FIRST - New coach email from FIRST HQ

-->Gracious Professionalism(R) (GP) In Action
Has your team seen GP in action? Or, have you extended GP towards another team? If so, we want to hear from you!
FLL is looking for team acts of GP to use in an upcoming marketing piece. Please submit 2-3 sentences (max) of your team’s best examples of Gracious Professionalism to fllteams@usfirst.org.
-->Core Values Poster & Robot Design Executive Summary
The Core Values Poster and the Robot Design Executive Summary are additional tools that may be used to help facilitate discussion in the Core Values and Robot Design Judging sessions at official FLL events.  Your Operational Partner will distribute the instructions to teams outlining the information to be included if your Region plans to require the Core Values Poster and/or the Robot Design Executive Summary at its events. Please contact your Operational Partner for further information, http://www.usfirst.org/regional-contacts

-->For FLL Parents… coaches, pass it on!
Our latest article features a coach/parent describing their team’s first FIRST(R) year. Additionally, we have added two (2) new SENIOR SOLUTIONS(SM) related activities for parents to do with their child(ren) on “off team hours”.
The Parent Page provides creative ideas, fun tips, and support throughout the season so parents are able to keep up with their FLL kid. Visit: http://firstlegoleague.org/parents

-->Forums Reminder
The forums are an incredible useful tool in the FLL community. Discussions range from Robot Game strategy to how to present the Project. Join today! http://forums.usfirst.org/forumdisplay.php?f=24 
-The forum is not a source for OFFICIAL answers.-

-->Robot Game Updates & Project FAQs – Reminder
It is EXTREMELY important that teams check the Robot Game Updates page and the Project FAQ page frequently.
*Robot Game Updates - http://firstlegoleague.org/challenge/robotgameupdates
*Project FAQ - http://firstlegoleague.org/challenge/projectfaq


*THIS EMAIL IS FROM FIRST LEGO LEAGUE HEADQUARTERS. BE SURE TO WATCH FOR EMAILS FROM YOUR LOCAL PARTNER.*
With High 5’s and Admiration,
FLL Team Support

BEST - Game day information

received from Kim Prohaska on 10-17-2012

Jackrabbit BEST teams:

I hope things are going well for you these last few days as you are finishing up on the last details and getting everything ready for Saturday.

I have a lot of information to share about our upcoming Game Day. Please read over all of the details below and share with the team as necessary…

• Your Project Engineering Notebook is due on Thursday, October 18th by 5:00 PM. Submitting a Notebook is NOT optional! If we do not have a Notebook from the team, the robot does not compete!  Along with the Project Engineering Notebook, remember to include the completed TEAM DEMOGRAPHICS form. This is worth 15 points toward the notebook score just for turning it in. The form is online at: http://best.eng.auburn.edu/stored_procedures/folder-manager/create-folder.php?folder=724&parent_id=714.
  • If you haven’t shipped the Notebook yet, you may still be able to get it printed in time at the Brookings UPS Store [(605)-692-5441] for me to pick up before 5:00.
  • For those of you who are close to Brookings and plan to deliver it in person: If I am not in my office, you may take it upstairs to the Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Department office on the 2^nd floor (Room 214). Someone will be available there until 5:00 p.m. Please ask them to put it into my ‘box’.
• This year, two 4-inch eyebolts were included in the Consumable Kit. It is REQUIRED that these eyebolts be installed on the robot for attachment of the safety cable. The eyebolts should be on opposite sides of the body, so the safety cable can run from eyebolt to eyebolt around the pole. Each robot will be checked at the compliance station by suspending it from a safety cable attached to these eyebolts. No robot will be allowed to compete without the eyebolts installed.
• Marketing Presentation schedule:There has been an adjustment in the location of the Marketing Presentations. They will now be held in the same building as the robot competition in Room #104. This room is in the northwest corner of Frost Arena. The presentation schedule will be:
  7:30 AM – Brookings
  8:00 AM – FOCHES
  8:30 AM – Watertown
  9:00 AM – Mitchell Christian

·         The Game Day schedule is available at: http://www4.sdstate.edu/engr/camps/best-robotics/upload/Game-Day-Schedule-2012-2.pdf. The schedule for the competition matches is still being finalized and will be available on Game Day.

