What do suburban kids with engineer dads do for fun? They join a FIRST Lego League Robotics Team! Little K doesn't have an engineer dad, but she likes to build things, so I encouraged her to check out the team. There was a lot of interest, so names were drawn to determine who would make the team. 8 names were pulled from a bag and Little K was the last name drawn. All the others on the team were boys. And surprise, surprise, most of their dads were engineers!
Using specialized kits designed by Lego specifically for competition, the kids built a robot with a programmable "brain" and various electric motors. Programming language was learned on the computer, mathematical calculations were honed, and degrees of turns were determined. There were over a dozen "Missions" to be completed on the mat: push that lever and retrieve those items; scoop those things and deposit them there; knock that and pick up this; hook this and flip that.
What was the most efficient way to accomplish as many tasks as possible? Design an arm for the robot, a scooper, and a rake. Tweak the programming. Try it again. Try it for the 98th time. Eventually, some small success... quick - save that program and don't let anyone adjust it further!
We met in someone's garage 2 nights a week for several months. Closer to the competition we were meeting 3 to 4 nights a week. It was INTENSE. First of all, at times it felt like there were "too many cooks in the kitchen." All these brilliant young minds, all eager to be THE ONE to perfect the programs before anyone else. It was hard to keep them working as a team, and not in competition with each other.
And then there were the dads, of which I was one (honorarily -- my husband had NO interest in volunteering for this circus). After 5 years with Girl Scouts, I thought boys must surely be less chatty and easier to lead that girls. They all had an intense interest in the subject matter, so certainly they'd be attentive, right? Oh my, was I wrong. There were several boys on the team who were nonstop talkers and would not listen when the coach was giving instruction. There was pushing and shoving. There was yelling and throwing. I spent most of the time biting my tongue, waiting for the dads to take command and bring the boys in line. Finally, one night, when a group of boys was having a shouting match while the coach was giving important instructions about the upcoming competition, I lost it. I rose from my chair and told those boys how disrespectful they were being. One boy looked like he was going to cry. There was complete silence after that, and I felt bad for dressing them down, but the coach resumed speaking and the rest of the meeting went smoothly.
Part of the competition is a research project, which unfortunately took a lot of time and wasn't all that relative. The task was to identify a food safety issue and "invent" something to correct it. The invention could be totally ridiculous, and for our team, it was. After much argument, the team decided on raw sushi fish and how to keep it from colonizing with bacteria, especially at conveyor belt sushi bars. We had to take a field trip to a restaurant for research. I thought it was rather hilarious that we had a spanish-speaking sushi "chef" talking to the kids -- his command of English was quite poor, and he had no idea how to answer most of the questions the kids had prepared. Anyhow, the "invention" the kids came up with was a laser "pen" that could be shined on the fish to show if bacteria was present. They didn't have to actually make such a thing, just think it up, and of course explain it to the judges at the competition.
So here are the kids during their presentation to the judges at the competition. They had to present in a skit form, and they pretended to be in the "Cash Cab" TV game show answering food safety questions. The judges were not impressed. Oh well, neither was I, really. What a waste of time and a motivational nightmare for the coaches. The kids get enough scientific study in school -- 9 and 10 year olds sign up for robotics club to build and program robots, not to research bacteria and food contamination, and write and create a presentation about it. Sorry, but that's my opinion.
The morning of the competition each team met with judges for 3 different elements: teamwork exercise, scientific project presentation, and robot design and programming evaluation. Above the kids are being drilled about their robot design and the programming. The judges are trying to determine if the kids did ALL of the work, or had too much help from parents, and given how much the robot crashed and ran into the wall, I'd say there was no doubt there.
In the afternoon each team had 3 chances to complete as many "missions" as possible in a 2.5 minute time frame.
Surprisingly, our team scored right about in the middle among all the teams.
The event went from 8am until 5pm, and there was a lot of waiting around for our team's turn. There was no shortage of electronic entertainment, though, as kids passed around iPads and iPhones and NintendoDS games. This photo was taken late in the day, just before the awards ceremony. The kids are huddled around one of the last devices to still have battery life after a long day.
Eventually it was over. I can't tell you how relieved I was that the team did not advance to the regionals. There was one "team" there of 2 boys, brothers I suspect, and of course they won awards and advanced. I thought it must have been so much easier for them to get things done, and what a miracle it was that we accomplished as much having to mediate 10 busy minds to who all wanted to do things their own way.
Little K says she's done with robotics. Never wants to do it again. I think that's a shame. She still loves building things. Still enjoys robots. Still is interested in programming. She'd just rather work independently, or with her best friend (a boy from the team), without all the arguing and competition of a "team" setting.
In middle school there is an after school robotics club. You can choose to be on the competitive team, or just build and program on your own for fun. Maybe she'll reconsider when she gets to middle school and spend time in robotics again. She's good at it, so I hope she will.



