Friday, December 2, 2016

FLL Team Startup IV

If you're a new coach, things will start coming at you fast after the FSK and mission models are all set up.  This for me was where it began to hit the fan and scatter a bit.

The one piece of low hanging fruit on the Animal Allies 2016 board for us seemed to be the Shark Shipment, so we began with that.  I had a basic working knowledge of the EV3 programming blocks and the team had very little so we began with pseudo code based on a Mission-Task-Movement format.

Ex:  Shark Shipment

  • Move Forward to 1st black line
  • Move Forward to 2nd black line
  • Turn XX degrees to right (compass helped)
After this was lined out a bit, we filled in the spaces with what types of sensor inputs we would look for, what type of motor command blocks we would use, what types of turns we should use and other strategy issues.  Since this is a first year team of 5th graders I'm trying to help them stay on board with the KISS principle.  They've watched youtube videos of behemoth bots cleaning the table in 2-3 runs, but I've assured them that those teams have quite a bit more experience with the bots, design, and programming options.

In the time that I've been able to watch other teams this season, I've seen other teams chasing these style bots and multiple missions on one program meet with gigantic piles of frustration and penalty points.  The first experience watching other teams was at the CowTown Throwdown earlier this season.  It's a great event and the kids had a blast.  They were able to see what other teams were able to accomplish as well as see some FTC competition.  It was free this year for FLL teams, but with 16 slots, I heard it was hard to get in.  I was a bit shocked at the advanced stuff that some of the other teams were trying to do.  Sometimes the programs worked and most times they didn't, but man, they were learning a lot and crashing the field models.  As a coach who wasn't on duty, I tried to help other teams by asking them why they were trying what they were trying and even found myself having to referee a skirmish between two teammates over who got to hold the robot.

My next experience was helping out at another qualifier in my area.  This was a huge eye opener.  The Friday before the qualifier I was able to attend a referee meeting and get to see the area and a lot of the hard work that goes in to setting it up.  Nothing really prepared me for the event though.  It was like being in a busy train station with 500+ kids going every direction....and twice as loud.  I didn't really have a volunteer assignment, so I floated a bit near the practice table signup until I was asked to assist with the queueing area in the school's gym; the spot where your team checks in to wait on their time at the table for practice and competition rounds.  It's absolute chaos.

When you and your team queue up, be a few minutes early, have at least one person who knows the team name and number with the group, keep the team together, bring the bot in a box (not open carrying), and be prepared to hang out for a minute while the person gets you to the right queue spot.  The person you meet will be a volunteer who probably has no more information about the venue than you do and they'll have a schedule roster with cross-outs and substitutions on it from where a few teams backed out at the last minute (tossing a wrench into the works).  In a gym, this takes place in the middle of the basketball court in front of the spectators, so it's guaranteed to be a mess.  Bring some binoculars and get up high in the stands.

If you're a coach or a mentor, get out and volunteer at other qualifiers.  You'll have a better idea of what you're in for and your team will benefit from your knowledge of how things work....and it helps the organizers.




Wednesday, October 5, 2016

FLL Team Startup III

The FSK and EV3 robot arrived over a week ago and we're moving into the challenge and the FSK build phase.  The team is still trying to move out of book-report-on-my-favorite-animal mode and on to an animal interaction/solution that can be researched. It's slow going on that front, but not unexpected for a group of 5th grade students.

The FSK build is really fun for the team and we reserve it for the 2nd segment of the two hour meetings.  Once the pieces come out of the bag, the team is full throttle and works really well to get things done.

NOTE:  I thought that we'd be able to save a few dozen trees and not print out the instructions for the field kit build.  I couldn't have been more wrong on this.  Print out the instructions front and back in segments (like a book) so that there are no pages that crossover from bag #1 to bag #2.  It'll save you a good bit of time and frustration.

Friday, September 23, 2016

FLL Team Startup II

As the coach of a new team in the 3rd week of the FLL challenge and still without their FSK or their robot, I think the first thing that I'd tell another new coach is to REGISTER AND ORDER EARLY.    Especially before school starts.  If you're setting up your team to be affiliated with a 501c3, just plan on doubling that time and then check your order status every day after it's completed.  You have to email the document for the 501c3 to Lego and then someone has to go into the ordering system and the email system and link the two.  I learned this lesson the hard way after 3 wasted weeks and an hour or so on hold on two separate phone calls to Lego.

This year Lego decided to move their Education HQ from Pittsburgh, KS to Boston and it doesn't seem like things are ironed out just yet.  Having all of the schools and FLL teams ordering at roughly the same time shouldn't be a problem for the Kristiansens and I hope that they'll smooth the process a bit.