• There is a drivers meeting at 9:30AM on Saturday morning in Frost Arena. All teams must have a representative present at the meeting. Please have the team checked in by 9:30 AM.
• Safety glasses will be required when working on the robot in the pit area. Please plan accordingly and BRING your own SAFETY GLASSES to Game Day.
• Food: The team members and coaches will be given a box lunch on Saturday in the arena and also a few snacks. Starting at 9:30 AM or 10:00 AM, there will be concessions for spectators and those team members who would like more than provided. The dining options in the Student Union will also be open.

·         Location: As a reminder, Game Day activities will take place in Frost Arena (HPER Building) here on the SDSU campus. If you are not familiar with the building, it is directly to the east of the Union where we have been the last few times we’ve met. I would suggest coming to campus via a different route and parking closer to the arena.

·         From the corner of 6th Street and 22nd Ave (by Wal-mart): Go north on 22nd Avenue to 11th Street. Turn left onto 11th Street and drive west until you run into the HPER (Frost Arena) building. (Please don’t leave a dent when you run into it. J)

OR

·         If driving through Brookings on 6th St, turn onto 16th Ave (at McDonalds) and go straight north four blocks.

• Parking: You may park in any of the lots around the HPER/Frost Arena building (East, North, or South). There is not parking enforcement in those lots on the weekend.

·         Five teams advance to regions: Good News –FIVE (5!) teams will advance to the Northern Plains Regional in the Fargo Civic Center on December 6 – 8. The number of teams that advance is based on a combination of resources available at the regional and the team counts at each hub. There was a slight revision last week that changed the Jackrabbit BEST number from four to five.

The official order of advancing teams from each hub is:

1.       BEST Award 1^st Place

2.       Robotics Game 1^st Place

3.       BEST Award 2^nd Place

4.       Robotics Game 2^nd Place

5.       BEST Award 3^rd Place

6.       Robotics Game 3^rd Place

7.       BEST Award 4^th Place

8.       BEST Award 5^th Place

9.       BEST Award 6^th Place

10.     Etc…

Note that after the 6^th spot, the order is now determined based on the BEST award rather than the robotics game.  If any teams place in both the BEST and Robotics category in the list of the top five shown above, we will follow the list down until there is a total of five teams to advance.

·         Returning Kits: Those not advancing to Northern Plains Regional may turn in their Returnable Kits on Saturday after the Awards Ceremony. You will NOT have to dis-assemble the robot to turn it in. We will take it as it is. Also, we would gladly accept the return of any un-opened (un-used) items from the Consumables Kit to save a little for next year’s event. Don’t bring the big stuff (plywood & 5’ PVC).  We do need the big plastic tubs back since those will be used again for next season.

Whew… That’s all I have for now… though you’ll likely be hearing from me again!

BEST - Schedule for Jackrabbit BEST Tournament

This will be our schedule for the Jackrabbit BEST Tournament.  It will be held at Frost Arena and the Student Union

7:00 AM till 9:30 AM

Compliance check in for robot
Table Display setup
Marketing Presentation  (in Union) Kim warned me we are right away at 8:15 AM

9:30 AM till 10:00 AM

Driver Meeting

10:00 AM till 10:30 AM

Opening Ceremony

10:30 AM till 2:00 PM

Seeding Rounds
Table Display Judging

2:00 PM till 4:00 PM

Semi Final and Final Rounds

4:30 PM till 5:00 PM

Award Ceremony

5:00 PM

Team Photos, Return Kits, Meeting for teams advancing to Regionals

FIRST - Update from South Dakota Robotics

Received from Robyn Swets on 10-13-12.  I will take care of registering the teams for the regional tournament in Brookings on October 21rst.

We’re off and running.  Although it may seem like a short time until December, your teams will make great strides in the next few weeks, I promise!

