With the current temperature at the Onion Warehouse a brisk 42 degrees, it’s nice to spend the winter at the Education Center, at the county fairgrounds.
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Brrr…
Category: Updates
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2013 FLL Season Kickoff
The season is upon us for FIRST Lego League!
We will meet for the first time this year on Saturday, September 7th. We will begin a 1pm with kids meeting with Erik in the Fair office building until 4pm and at 1:15 with parents meeting with Marlene in the Education Center for about a half hour. Please come prepared to complete 4-H membership paperwork (it will ask for insurance information). The fee is $5 per member.
The kids will start some research and finish building the elements of this year’s game.
Lots of information will be distributed and questions answered. New and returning parent(s)/guardian(s) please make every effort to attend this 30-45 minute session. If I have to repeat it several times, I may forget whom I told what. 🙂 I will also ask, if you have a question that can be asked at the meeting, please write it down and bring it with you.
The build season will start the following week with sessions on Monday and Wednesday 6:30 – 8:00 at the fair office. I include this information just in case it is absolutely not possible for someone to attend on the 7th.
If you would like to take an early look at what the theme and challenge are for this year, please go to the following link:
http://www.firstlegoleague.org/challenge/2013naturesfury
Returning parents: there will be some changes from last year… please come!
This is the “younger half” of the Orleans County 4-H robotics club. To join you must be at least 8 years old by 1/1/14. (Anyone entering 9th grade this September will move up to our FRC team) FLL team make up will be explained at the meeting.
We look forward to seeing everyone and having another championship season!!!
As we enter the summer, our younger Robotics Club members are gearing up for this fall’s First Lego League (FLL) Challenge “Nature’s Fury”.
This year, we’ve registered 2 FLL teams. Team 1071 and 1405. Each team will consist of up to 10 4-Hers (under the age of 14). During NATURE’S FURY teams will build, test, and program an autonomous robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS® to solve a set of missions in the Robot Game. In addition each team will develop a unique project to solve a real world problem.
If you have questions, or would like to find out more, please contact us. (E-Mail to “robotics” at “wiksclan.com”)
The FRC team is working on moving to a new website.
follow us at http://JoesAverageSlackers.com (now: https://frc4093.com/)
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Orleans County Robotics Calendar
We’ve wrapped up our first FRC season, but still have a number of activities for the rest of the year.
You can see upcoming events on the right-hand side of this screen, but perhaps you’d like to add the calendar to your phone (Android or iPhone).
here is the link to the “ICS” format calendar:
https://lego.wiksclan.com/calendar.ics
Instructions for adding the calendar to an iPhone.
Android phones should be able to “subscribe” to our calendar from your google calendar (under “other calendars” on the left hand side of the screen, select “add by URL”, and enter the URL: https://lego.wiksclan.com/calendar.ics )
And though “slacker” is often considered an insult or an accusation, some
choose to reclaim the term as a sign of creativity and resourcefulness.
According to Webster’s Dictionary, a slacker is “a person who shirks work or obligation.” But lest we allow Webster’s to be the be-all and end-all of the English language, urbandictionary.com has a different definition; “a person who chooses the path of least resistance.” More, “a slacker is someone who, while being intelligent, doesn’t really
feel like doing anything.” And even, “a nice person to chill with.” Slackers, it’s clear, have a knack for inertia and a way with “nothingness.”
…The term then resurfaced in the early ’90s as a way of branding those who willfully
eluded work or school. Slackers became the “loadies” of “Clueless,” the stoners of Harold and Kumar,” and the Jacks of the “Will and Grace” set. While there are several forms of slackerdom, the common ground is a commitment to willfully disregarding societal conventions and living life free of the constraints of consumerism and corporate America.
Sarah Dunn, author of the “Official Slacker Handbook,” notes that, “a lot has been said
about the slacker’s trademark indolence, but the point must be made that deliberately opting out of socially-recognized forms of activity isn’t the same thing as stumbling into inaction.” In other words, Dunn argues, slacking off isn’t just laziness–it’s pointed laziness with a philosophical basis.
These days, some of our most famous thinkers would be considered slackers. After all, Thoreau lived comfortably at Walden while only working six weeks a year and Descartes devised Cartesian geometry while hanging around the streets of Holland.
Revised from information found at: http://vintage.gurl.com/findout/
Just over 111 days ago, I knew very little about the FIRST FRC program. Now in just 11 days it is KICK-OFF for “Joe’s Average Slackers” – Orleans County’s premier robot building team. The rookie FIRST team 4093!
Over the last few months we have researched the web, drawn from the expertise of regional reps, gotten lucky, and worked hard to build a team of HS aged students and Adult mentors that are about to embark on a challenge in which they will discover the varying degrees of success. No matter the outcome of the competition, we already have a team of winners!
There is a lot of work to do over the next 8 weeks. I wish you all the best as you conquer the challenge. I am proud to work with all of you already!
LET’S DO IT!!
October 24, 2011
A recap of tonight….what was said and what I wanted to say!
FLL — First Lego League (4th to 8th grade)
FRC— First Robotics Challenge (9th to 12th grade – there are some exceptions based onconversations with parents and students regarding the rules)
OUR WEBSITE AND BLOG ARE LOCATED AT https://lego.wiksclan.com/ (for information about FRC see https://frc4093.com/ ) PLEASE go there and sign up to receive updates!!!!! It is the best way to get information out BETWEEN meetings.
SPONSORSHIP
Sponsorship is everyone’s responsibility.
We need about $5000 to support our upcoming FLL team(s). We also need nearly that to support the FRC team’s endeavors that are coming up fast. Every donor counts! Ask everyone, for any amount! Contributions are tax deductible since they will go to the Cooperative Extension to be used by us. They are an exempt 501 (c) (3) corp.