Some members of the team are headed to a workshop put on by Ms. Kidwell of the Learning Math & Science Club this weekend.  Her work is well organized and presented and we look forward to it being helpful.

Thursday, September 8, 2016

FLL Team Startup

The LW and I are coaching a First Lego League (FLL) team this fall.  We're affiliating the team with our daughter's Girl Scout Troop and will be combining the two at meetings.  Last week, this year's challenge was released and since we are newly formed, we're behind.  A bit of luck fell in our lap though when we realized that our daughter's middle school Industrial Arts class fields two teams of 7th/8th graders.  The class instructor is great and will be a solid mentor for the new team.

There are tons of information about FLL on their website and others, but that seems to be the one of the biggest problems as a new coach.  Finding information is really simple.  Finding useful information is rather time consuming.

Here's the link to the 2016 FLL Animal Allies Challenge.  First thing for new people:  Open each one of the links on that page in a new tab in your browser and save the Challenge Guide as a PDF on the computer that you'll use for organizing stuff.  By the third or fourth time you run in circles trying to find something, you may just break down and create a master link list like I did.

The team has their Animal Allies homework to do for this week.  They are to work on the questions in the Challenge Guide that begin on page 6.  They'll identify 1-3 animal interactions and we'll discuss problems with each during the next meeting.

My homework is trying to get funds together to get the challenge board designed/built, registration paid, EV3 kit purchased, a toolbox/organizer purchased, and begin fundraising grant work that'll keep the team outfitted and humming along.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

The Switch to Google Fi

Not Google Fiber, which we would like to come to our little town, but Google Fi as in a WiFi capable cell phone.  We were with Republic for years and liked the service.  It ran on whatever WiFi you were on at the time and the calls, after the first one of the day, worked well.  If you went out of range of a signal, it would switch over to a Sprint tower and you'd be off and running...most of the time.  We switched to Republic from Sprint PCS after having them for over a decade and it saved us over $100/mo on our bill.  That $1200/year has been nice to have around.

Basic service from Republic was around $25 and with Google Fi it jumped to $35.  The phone we picked from Google Fi is a 32G Nexus 5X.  It functions just like the phones from Republic, but instead of just dumping onto Sprint, it checks to see whether a TMobile signal is stronger at your location and choses the stronger signal.

The thing that killed us with Republic was the limited phone offerings.  We had the 1st gen Motorola MotoX.  It was a pretty good phone a few years ago, but it came with so much bloatware that you didn't have much room for apps.  The DefyXT that we stared with was even worse.  These phones are aging and have suffered normal wear.  Mine even hit the ground a few times and the screen finally shattered.  To replace the screen/digitizer on my MotoX would cost as much as a new phone, but there are only two Motorola phones offered and neither of them are setting the world on fire.  Republic has been chirping about "new phones are coming" for a long while and only yesterday did they announce an official list of phones.  It contains some of the same units used on Google Fi, but the pricing seems about 20% higher and there's still not a hard date on when they'll arrive, just a sign-up for notifications.

We're pleased with the Google Fi service and the 5X, even though it does have that USBC cord that nobody else seems to use, but that's easily remedied with adapters.  I've already picked up a case for it so that I can hopefully guard against my own clumsiness.

It's a good service for kiddos who are earning their first phone.  CP does the dishes and cleans catboxes for her $25 phone payment every month and is looking forward to her latest hand-me-down phone.

Friday, February 5, 2016

Subaru EJ25 EGR Plug








I scrounged all over for some specific info on the size plug that I'd need since I'm putting some EGR heads on a non-egr car.  Some said 16.5x1.5 on one and 19x1.5 on another.  Well, after ordering the 16x1.5 from Fastenal and seeing that they were way too small, I decided to just use an old EGR tube to make a couple of plugs.

I cut the tube ends with a sawzall and put one in the vice.  I chose a 5/8-18 thread since I couldn't really find a pipe tap that would work easily.  I'm guessing that a 3/8 NPT tap might have worked, but I can't confirm that.  I picked up a 9/16 drill bit to go with the tap.  It calls for something like a 37/64 drill bit, but good luck finding that.  I picked a 9/16 since it was close.

I started some threads after drilling and added pipe dope to the inner most threads on the plug and blue loctite on the outermost threads.  It doesn't look to bad and it's solid.

Since I'm using EJ25 EGR heads on a non-egr car, I didn't have to worry about a cover plate for the intake.