In this email:  1. Mentoring help  2. Qualifier registration  3. Administrative duties

1. If your team is looking for some mentoring help for this season, we have a variety of sessions available.  SDRA has our team mentoring sessions every Saturday from 3-4:30 on many of the issues the team might face.  Check the website, http://southdakotarobotics.com for a list of what topics we are addressing each day.  Please DO NOT REGISTER ONLINE.  That system is designed for individual students, and this is a team activity.  It is listed online so people can find it but if your team would like to attend, please either email me directly, or call the studio, 371-1005 and let us know what sessions you would like.  We can only handle 3 teams at time to give you the one on one time with an instructor or judge.

Also, a veteran team is offering an open house next week and wants to invite everyone to drop by:

Feeling overwhelmed by all the aspects of the Challenge?

If so, team Y.O.D.A. would be more than happy to help you with coaching, programming, building, and more!
Come to our open house on Saturday, October 20th, 2:00- 4:00 PM at the Ronning Library.

Because... what we discover is more important than what we win! :)

If you have any questions, you can email us at yodafll@midco.net

Also, Detrian Hallem, a former FIRST Lego Leaguer and now assistant coach, wrote two books based on the online game Lego Universe.

You should be able to buy them at the following links:

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/aftermath-secrets-of-the-wastelands/18868516

http://www.lulu.com/shop/detrian-hallem/aftermath-icy-conflict/paperback/product-20207377.html

2. As was discussed at the coaches meeting, we want to give everyone plenty of notice before we open registration for the qualifiers.  This is a new process for us in SD, and we are trying to ease into the process!  We will open registration for all 5 SD Qualifiers on Sunday, October 21 in the afternoon.  I’ll remind you several times before then, and after registration opens, teams will be notified that it’s time to register!  There are 5 Qualifiers on the first 3 weeks of December, balance geographically based on team concentration:

                Dec 1: Brookings, First Lutheran Church

                Dec 8: Rapid City, SDSM&T, 2-7pm

                Dec 8: Pierre, Riggs High School

                Dec 8: Brandon, BV Middle School

                Dec 15: Sioux Falls, Lincoln High School

Your chosen date might fill up rapidly, so be sure to register as soon as possible on the 21^st, and have a backup plan for if the date fills up.

3. Finally, a couple of administrative duties that need to be taken care of:  Please head to http://gofll.usfirst.org to update your team info.  This is where you can change your team’s name (particularly important if you had a “filler” name listed while your team decided), update your email address, or add a co-coach so they can receive info as well.  Please also make sure that if you are a school team that did not receive a rookie grant, and you have yet to reimburse your school for registration costs, do so asap.  Many of our coordinators fronted the bill on their own personal credit cards, and that’s a hefty burden!  Also, if you’re looking for info from our coach meetings, it is online at our coaches corner, http://southdakotarobotics.com/fllcoach.php along with archived coach letters.

As always, let me know if you need help or extra info!  We’re glad to do what we can for our fabulous coaches!

GO FLL!!!

Love always,

Robyn

FIRST - Coach meeting, State Tournament, more

Received from Robyn Swets on 9-16-12

As the registration deadline approaches, the number of SD teams is jumping daily!  Right now we are at 72 teams – thanks for all your support in outreach, trying to get these other teams.  While we are still hoping to break 100 this year, it might be something we’ll have to save for our big 5 year anniversary next season.  Either way, we are so proud to have this many teams in such a lightly populated state!

Here’s what we have for this week:  1. Classes and mentoring, 2. Coach meetings, 3. Timeline

Programming Classes and mentoring session are in the works in your area!  Right now the details haven't been release, but as soon as I find out when the session are, I'll update you.

2. SDRA will be hosting Coach Meetings in Sioux Falls on Tuesday, Sept 18 or Tuesday, Oct 9 at 7 pm.  We're working hard to have coach sessions in the regional hubs.  Because distance is such a huge factor in SD, we'll have our coach training powerpoint online after the meeting.  If you're interested in a video conference option, please let me know!  We will be talking about the Qualifying system in more detail, and discussing the minor changes to rubrics and the robot game rules that happened for this year.

