FLL Tips & Tricks Number 9: Update Your Software and Firmware
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Before your first meeting with your First LEGO League (FLL) team your will want to make sure your programing software and the forward on your NXT brick. Every update that comes from LEGO is an improvement and you don’t want to miss out on something that could make your robot better.
SOFTWARE DRIVER: the official title of this software is “LEGO MINDSTORMS Education NXT Software,” or NXT-G and the most recent version as of writing this post is version 2.1. This is the software comes with your LEGO NXT kit or you can buy is for $79 from LEGO. To update driver go to this website: http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/support/files/default.aspx#Driver
FIRMWARE: the firmware is what is on the NXT brick. To update the firm ware go to this website and download the firmware file: http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/support/files/default.aspx#Firmware Place the firmware file in the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT/engine/firmware folder. Now open the NXT-G environment, and open an NXT program file (any program, even a new blank one). Plug in your NXT brick via the USB cable. Under the “Tools” menu in the software, you can now select “Update NXT firmware”.
- Brad Flickinger, Bethke Elementary School
FLL Tips & Tricks Number 7: Team Naming 101
When it comes to naming your First LEGO League (FLL) team, some teams get it done right away and I’ve seen others fight over it for weeks.
I make naming our team part of the first meeting, I explain that we will take ideas for names and then we will have round one of voting. Then the top two names will be discussed and possibly improved upon. I explain to the team that whatever name gets the most votes will be our team name and if you don’t get the name you wanted you will still support the new team’s name because that is one of the first lessons to playing on a team.
A couple things to think about when picking an FLL team’s name:
- The name should be memorable (and fun). Your name is going to be announced over the PA system at the FLL competitions and you want everyone to know who you are. I still remember from four years ago the team named the Crazy Chickens. Because when the announcer would say; “The next round at table four will be the Crazy Chickens versus the (some forgettable team name).” Crazy Chickens stood out from the more common boring team names.
- Try to include the theme in your name if you can. If this year’s theme is about the exploration of the moon then try to tie that into your team’s name, like The Lunar Chickens (see above).
- Most people try to include something to do about LEGO in their name and usually their school’s mascot. Just remember to be original — FLL doesn’t need another team named The Mega Building Eagles.
Just remember to never let naming the team take much more than ten minutes. I once had a team argue over a name for six weeks, some students even threatened to quit if they didn’t get the name they wanted. In the end we had spent so much time that our final team name never got to the competition registration so we were just called our team number anyways. We wasted a lot of valuable time that year on something so petty as a team name. So don’t finish your first meeting without a team name.
- Brad Flickinger, Bethke Elementary School
Read MoreFLL Tips & Tricks Number 6: Getting Girls to be on your FLL team.
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No FLL team is complete without girls.
Many young girls, and gown-up girls for that matter, think that LEGOs are for just boys — not girls. And I guess if we were just talking about the toy LEGO building sets, they would be right — toy LEGO sets are mostly marketed and made for boys.
But not NXT Mindstorms or FLL (First LEGO League) competitions! These are marketed for boys and girls alike.
It has been my experience that girls make not only great robot builders, but also programmers. So how do you get girls to join a team that they perceive as being a “boy’s” thing?
We chewed on this problem at my elementary school for a while before we came up with our solution: address it directly. So at the beginning of each year (about mid-August), I go into every fourth and fifth grade class and I talk to them about the upcoming FLL competition and I tell the students that the teams are open to both boys and girls and I explain how much fun it is. I show the “Zoom” video about FLL that comes on the DVD when you register a team. If I can, I will usually have a boy and girl from the previous year tell about what is involved with FLL and how much fun it is. I also make sure that the photo slideshow that I present has some shots of girls being an important part of the team.
So how do you get more girls in FLL? You actively recruit them! And trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
- Brad Flickinger, Bethke Elementary School
Read MoreFLL Tips & Tricks Number 5: Start a Team Scrapbook
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Students planning our LEGO robot before they start to build it.
Before you even have your first FLL (First LEGO League) meeting plan to make a scrapbook of all of your team’s activities. This will be invaluable later when you are working with judges at the competitions. You will want to take photos and notes on everything your team does at every meeting. Assign a team member to take care of the scrapbook.
When your students are planning their robot – take photos.
When students practice a team building activity – take photos.
I think you get the idea.
You will use this team scrapbook with your team as you prepare for the competition. I review all of the building we did, the programming, the mistakes, the successes, and team activities so these are fresh in their heads when then talk to the judges. Plus, they take the scrapbook along, so if a judge asks them how they came up with a certain attachment, they can open up the scrapbook and show them the photos.
JUDGES LOVE A TEAM SCRAPBOOK!
- Brad Flickinger, Bethke Elementary School
Read MoreFLL Tips & Tricks Number 4: What LEGO kits do you need to start a team.
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The 9797 set.
When it comes to starting your own First LEGO League (FLL) team for your school, you will need to order a two different LEGO sets.
The first kit you will need is the 9797 (LEGO Mindstorms NXT Base Set), this will give you the “brains” NXT brick and a bunch of parts you will need to build some great robots. Make sure to order the rechargeable battery pack and a charger for the NXT.
The second kit you will need is the 9648 (Education Resource Set). This kit give you more of what you will need to build more advanced robots. Things like gears, beams, and connectors.
With these two LEGO sets you should be able to build anything you will need to compete well in the FLL competitions. These sets can be ordered from http://www.legoeducation.us/
- Brad Flickinger, Bethke Elementary
Read MoreFLL Tips & Tricks Number 3: Registering Your FLL Team for a Local Challenge
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Competing at a local "qualifier" event.
What is the use of having a First LEGO League (FLL) team if you do not compete in a competition, right? Plus you need to place well in a local competition to be able to move on to national and international competitions.
But before you run off and sign up your newly formed team to just any competition be aware that there are some “non-qualifying” competitions, kind of like exhibition-matches and not “real” competitions. If you sign up for and win one of these, well that is nice and all, but it won’t get you into a state competition and on to nationals. So I don’t sign up for these, for me FLL is about teaching young students how to have fun and be competitive, and I want my students to move on if they happen to win.
So with that said, look for a local FLL “qualifying” competition and register with it. There are so many FLL teams where I live here in Northern Colorado that some teams are bumped to compete in farther away qualifiers because our local one is just too full. So I try to register as early as I can and cross my fingers that we get accepted. Since this is a “qualifying” event, if we place well, we go on to the state competition in Denver that is usually three weeks later (usually the second weekend in December). We usually pay $75 a team to be in the competition plus the cost of t-shirts (additional $8/student).
I am usually confirmed with my registrations into local qualifiers by September 20th.
- Brad Flickinger, Bethke Elementary School
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