States - We went to Manchester and back...

Team Member Avery is going to post about states....

Victory Dance!

Fib 4 style!  A little victory dance after winning second place overall out of 27 teams in the 2012 regional FLL meet at Dartmouth College!

Our FLL Robot

Features:

• Attachment arm
• two color sensors
• nxt brick
• 4 wheels
• main body
• lining up bumpers

Teaching the NXT Generation

Our Robotics Class at the AVA Gallery in Lebanon, NH.  As a team we taught a robotics class to 6 and 7 year olds on robotics and First Lego League.  We teamed up with one Fib 4 member to each student.

Passing on our knowledge of FLL to the "NXT Generation"!

Earlier this week we taught a class to some 6-8 year olds on robotics. They learned about generators, programming, and building. There were many different skill sets. Some kids were able to work on their own and others needed help. It was very fun yet challenging to teach such young kids. We will post more on future classes.

Tip for making your robot go straight!

Getting the robot to go straight is tough and frustrating! If you can't get your robot to go straight reliable, everything that follows will just be irritating.  Not all NXT motors are the same.  We suggest running tests to see which motors are matched.

One such test its to connect two motors with a single axel, run them and if one kicks up they are not matched.  For our team we have about 12 motor combinations to test.  We didn't test them all, we stopped when we reached a pair that were matched.

The New Challenge

Thoughts from last year's FLL season

FLL ROBOT ISSUES/TIPS/SUGGESTIONS/WORK FLOW

The first thing is to test to see if your robot goes straight. Everything else follows.

Second - figure out how to make a consistent 90 degree turn and share it with the group.

Stop the insanity! If you don't start at the exact same place every time, don't expect the results to be the same.

First things to check before running a mission. Is the battery fully charged? Have you checked the robot to see if its sturdy, the wheels are aligned, everything is plugged in, the mat is flat, the playing field is set up?

Program one step at a time, don't change more than one thing at a time.

Don't “fix” things that are working just because it doesn’t work once.

Don’t be a "robot hog". Only the person who will be running the mission at the competition should be lining up the robot and pushing the button.

Keep your programs organized and don’t forget to save them with a backup.
Don't delete anything. Save it as a different name.

If you want to "improve" an attachment or program - Make a copy of it. The proof is in the pudding - have a contest to see which one is better. 

Once an attachment is finished - put it in the vault (envelope) , so it doesn't get taken apart by accident.

Learn fast - find out if something is not going to work early so you can try something else. 

Time is real. There is only a certain amount of time available and at some point you just have to go with what you have. The day of the competition is not the time to be making changes.
Respect the work of others. Don't come in after missing a meeting and start questioning the work of others. Don’t touch anyone else’s attachments or programs unless you have their permission.

Before making a change to the program. Run the mission a few times. Figure out if it really is a problem with the programming or something else.

Is the robot running/turning too fast? Too fast and the wheels slip.

Learn the difference between “braking” and “coasting”

Make and use a measuring device to measure rotation and speed up your programming time.

Use alignment jigs and the game board to your advantage to line up your robot.

Learn to use sensors and incorporate sensors into the robot’s design 

Be willing to give up your ideas if the team has a better one. The goal is for the team to do well, not for your individual idea to be used. If you are convinced your idea will work better - prove it.

Think stupidly simple. Think about the quickest, easiest way to accomplish tasks. There are not points awarded for complexity.

Focus on the tasks you have been assigned. When you have mastered your missions then you can help others.

Learn from watching other teams but don’t copy them. How do you know what they are doing is any better than your ideas? 

Get down to “points per second” analysis to judge which missions to complete.

The shirts look great!

Robotics Club Repairs 55 XOs, Maybe a New Record!

Here is a blog entry about the Fibonacci Four heroic service project:

"In May, I received a pallet of XO-1's from OLPC's Dallas warehouse. Most of these are G1G1 XOs that people re-donated for projects in Haiti, in response to the letter that Nicholas N sent out, shortly after the earthquake. Many of that cache had already been distributed to Haiti projects, during the past 2 years. But there were still a bunch in storage. 
Each re-donated G1G1 XO needs to be cleaned up, checked out and reflashed to the latest software build. Then, as the Conributors Program approves applications, these XOs will be ready for children in Haiti! 
I don't know why these were still in storage, but I had space enough to work with them and offered to get them into shape for distribution from the new "OLPC NH volunteer satellite office...."