3. Finally, there has been some question over the season timeline for this year.  Yes, we will be instituting Qualifyers this year.  That means that no, not every team will make it to the state competition on February 9^th.  However, the Qualifyers should not be looked on as elimination events; they are actually another competition opportunity to strengthen teams.  As of now approximately 70% (based on the recommendations of the national organization, the number of teams in SD, and the number we can comfortably host at our state event) of the teams will go on to state.  These events will actually foster growth and learning, as the teams will get feedback from judges earlier in the process, so they know where they went wrong or went right in their preparations and be better for it.

I’ve also heard complaints that December Qualifyers are too early, and that it ends the learning process for the kids too soon.  We are going to stand firm on this: that is completely misunderstanding the nature of the program - FLL is designed to be a compact season - 8 weeks to design, engineer, and program their robots and do their research project is supposed to stretch them.  Engineers never have enough time, resources, or help to get the job done perfectly.  This program mimics that sense of urgency and the need for improved problem solving.

In South Dakota, our competitions are among the latest in the nation.  The official season is only 8 weeks long, September through the end of October.  Most regions have their Qualifying events in early November and their state events before Christmas.  Please see the extra few weeks we do have here in SD as a gift, rather than view it as a liability because you will compete earlier than in previous years.

In each program there will be growing pains – hopefully this is just a small one for us!  We are off to big things, and I know you are all as devoted as we are to making this one of the best FLL programs in the country.

As always, let me know if you have questions or concerns, my inbox is always open!

GO FLL!!

Love always,

Robyn

FIRST - Coaches Meetings

Received the following email from Robyn Swets on Sunday 9-2

September 2, 2012

Dear Tony,

Welcome to the 2012 Senior Solutions℠ Season! I’m so excited to start this new season with you.  As the FIRST® LEGO® League Operational Partner for SD, I’ll be contacting you throughout the season with information and upcoming event opportunities.  Information will also be posted on our Facebook page, http://facebook.com/SouthDakotaRobotics, or our website, http://southdakotarobotics.com.

With less than a month to go before registration closes, here in SD we are making our final push for more teams.  Our big goal for 2012 is to break into triple digits for teams – 101 by October 1!  Please help us reach this goal by inviting interested families to email me or check out the website for information on starting or joining a team.

Coach Meetings:  More information will be forthcoming about events and the competitions, right now please be aware that we have a series of coach meetings for the Sioux Falls Area teams and some NXT classes, including FREE programming classes for beginners on your team.  For rookie coaches, we have new coach training (a quick 2 hour introduction to FLL, how to manage the team during the season, and the robot) on September 4^th or 11^th.  We also have FLL All-Coach Meetings on either on September 18^th or October 9^th.  If you are in the Sioux Falls area, please choose one of those meetings to attend – we will be discussing our new Qualifying Tournament System.  Rookie coaches, please choose one new coach and one all coach session.

For your team members:  their parents can sign them up for any of our NXT robotics classes, including a FREE programming session this Saturday, September 8.  Those classes, along with the coach meetings are on the website, please register for them to ensure a spot.

As we get started this year, please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions!  I’m here to help!

GO FLL!!

Love always,

Robyn

The only day the I (Tony) can personally attend the All-Coach meeting is October 9th due to other conflicts.  Information from the South Dakota Robotics Assoc. website   http://www.southdakotarobotics.com

FLL New Coaches Class - Pick one

This class is for new First Lego League (FLL) coaches. We give an overview of FLL, a segment on managing the season and team meetings, and a short segment on the robot. This free class is intended for all the new FLL coaches, assistant coaches, and team mentors.

Dates & times offered	Location	Cost	Seats left
9/4/12 6:30 PM-8:30 PM	SDRA Studio 4103 S Southeastern Ave, Sioux Falls, SD 57104	$0.00	23
9/11/12 6:30 PM-8:30 PM	SDRA Studio 4103 S Southeastern Ave, Sioux Falls, SD 57104	$0.00	29
10/2/12 6:30 PM-8:30 PM	SDRA Studio 4103 S Southeastern Ave, Sioux Falls, SD 57104	$0.00	30

FLL All-Coach Meeting - Pick one

This short meeting will cover important FLL season information, our new open practice structure, basic logistical information for the season, and new judging rubrics being implemented this year. All coaches, new and veterans, need to attend one of the sessions.

