1. FIRST LEGO League Coaches Training for Teachers
MORIC – Spring 2012
Laurie Yager

2. Housekeeping Matters Snacks! Bathroom is across the hall
Soda and water available from machine in the break room, to the left at the bottom of the stairs
Lunch - Various options available in downtown Oneida

3. Workshop Topics
Fees, resources and materials needed to support an FLL team
An overview of the robot game and rules using last year's competition as a model
Programming and building resources to support your team's development of their LEGO robot

4. Workshop Topics
An overview of the research project and presentation including technologies that support specific aspects of the competition
An overview of the Core Values portion of the competition

5. Introductions: Name Grade level or subject area School district
Your experience with LEGO Mindstorms
Plans for FLL in your district

6. Welcome to FLL!

7. Explanation of FLL
FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is a robotics program for 9 to 14 year olds, which is designed to get children excited about science and technology -- and teach them valuable employment and life skills.
Teams, composed of up to ten children with at least one adult coach, program an autonomous robot (using the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® robot set) to score points on a thematic playing surface, create an innovative solution to a real life problem as part of a project, all while guided by the FLL Core Values.
The official FLL tournament in our area is held at SUNY IT in early December each year.

8. Starting an FLL Team Learn about the FLL competition
Form your team & register
Order your materials
Begin working on the challenge
Apply for a tournament
Attend a tournament and celebrate your season

9. FLL 2012

10. Senior Solutions
“Can FIRST® LEGO® League teams improve the quality of life for seniors by helping them continue to be independent, engaged, and connected in their communities? In the 2012 SENIOR SOLUTIONS Challenge, participants will explore the topic of aging and how it may affect a person’s ability to maintain his or her lifestyle – solving issues like getting around, keeping in touch, or staying fit. Teams will research obstacles and then suggest ways to improve the quality of life for the seniors affected.”

11. The Challenge has 3 parts:
Robot Game
Project
Core Values

13. Core Values We are a team.
We work to find solutions with guidance from our coaches and mentors.
We know our coaches and mentors don't have all the answers; we learn together.
We honor the spirit of friendly competition.

14. Core Values What we discover is more important than what we win.
We share our experiences with others.
We display Gracious Professionalism™ and Coopertition™ in everything we do.
We have FUN!

15. Robot Game
Team members build and program an autonomous LEGO MINDSTORMS robot to complete mission tasks
The missions are inspired by the Challenge theme
Missions require the robot to navigate, capture, transport or deliver objects on a printed mat (the Field)
The robot has 2 ½ minutes to complete as many missions as possible

16. Project
Through the project, teams learn more about the science behind the Challenge theme
Team members design a creative solution (or modify an existing solution) to solve a real-world problem
The theme is announced at tournament time the previous year
You can begin researching the theme as soon as it is announced

17. Help from Denmark: http://users-cs.au.dk/ld/fll/
Website includes sample building and programming instructions

18. Help from Denmark: http://users-cs.au.dk/ld/fll/
Website includes sample building and programming instructions

19. http://www.techbrick.com Practice Scoring Worksheets
Smart Phone App links
Field Setup Building Instructions
Programming Worksheets

20. http://firstlegoleague.org/ The Challenge and Resources
Team Resources
Excerpts from Coaches Handbook
Table building instructions
Coach Call recordings
Web links to various resources for fund raising, building, programming, etc.

21. LEGO WeDo

22. Getting Started Menu

23. 2. Gears What does the motor do?
What does the Motor That Way Block do?
Move your hand to show the direction the first gear is turning. The first gear is called the driver gear. Why do you think it is called that?
Move your other hand to show the direction the second gear is turning. The second gear is called the follower gear. Why do you think it is called that?
What do gears do?
Do these gears turn in the same direction or the opposite direction?

24. 3. Idler Gear
Move your hand to show the direction the driver (the first 24-tooth) gear is turning.
Look at how the other larger (24-tooth) gear is turning. Use both of your hands to show how the two larger gears are turning. Is it in the same direction?
Now look at the smaller gear in between. Use both of your hands to show in which direction the driver gear and smaller gear next to it are turning.
Notice the speed that the three gears are turning. Which ones are turning at the same speed?
The gear in between the two larger gears is acting as an idler gear. Idle means you are not doing productive work. Why do you think it might be called that?

25. 4. Gearing Down
The first gear, the driver gear, turns faster than the second gear. Why does the second gear, the follower, turn slower?
Gears have teeth that are meshed together. As the driver gear turns, the meshing of the driver gear teeth with the follower gear teeth causes them to turn together. You can think of the gears as moving in “tooth-steps”. The driver gear has how many teeth?
The follower gear has how many teeth?
If the driver gear turns once, how many “tooth-steps” does the follower gear turn?
How many turns must the driver gear make in order to turn the follower gear one time?
What do we call it when gears change speed from fast to slow?
What does the Motor On For Block do?

26. 5. Gearing Up What does the Motor On For Block 20 do?
How can you program the motor to turn on for three seconds? Try it!
For half of one second?
Why does the second gear, the follower, turn faster?
Gears move using the meshed teeth. The first gear has how many teeth?
The second gear has how many teeth?
If the first gear turns once, how many “tooth-steps” does it take?
So, how many “tooth-steps” must the second gear take to keep up?
If the first gear turns once, how many turns must the second gear make?
What do we name it when gears change speed from slow to fast?
How much faster is the second gear “geared up”?

