Canned Peaches

One day while we were talking about peaches our coach, Nancy just happened to find these 3 jars of peaches:

The one on the left is about 10 years old, it was properly sealed and is still edible in fact, Nancy showed us a recipe for Old Fruitcake(provided below) that calls for a qt of old fruit. The one in the middle is 2 years old but was not properly sealed, it has some nasty mold, this one is good for nothing but the trash. The one on the right was properly sealed last year, it looks delicious!

Recipe for Old Fruitcake

                                             

4 c flour

2 c sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp cloves

1 c melted shortening or oil

 1 qt bottled fruit (can be old and dark), any kind, prunes, apricots, peaches, pears, etc.

4 tsp baking soda

Nuts, dates, raisins, chocolate chips, dried fruit, candied fruit, or anything you want.

Blend the fruit with the baking soda. It will foam. Place ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix well. Pour into 3 greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 325°F for 45-60 minutes, or until done. Test with a toothpick.

Things to remember about Tron

Motor A = Forklift
Motor B = Left Wheel
Motor C = Right Wheel
How to program:

Give more power to motor B to turn right.
Give more power to motor C to turn left.
Tell motor A to go backwards to move the forklift up.
Tell motor A to go forwards to move the forklift down.

Tron's Key as explained in Robot Key is .706

Questions to ask when lining up Tron:
Are the back wheels touching the wall?
Is the forklift all the way down?
Are the forklift strings tight?
Is the right program selected?
Are you lined up on the right line?

Coopertition

Cooperation + Competition = Coopertition

Cooperation means to work together.

Exercise in communication - two people sit back-to-back, one person makes a design with Lego bricks, and describes to the other person how to create same design on their board.

At the beginning of the season, our coach had recruited more people to join First Lego League. There were 16 kids total. We all met together to learn how to design robots, to learn how to make the robot follow a line using a light sensor, to learn how to calculate a key for the robot, and to learn how to program the robot. Then we split off into two teams of 8 people each. The 2 teams are Master Control Programmers and Kidz around the Block.

Coopertition is a word created by FLL, here is what their website says about coopertition.

"Coopertition produces innovation. At FIRST, Coopertition is displaying unqualified kindness and respect in the face of fierce competition. Coopertition is founded on the concept and a philosophy that teams can and should help and cooperate with each other even as they compete. Coopertition involves learning from teammates. It is teaching teammates. It is learning from mentors. And it is managing and being managed. Coopertition means competing always, but assisting and enabling others when you can."
Rebekah

Previous Robot Designs

The first design of the bucket sagged. It needed support on the bottom to keep it level. We added to forks under the bucket to keep it level and supported.

A claw attached to a motor was designed to grab the pizza, ice cream, and a rat, and to activate dispensers. Why wasn’t this used? The dispenser were built wrong so we had to take the claw off.

The controller was turned 180 degrees from the previous design, to distribute the weight better over the wheels.

After you take the "key" you can't change the robot or it will change the center of balance and the programs won't work the same.

Nathan

Gracious Professionalism

Core Value # 7 We show gracious professionalism in everything we do. 

Gracious, adj

1. pleasantly kind, benevolent, and courteous.
2. merciful or compassionate.

Gracious Professionalism

1. Act graciously and respectfully to teammates, other teams, and visitors to the competetition.

2. respect to others is shown through action.
3. Teammates listen to each other and professionally resolve disagreements.
4. Gracious attitudes and behaviors are win-win.
5. Includes good sportsmanship.

Rebekah

Peach Saver 3000

We made the Peach Saver 3000 out of wire, pvc pipe, and an old sheet.  We sewed the edge of the cloth into a tube and put the wire in it. We cut out PVC pipe and then put corners pieces at each corner and put "t's in the middle facing up. We sheet on top of that and ducted taped it to pipe.

We cut a hole in the middle and then cut one side to the middle. We sewed the middle like the edge and put wire through the casing. Then we put velcro on the edges that were cut from teh outside to the middler. You hook the velcro together, then hook the wires together.

When the peaches fall they will fall in the net and will not bruise.

Isaac

STEM

 

STEM is part of what we learn at Lego club we also learn many other things because the sky is the limit.

Robot Key

All you need is a piece of paper, a pencil, a measuring tape with centimeters, either someone who is a math smarty or a calculator, a computer with nxt programing downloaded on it, 3 or more people, a built robot and a flat surface.

First make a program that tells the robot to go 900 degrees and stop. Save it and download it to your robot.

Set the robot on the flat surface and place the measuring tape next to the wheels with motors. (Tron’s motor controlled wheels are in the front.) Then line up the front or the measuring tape with the middle of the wheel a.k.a the axel.

Then have a partner pull the measuring tape tight and make sure the path is clear.

Have another partner run the program. Repeat 5 times writing down the results using the chart below.

                                                         

                                         Now take the average and fill out this next chart.

 Now you have your key and to use it measure how far you need to go in centimeters and convert it to millimeters and divide your answer by your key and there you go.

Team Video

Just to show how cool and silly we are here is a video of our team.

I know it needs a few changes but it wasent top priority and the first one I made got deleted so I just quickly put this one togther.

Tron, Our Robot

Tron is our robot. He's gone through many modifications. His current base was constructed by our lead builder Zyan, he designed him by comparison to another model. Then Isaac, another excellent builder added the forklift, other attachments were later made by all the other builders to improve our performance.

We chose to use four bicycle like wheels, because according to our research, they spun more accurately together. The back wheels do not have rubber, so the robot could turn easier.

Out main attachment is a forklift, we chose a forklift because we found that the mission models were at different heights. We built a bucket that can be attached to the forklift, to catch the bacteria and the rat. We also have a reverse plow that can be attached to the bucket to acquire the fish. The purple fish-returner on the back of the reverse plow, was made to return the baby fish. The dingle-whopper(the black axle pointed down) was simply made to hook the refrigerated truck. The whang-doodle( the gray axle facing up) is to push the lever on the bacteria dispensers.