Read more: http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nsevers/4/1343215223/tpod.html#ixzz21eqdhctw

READ MORE

"Fibonacci Four T-shirt" T-Shirts & Hoodies Now Available

"Fibonacci Four T-shirt" T-Shirts & Hoodies | Redbubble:
Now available in t-shirts and hoodies!  The brand new official  Fibonacci Four Team logo printed on your choice of colored t-shirts and hoodies.

For each purchase twenty percent is donated to the team for support.

XO Computer Steps of fixing Video

Look at this video we made! It shows all the steps needed to fix an XO computer.

Learn Robotics with the Fib Four!

The Fibonacci Four robotics team will  be offering a five week class at the AVA Gallery in Lebanon after school in October.  This course will be a basic introduction to Lego Robotics for younger kids with one on one instruction from seasoned First Lego League eight graders.

Youth Robotics

Ages 5-8

September 18 - October 16; Tuesdays, 3:30-5:30pm; Five 2-hour classes

AVA Gallery and Art Center

11 Bank Street

Lebanon, NH 03766

(603) 448-3117

www.avagallery.org

Xo Service Project for One Laptop Per Child

We had to disassemble the computers, unbrick them, reassemble them and reflash the hard drives.

We fixed 55 XO computers for kids in Haiti!

The XO computers are designed to be rugged, inexpensive and durable.

Twelve screws to get inside the laptops for repair.  We only lost a couple.

A fixed XO laptop ready to be shipped to third world schools.  Without our help these computers would just have sat on a shelf unused.

We recently traveled to Nancie Sever's house, she helped us to help others in third world Country's to have computers. She also fed us a wonderful lunch!

Donate to OLPC

- Fib Four

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Background:
Do you have a XO computer in your closet not being used?  The story behind these computers that we fixed is that years ago many people took part in the one for one promotion.  If you bought a XOcomputer, one would be donated.  Well, a lot of people played around with their XO and then put them in the closet.  Two years ago when the earthquake struck Haiti, a plea went out for computer donations.  People sent then to a collection area in Texas but the problem was the computer either had dead batteries or had been "timed out" or "bricked" because they were old and hadn't been updated.  For two years these computers sat, never making it to Haiti.  Until Nancie Sever and the Fib Four fixed them!


Something that might seem like a toy to people used to the latest, greatest computer gadgets, don't always understand the impact this technology these computers can have in impoverished countries.  Some of the applications on the computers are things like games that teach kids to avoid land mines, learning to read, write, math and communication apps.


Consider this Rwanda student's project on an XO -  "I am doing a documentary project on how to avoid AIDS by collecting all the necessary information on the disease so that I can use it to teach my friends its dangers," explained Shyaka.


Computers are a powerful communication and educational tool that are not available to most impoverished areas. - Coach Ed

 Recently our team worked towards allowing people in other country's to have computers. We did this by fixing XO computers (to read more about them go to http://laptop.org/en/laptop/). These laptops are part of the one laptop per child project.
We took apart the laptops in order to allow them to be reprogrammed to fix any bugs. Our project is hardly over however because we were only able to take apart and reprogram 12 out of many. We hope to finish the job soon!

Here is a wonderful photo from our last meeting!

Did you know: 4 is not a Fibonacci number-here is the first few digits in the Fibonacci sequence
1,1,2,3,5,8,13...

New sponsor!

We have a new sponsor! Granite Value Capital has decided to turn from not only helping people invest to investing in us. To hear more about them look at our sponsor list on the right sidebar.

Thank for your donation!

Your support keeps this program going.

Are you a Senior Citizen? Take our survey ---->----/\

We are looking for input from Senior Citizens on our research project on the challenges faced by Senior Citizens. Click on the survey link on the right and let us know which challenges are most important to you. Please pass this link on to your Senior Citizen friends.

Thank you!

The Fibonacci Four!

Back for another year of robotics challenges from the First Lego League, its the Fibonacci Four!

Getting an early start - Research

Liam and Avery start working on the Senior Citizen survey.

Last Year's Robot Game - Regionals

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 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.