To Mars

We decided to first Design a Martian Habitat, since there's a contest that ends April 6th.  We sketched some design ideas on paper, but now have to go back and find ways to make them practical.  We're going to use Tinkercad.com for 3D design, so ask your parents if you can use it at home to practice during the week, between meetings.

Picking Spring Projects

This week we'll discuss several possible projects, and tie-ins to this June's Seattle Science Festival.  Ideas:

* Laser cutting - building system?  Simple & repeatable.

* Rubik's Cube. Solve the cube, and build a Mindstorms solver.

* Contest: Design a Martian Habitat.

We'll also update this blog regularly, so check in here every couple of days.

Robotics Teams Finish Season Strong

Great job everyone!  

Here's what should appear in the bulletin next week:

"Lafayette robotics teams had a great showing at the South Seattle FLL robot tournament on Saturday, Dec. 2nd.  The Mystic Mindstormers and Lego Minds, a mix of 2nd and 3rd graders, were the youngest teams there and outscored a number of older teams.  The girls team, the Go-Go Bots, scored well and won a Core Values Award for Gracious Professionalism.  Congratulations to all the team members."

* Remember, we have no team meetings in December.  We'll pick up again in January with new projects and activities.  But pop back here to the blog through the month, as we'll be posting some ideas and cool links.

* Parents, we still need your good photos from the tournament, so we can pick a nice one for the yearbook.

Shirt Mockups Ready

Here's a mockup of what the LM & MM shirts will look like when printed:

Thanks to Dylan's dad, Chris, for getting our shirts made!

MM & LM: Remember Research for Friday

Lego Minds and Mystic Mindstormers, please remember to do your research and bring to Friday's meeting (day after Thanksgiving).

You want to find at least one source (books, articles, web pages, interview) that gives details about your team's problem (Salmonella in eggs, or Trichinosis in pork) or your solution (warning label, or independent inspectors).

Beside the problem area itself, look for related problems where the solution was tried (for example, where have warning labels been used before? Where are independent inspectors used?).

Navigating with "Forward" and "Turn"

Get Ready: This week Lego(r) Minds and Mystic Mindstormers(r) will use the "Forward" and "Turn" custom blocks being developed for navigation.  This makes programming a mission much easier.  With them, your robot can get anywhere on the table with just a few steps.

You just need to measure a distance with a tape measure, and enter the centimeters into the Forward block.  When you need to turn, use a protractor to measure the angle, and enter the degrees in a Turn block.


If you need to move around objects, break up your path into a small number of simple steps. Then measure the distance and direction of each step, using a new Forward and Turn block to do the moving.

Mystic Mindstormers' logo

The logo for Mystic Mindstormers has been scanned, and will get printed on shirts when the Lego Minds logo is ready.  Nice work, Owen!

Remember, both teams need to choose a color for their shirt. Since the shirts won't be printed in time for this Saturday's Coe Robotics Festival, see if you can pick a color which everyone on the team has at home. That way, you can all wear a regular shirt of the right (approximate) color on Saturday, and we can give you temporary stickers with your team logo to stick on.