27. Review of Mindstorms Kit

28. Brick
The robot's "brain!"

29. Helps your robot to “see.”
Light Sensor
Helps your robot to “see.”

30. Your robot’s “fingers!”
Touch Sensor
Your robot’s “fingers!”

31. Sound Sensor
Your robot’s “ears!”

32. Ultrasonic Sensor
Your robot’s “eyes!”

33. Let’s try out a sensor…
Plug the Ultrasonic Sensor into Port 4 on the Brick
Turn on the Brick by pressing the orange button
Use the right arrow to navigate to View and press the orange button
Use the arrows to navigate to Ultrasonic inch and press the orange button
Use the arrows to navigate to Port 4 and press the orange button
Watch the display change as you move objects toward and away from the sensor
When done, press the dark grey button to back up in the menu

34. The View option is also helpful with: Light Sensor – Reflected Light Motor Rotations/Degrees

35. Now, back to reviewing our parts…

36. Motor
Makes your robot move!

37. Your robot’s “nerve pathways!”
Cables
Your robot’s “nerve pathways!”

38. To build and hold the other parts together!
Misc Parts
To build and hold the other parts together!

39. Smart Board Activity
See “Misc LEGO Parts.notebook” file, courtesy of Allison Blackwell, MORIC

40. Misc Parts
Hubs
Axles
Bushings
Tires

41. Misc Parts
Connector Pegs
Rounded Beams
Axle Joiners

42. Some pieces have frictionNo
Friction
Friction

43. No Friction vs. Friction

44. Gears 101:

45. Excerpts from: http://www.isogawastudio.co.jp/
Wheels 101:
Excerpts from:

46. Let’s get building!

47. Build:
A- 2-Motor Car B – Add Light Sensor C – But Add Sound Sensor instead of Touch Sensor

48. Programming Review

49. A quick intro to the programming environment and the NXT brick…
Connect your computer to your NXT brick and click here.

50. Communications
When your computer is connected by USB cable (or Bluetooth) to your NXT brick, you can:
Give your NXT a new name
Check Battery level
View available memory (in KiloBytes)
Check your Firmware version

51. Memory
When your computer is connected by USB cable (or Bluetooth) to your NXT brick, you can:
Manage the items stored on your NXT brick
Programs
Sounds
Graphics
Unused files

52. LME NXT Opening Workspace
Robot Educator Tutorials
Program Blocks
Select a Program Name
Help Panel
Block
Settings

53. LME NXT Opening Workspace
Add Program Blocks here
Download your programs
Palettes:
Common
Complete
Custom

54. LME NXT Opening Workspace
Pointer
Grab Hand to move the display
Comments

55. Now let’s get to programming!
In the LEGO Mindstorms Education NXT software, let’s Start New Program, name it Program1 and click Go >>

56. You “build” your program by dragging the “blocks” onto the sequence beam

57. When you are finished writing your program, you need to download it to the “brick” of your robot by connecting the download cable and then clicking the Download button
Download

58. LEGO NXT Program Challenges
Program your Robot to…

59. Move Block

60. 1. “Don’t Know if I’m Coming or Going” Drive forward for 720 Degrees, then drive backward for the same distance.

61. 2. “Hurry Back Now!” Drive forward for 3 Rotations, and then drive backward for 3 Rotations, but faster.

62. Program your robot to travel from base to the rat mechanism and back

63. Wait Blocks

64. 3. “Stop That Robot!” Drive forward until you clap your hands.

65. Loop block

66. 4. “Moving to the Beat ” Drive forward for 1 Second, each time you clap your hands.

67. Add the Ultrasonic Sensor to your robot

68. 5. “Can’t Touch This” Back up a certain amount each time you move your hand toward it.

69. 6. “Don’t Make Me a Crash Test Dummy” Drive forward toward the wall but stop before it runs into it!

70. 7. “Don’t Invade My Space!” Drive forward until it reaches the black line, and then drive backward.

71. Program your robot to travel to the dining table and back

72. 8. “My Head is Spinning!” Drive in a circle.OR

73. 9. “You’re Such A Square” Drive in a square.

74. Sound Block

75. 10. “Have a Good Day” Drive forward, then say a greeting.

76. 11. “Music to My Ears” Play a tune.

77. Display Block

78. 12. “Lullaby and Good Night” Look and sound like he’s sleeping.

79. How might you use the Sound/Display blocks when programming your FLL robot?

80. 13. “I’m Such an Overachiever” Explore some of the other challenges in the Robot Educator, or see if you can create a new challenge from the skills you’ve learned in the earlier challenges.

81. Line Following Program - #17 in Robot Educator

82. Use the Line Following program to navigate to some part of the FLL playing field

83. What connections do you see from the building and programming process to your curriculum?

84. Some Useful Links:
Fun projects for your LEGO Mindstorms NXT -
Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Academy - ndex.htm
LEGO-ED-West -
The Tufts Center for Engineering Educational Outreach -

85. “Write It, Do It” Activity
The “writer” will go to another room where they will receive a “contraption” built of LEGO bricks.
The “writer” needs to write a description of the contraption for the “doer” using only written words, without the use of any symbols, drawings or diagrams.
There is no communication between the “writer” and the “doer” during the activity.
Save for team building exercises topic

86. Tips for the Writers Write instructions in steps
Be as specific as possible
Use comparisons in your descriptions

87. Tools for strategizing, brainstorming and collaborating
Wallwisher -
Example -
Bubbl.us -
PB Works -

88. Searching for ideas and strategies
On YouTube, search “first lego league 2011 food factor”
Also search “first lego league channel”, click Channel, then click FIRST LEGO League Solutions
To capture the video for offline use:

89. Requests/suggestions for our next session?