Our first sponsor is an in-kind donation of rental space for the FRC build.
The second Sponsor is purchasing an NXT kit for the FLL.
It is amazing what you can accomplish by just asking. I am happy to help you with the brochures or if you are asked questions that you would like help with give them my contact info, or have me call them. robotics@wiksclan.com . (I am Marlene Seielstad)
FLL For Now
For Now, the FLL group will meet once a month and learn some build and programming skills. The challenge for them will not roll out until Sept. 2012.
In the plans:
- Building a “field” Does anyone have a 4×8 sheet of plywood to donate? ½ or ¾ (better) inch thick? Pieces of 2×4 4ft or 8ft long?
- A field trip to a local FLL competition, if it can be arranged.
- Kids to participate in Public Presentation Days in February (presentations are part of the FLL competition)
- We believe we will have the 2011 challenge board in early December (Hand me down from another team)
- They will meet once a month for now.
- I promise to give them more attention once the FRC team and mentors are in place (since there roll out is Jan 7th – yikes!)
FRC—
First—- Can anyone go on Saturday (this week 29th)? I know it is short notice. As of now we have one car leaving to go for the day and one car that will go for the afternoon. We have room. Mentors and team members that can make time WILL learn a lot, guaranteed. More info is at http://www.ruckus.penfieldrobotics.com/ruckus-information/
We have a ton of stuff to do!
We need:
- A Name (ie; Orleans Storm, First Team 4093)
- A shirt Color (green, red, purple, pink…get it)
- A logo for us.
JANUARY 7TH NEEDS TO BE ON YOUR CALENDAR
We need to plan a build schedule:
FRC–FEED BACK PLEASE
I would like to schedule with the least amount of conflicts for everyone and the sooner we nail down the build schedule the better. Other teams have a schedule that is 2.5 hours on weekdays and 6 hours on Saturday. Does that work for us? Do we want 2 hours and 7 hours. I need your input and then will create something that works so everyone can come most of the time. Information regarding how early you can arrive and how late you can stay would be helpful. If you have a commitment on a specific day of the week, what time?
I know that everyone will not make every meeting, but if you can make most of them, or come late or leave early… Scheduling will be the hardest part, but we still want everyone to participate to whatever level they are able. During the build we will
do time cards so that when positions are selected for competition we will have
a deciding factor if we need it. Hours spent doing work at home and documented will count also.
Team Members should:
Become familiar with www.usfirst.org go to the FRC tab and look around. Look at past challenge info. READ, READ, READ…
We have some awesome mentors that have signed up to help, with a fabulous set of skills!! Thank you in advance for your willingness and availability!!!!
MEETING SCHEDULE:
EVERYONE: Shifts during the afternoon of December 3rd to be determined at Meeting 11/15
FLL:
Tuesday, November 15th Education Center Classroom, 7:00-8:30pm
Monday December 12th, December Education Center Classroom, 7:00-8:30pm
FRC:
Thursday, November 3rd Education Center Classroom, 6:30-800pm
Tuesday, November 15th Education Center Classroom, 7:00-8:30pm
Monday, November 28th Education Center Classroom, 7:00-8:30pm
Wednesday, December 7th Education Center Classroom, 7:00-8:30pm
Monday December 12th, Education Center Classroom, 7:00-8:30pm
We will be picking a couple of meeting times over the Holiday break to set up the build site, when we can be there for a few productive hours.
FRC—JANUARY 7TH ALL DAY!!!
PLEASE email me with any questions or comments. The meeting schedule uses different days; we are trying to see what works best for everyone.
WOW!!
This is the first of, what I assume will be many posts to this blog. It seemed that it might be better to let you check on your own rather than fill your email boxes with messages every time something great happens.
What has happened since September 26th? Alot!
I made a great contact with a gentlemen from FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of science and Technology) we had a face to face meeting and he made some very good points as to why we should go FRC rather than FTC with the older kids. It boils down to the location of the events, we would spend just as much traveling to compete as we will on the bigger robot. Then he completed the JcPenney Grant application (that we thought we had started) and suggested to them that we would be a match for their Batavia Store (we meet the criteria, ie distance) He hopes we will hear about that next week. That is a $6500 grant for rookie teams. If that does not go through, he has $5000 grants available to us. Locally teams are using 8-10K per year on this program so we will need to come up with 3-5K more in sponsors. Mr. Pearson and possibly a mentor from a CCHS team will be joining us at the October meeting.
We have contacted Sigma and I am in the process of writing another grant application. I will have a Sponsorship plan to present at the next meeting, I just need to find time between emails and blogs to set it up. 
I am also fairly certain that we have a shop donated for us to work on “the build” portion of this challenge. I am also talking with an engineer friend from Rochester to see if he knows any engineers willing to volunteer to help the kids in January and February. The build time will be January 7- February 21st.
LEGO NXT kids…. YOU HAVE NOT BEEN FORGOTTEN!
There will be 4 or 5 NXT kits at the October 24th meeting, you will be building some simple robots THAT NIGHT! The plan right now is to register you with FLL later on. The FIRST rep that I am working with believes he can have the challenge stuff donated to us after the Rochester qualifer so we will have all year to get sponsors and such to sign up our rookie team(s) next year. Bring your friends!
I encourage you all to come with the same excitement you had when you left a couple weeks ago. GOOD STUFF IS HAPPENING. It is just happening so fast it is hard to keep you all “in the loop”
I know I said this before…..but WE NEED A NAME(S)!!!! Brain storm names! Words like: Thunder, lightning, Orleans, Head, Heart, Hands, Health, 4-H, Blizzard, Raiders, Flash, Storm, Power….You get the idea…. String a couple words together and you have a suggestion. Write them down and bring them with you. The FRC and FLL can each have a different name if you decide that is what you want!