ROBOTS robots ROBOTS robots ROBOTS robots ROBOTS robots
FIRST LEGO League - Fall, 2011

This years theme:

Attend the Informational Meeting Tuesday, May 3, 2011 6:30 P.M.
at Rancho Rosal MPR 3535 Village at the Park Drive
Pleasant Valley Education Foundation
Team activity - Ages 9-14 Everyone is welcome to attend this meeting!
Questions? Contact Darren Patnoe (805) 444-8875 or DPatnoe@pvef.org
at Rancho Rosal MPR 3535 Village at the Park Drive.
Team Activity - Ages 9-14 Everyone is welcome to attend this meeting!

PVEF Robotics Roundup 2011
Welcome to ROBOTICS ROUNDUP!
Robotics Roundup is Pleasant Valley Education Foundations most exciting technology-based program, in which it provides Camarillos youth the opportunity to participate in FIRST LEGO League. 2011 will be the 4th year PVEF sponsors FLL teams throughout Camarillo.

FIRST LEGO League

PVEF sponsors teams from public schools in Camarillo. Each team will be formally registered with FIRST LEGO League (FLL). In 1998, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a non-profit organization, and the LEGO Group joined forces to create FIRST LEGO League. Now in its 14th year, FLL boasts over 17,000 teams in 56 countries. Thanks to thousands of volunteers and hundreds of companies, universities and professional organizations who support the teams, tournaments and operational partners around the world, FLL has grown steadily over the years, including 57% growth from 2007 to 2010. To find out more visit FLL at http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/fll/. The FLL Robotics program is designed to get children excited about science and technology, and teach them valuable employment and life skills. This program is an opportunity for students ages 9-14 to participate in a technology-based after-school activity which includes design, building, testing and programming of autonomous robots to accomplish challenge missions. The activity also includes a project in which the children create an innovative solution to a real-world problem. The project requires research, analysis and presentation. The FLL season culminates in one or more tournaments which give the teams exciting competitive opportunities.

2011 Theme:

Can FIRST LEGO League teams improve the quality of food by finding ways to prevent food contamination? In the 2011 Food Factor Challenge, over 200,000 9-14 year olds from over 55 countries will explore the topic of food safety and examine the possible points of contamination our food encounters from exposure to insects and creatures, to unsterile processing and transportation, to unsanitary preparation and storage then find ways to prevent or combat these contaminates. In the Food Factor Challenge, teams will build, test, and program an autonomous robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT to solve a set of Food Safety missions as well as research, develop, and share their innovative food safety solutions. Throughout their experience, teams will operate under FLLs signature set of Core Values.

Teams:

Teams may be made up of 3-10 students ages 9 to14. (typically 4 th 8 th Grades) They will probably meet once or twice a week. They can start meeting in the summer or as soon as they have a robot kit and software. Each team needs at least one coach and an assistant coach and/or mentor. Coaches do not need any technical experience. In FLL the children do all the work.
Team Sponsorship Process: PVEF will sponsor one (1) team per public school in Camarillo plus at least ten additional teams from the public school pool to be selected via a lottery, if necessary. PVEF team sponsorship will occur in the following order: 1. The only team formed at a school 2. The Principal selects the team 3. From a lottery among teams from the same school 4. From a lottery of unused sponsorships among all unsponsored teams from all schools Unused PVEF sponsorships will be available if a school does not field a team and as additional sponsorships become available. One team from each school will have use of the NXT robot kit and software provided with last years sponsorships. The new teams will be provided a new NXT kit and software. Sponsorships will be announced on or before May 31, 2011, on the PVEF website www.pvef.org.

PVEF will provide:

*1. LEGO NXT MindStorms Robot set (NXT set will remain property of PVEF but may be used by school as long as team is participating in FLL. New teams will be provided with new NXT set.) *2. MindStorms software (Teams continuing from 2010 already have software. New teams will receive software with NXT sets.) *3. Field setup kit *4. 2011 FLL registration fee *5. T-shirts for team, coach, mentor 6. Coaches Workshop 7. Robotics Camp 8. Camarillo Qualifying Tournament
(*Camarillo public schools only. Other local teams are welcome to participate in our workshops, camp and tournament.)

Teams will provide:

1. Coach 2. Mentor and/or Assistant Coach 3. Liaison with PVEF (if other than coach or mentor) 4. Laptop computer(s) with internet access for programming and research 5. Place to meet with space for 4' x 8' playing field, secure storage for robot set, partially completed robot and mission models 6. Table for field mat (may be constructed per instructions on FLLwebsite) 7. Optional additional robots and/or components 8. Tournament fees and expenses (PVEF will cover registration fee for November 19 tournament) 9. Secondary team sponsor(s) (to help with #6, #7 and #8) 10. Additional volunteers to assist with team and at least one volunteer to help with the November 19 tournament 11. Enthusiasm!

Activities:

All activities are done in accordance with the FLL Core Values: We are a team. We do the work to find the solutions with guidance from our coaches and mentors. We honor 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 in everything we do. We have fun!

Competition:

The teams compete in four areas: Technical: Robot Design (innovation, dependability, programming) Robot Performance (best score) Team Presentation: Teamwork (enthusiasm, problem-solving skills, etc.) Project Presentation (research quality, innovative solution, creative presentation)

2011 PVEF FLL CALENDAR

FLL Online team registration opens and Robot kits begin to ship PVEF FLL Informational Meeting Registration forms due to PVEF PVEF Coaches Workshop Registration for Robot Camp due Field Setup Kits begin to ship PVEF Summer Robot Camp Global Challenge released by FLL Challenge Kickoff Workshop Team T-Shirt orders due Team T-Shirts delivery (target date) Tournament applications Tournament season Local tournaments PVEF Camarillo Qualifying Tournament Los Angeles Region Championship FLL World Festival

More info: http://mindstorms.lego.com/ www.usfirst.org http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/fll/ www.pvef.org Carey Smith Darren Patnoe DPatnoe@pvef.org 444-8875 csmith1776@yahoo.com 388-3865
May 2, 2011 until September (subject to capacity) May 3 6:30 P.M. Rancho Rosal MPR May 27, 2011 June 4, 2011 (tentative) July 15, 2011 August 1, 2011 August (dates, times & location tba) September 2, 2011 September 3, 2011 10:11 AM - Noon (Camarillo location tba) September 19, 2011 October 8, 2011 Mid-October November December (Dates and locations tba) November 19 (tentative date) (Camarillo location tba) Date and location tba April 25-28, 2011 in St. Louis, Mo
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