunteer guest judges, who brought their expertise from engineering, information technology, programming and coding, education, metrology, accounting, and so much more.  

Finally, a HUGE thank you to our organizational committee whose endless support and dedication was something out of this world. You are a great group of people and I am blessed to be on this committee with you.  Without everyone’s support this event would not have been possible.

John Korassa
Edmonton Director for FIRST LEGO League

Check out the following link for pictures of the event and the awards ceremony:
imagesalberta.smugmug.com/Other/2019-First-Lego-League

Posted on

Edmonton FLL Tournament

Edmonton FLL and FLL Jr.
Tournament Information

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to live on a spacecraft, the international space station, or the surface of the Moon or another planet? What if you were there for a year or more? Remember, outer space is a very unforgiving place: much of space is almost a complete vacuum, meaning there is no air, and none of the moons or other planets in our solar system have an atmosphere that is suitable for humans to breathe. 

In this season’s INTO ORBIT Robot Game, we’ll explore these questions and many more, and we’ll get to learn about the amazing engineering used to go – into orbit!!

This year’s Edmonton event will take place January 26, 2019.  Spaces are limited so sign up soon!

The Details

Posted on

FIRST Robotics Competition – 2019 Kickoff

When: JANUARY 5, 2019 @ 7:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Where: SAIT Aldred Centre Food Court
1301 16 Ave NW, Calgary, AB T2M 0L4

Who: Teams registered for this must have at least one adult mentor or coach that can sign for the Kit of Parts.  

What To Bring:

  1. A cart or dolly to transport your kit to your vehicle.
  2.  If picking up kits for other teams, copies of your surrogate forms.
  3.  Bring Photo ID if you are picking up a kit.

Agenda:

7:00 –7:45 AM Arrive and Check-in – SAIT Aldred Centre
7:45 – 8:00 AM Welcome and Announcements– Ice Breakers and Trivia
8:00– 8:30 AM Opening Ceremony
8:30 – 9:15 AM Broadcast: Live Webcast & Game Reveal
9:30 – 10:00 PM Kit Release
10:30 – 11:30 PM
 Kit Inventory
11:30 – 12:00 PM Team clean up and departure

PARKING:
Kick Off Parking:

Parking is available at any public lot in the SAIT campus for $7/day.  Information on parking is found here:  https://www.sait.ca/about-sait/campus/transit-and-parking

REMEMBER:

  • Make sure you have enough room in your vehicle for your passengers and your kit.  Rookie teams can expect two large totes.  They are heavy, so it’s recommended you have some form of dolly or cart ( or students with strong backs )
  • Kits can only be signed for by an adult mentor or coach listed on the team roster or a designated surrogate.

Lunch is available from PIZZA 73 in the Aldred Centre

CONTACT:

Craig Maynard   Craig@frcwest.com
Nicholas McCurry  Nick@frcwest.com
Dan Barrett  Daniel.barrett@sait.ca

Posted on

Field Element Shopping List from Frank Merrick

Hey FRC teams! Just in case you missed the email update from Franks blog, the shopping list for materials to build field elements is available!

Were you sitting around thinking “Boy, I wish I had another shopping list to deal with”? Well FIRST Robotics Competition is here to help! But we think you will actually like this one!

We heard from the community that you’d like to be able to purchase the raw materials necessary to build the team versions of the field elements before kickoff so you can be ready when the drawings get released. That made lots of sense. So, we’re publishing a list of the materials you will need to build wooden elements of the 2019 game now. Its link lives here, and you can access it directly here.

Please read the document carefully. You will see there are two versions of the list of materials, one for you to use if you think you will want to build a half field, one for you to use if you think you are more interested in a reduced build that should still cover the basics, but won’t be as representative of the competition field. Also, please carefully read the note in blue on the document. Even with the reduced list, we can’t guarantee individual teams may decide they don’t want to build everything they could with what they purchase. If money is especially tight, you may want to hold off until Kickoff and make your decisions then.

We’re sure these lists will be combed for clues. Good luck.*

Frank

Posted on

Robotics Summer Camp at SAIT!

Are you in grade 7 to 12?  Do you have an interest in robotics?  Look no further!!!

Advance your STEM skills and practice engineering fundamentals in this two-week robotics camp. Work together in a team and share innovative ideas to build a robot to solve real-world problems and compete in head-to-head competitions. Each team will use FIRST Tech Challenge principles and resources to design, build and program a robot for their team. Take what you learned in your team and apply it to a project of your own to take home and continue exploring the field of robotics.

No previous robotics knowledge or experience needed.

Click here to register today!