Dates & times offered	Location	Cost	Seats left
9/18/12 7:00 PM-8:00 PM	SDRA Studio 4103 S Southeastern Ave, Sioux Falls, SD 57104	$0.00	22
10/9/12 7:00 PM-8:00 PM	SDRA Studio 4103 S Southeastern Ave, Sioux Falls, SD 57104	$0.00	29

FIRST - Robot Game Updates 1-9

1 - ROBOT TOUCHING PLATFORM "ONLY"
This doesn't mean "all the robot has to do is touch the platform."  It means "the only thing the robot can be touching is the platform." 

2 - STRAY BALL REMOVAL
Since so many people are asking for it, this Update is providing an exception to Rule 21, Bullet 1:  The referee WILL remove any ball from the field (balls fallen from the rack, and/or the used bowling ball), if you ask, or you may do it yourself, but it will be permanent.  This does not affect your one allowable re-use of your first yellow ball for bowling.

3 - PINWHEEL CLICKING
The robot has to click the pinwheel directly.  It's not allowed to move the dial directly, or defeat the clicker, or do anything else that would stop this mission from being a huge time drain. The robot's not even allowed to stay in Base and reach out and spin the pinwheel.  If this stuff wasn't clear in the original text, you're being told here.  I do love when you guys find loopholes and I love honoring them.  Heck I plant them on purpose all the time.  But please - every year there's one mission that's supposed to make the challenge impossible to finish. This is for a serious reason.  Leave Base, click once, with or without doing other stuff, go back to Base, come back out, click once more, with or without doing other stuff, and so on.  The dial must move by pinwheel clicks only and only one per outing.  Thank you.

4 - BRINGING EXTRA BALLS
You can't bring balls to the field as scoring objects or as bowling balls.  However, they are commonly used as caster wheels for the robot and that's okay.  This is a custom-boost to Rule 10, Bullet 2.

5 - VIDEO MIS-SPEAK REGARDING BONUSD'Oh!  I said in the video that you start out with bonus points on the cardio dial to lose.  Not true.  Yes, the dial has room to go backwards, but that pre-set isn't charted as a bonus. 

6 - DUAL LOCK
Two things:  First, remember to follow the Field Setup section when applying Dual Lock.  Changes to the Dual Lock specs were made after the mat went into production.  Also, in the Field Setup page, there's conflicting info about how many places to put Dual Lock under the similarity model...  Put 4 - one pair at each corner.

7 - TOUCH PENALTY, REF ACTION
The mission text is wrong/confusing about what the referee will do with the cardio model when you get a touch penalty...  So here it is:  The ref will move the pinwheel one click counterclockwise as viewed from the north.

8 - FIELD BORDER WALL HEIGHT (See Field Setup section for metric dimensions)
People are seeing that the sample table instructions call for "2x3" lumber for the table border walls and thinking they have to make new tables.  Not true.  Notice that the construction diagram has a ± symbol!  The allowable RANGE is 3 inches, plus-or-minus a half inch.  So if you live in a country where standard wood size differs from a United staes "2-by-3, that's okay.  If you're not ready to rebuild your table or tables, that's okay.  If you have or can get wood taller than 2.5 inches for free or a discount, then do it.  I would just like to slowly move the community toward the shorter border walls because overall they are cheaper, lighter, take up less storage space, and allow a better view of the field.

9 - CARDIO CHART TYPO?
Some people have noticed a 13-point jump between 6-0 and 6-1 on the cardio mission, where it sure looks like it was supposed to be a 3-point jump...  And they want to know...  Is that a typo?  Uhm, er, uh...  No! - I MEANT to do that!  Yeah, that's it!  And it's gonna stay that way.