Dear Bloggers,

Yesterday GEP’s team, the ‘K9 Bots, ‘ competed in the Sydney Regional #1 First Lego League Competition. The team did a fantastic job and were awarded the ‘Team Work’ Trophy. Well done champs.

This year’s First Lego League season is ‘Animal Allies’ and involves three sections:

Core Values and Gracious Professionalism
Research project and Presentation
Robot games.

Core Values and Gracious Professionalism

This is what FIRSTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS………….The FLL Core Values are the cornerstones of the FLL program. They are among the fundamental elements that distinguish FLL from other programs of its kind. By embracing the Core Values, participants learn that friendly competition and mutual gain are not separate goals, and that helping one another is the foundation of teamwork. We are a team. We do the 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 honour 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® and Coopertition® in everything we do.

GP1 – Gracious Professionalism® – You are “Gracious Professionals.”
●● You compete hard against PROBLEMS, while treating PEOPLE with respect and kindness – people from your own team,
as well as other teams, and other countries.
●● Coaches and parents lead by example.
●● You build onto other people’s ideas instead of resisting or defeating them.

Here is the team carrying out their team work activity.

Robot Games

The robot games have many missions which vary in difficulty and number of points awarded. There are clearly defined rules and penalties. It is not possible to achieve all challenges so the students plan strategies for the missions they will accomplish. Arms and attachments must be designed to carry out the challenges and programs written. This is open ended problem solving at its best.

Under pinning this the Robot Games are developed and produced so students can:
• have fun with science and technology, gaining confidence, knowledge, and skill at the same time.
• practice taking risks and innovating in a team setting.

This is what our robot looked like

Here are some pictures of our team in action

At the Robot design judging the students explained their strategies, programming and robotic design to the judges.

Presentation and Research Project

This is what the students were asked to do:

Identify a Problem To begin your Animal Allies project, choose an interaction between man and animal and identify a problem with this.

Research and find out about the current solutions. Why aren’t the current solutions working? Why does this problem still exist?

Design an Innovative Solution to your problem. A solution that adds value to society by improving something that already exists in a new way or inventing something totally new.

Once you design your solution, share it!

Present Your Solution at a Tournament Finally, prepare a presentation to share your work with the judges at a tournament. Your presentation can include posters, slideshows, models, multimedia clips, props, costumes, and more. Be creative, but also make sure you cover all the essential information.

The K9 Bots dealt with the issue that domestic dogs are not getting enough exercise.