Animal Allies: FLL 2016

[JopieK]

 

Hi guys and gals,

yesterday and the day before yesterday some friends and I were again referees at the FIRST LEGO League.

A fellow referee counting the scores.

In between the matches.

Robot ready for action!

I like the theme very much. Nice models, nice challenges. The highest result was 114 points, quite low, but the missions were also harder than previous years. A lot of beginner teams only tried maybe two missions. Some special needs kids were very fanatic but the penalties were quite violent bringing them even in the negatives. (That is a pity from our perspective, but we still need to be objective of course).

Most of the referees in our region already attend the FIRST LEGO League regional finals for quite some years already but this year we also added new blood to the team.

Since this year was the first time we had two days, there was a big surprise: the favorite team did not make it to the Dutch Championships on the second day while a mediocre team (place six on robot achievement) ran away with the price. We just not anticipated that but only now realized the the other score are also very important to make it to the next level. Somewhat a wake-up-call for us all. While we of course think that every team should have an equal opportunity we did not know that the parts were equally important (we should have know since it is apparent http://www.firstlegoleague.org/challenge ) but for the referees of course it is during the match only important to interpret the missions very well and that was hard enough this year with the some what cryptic rules on the manure etc (although most teams didn't get to that in our region).

Are there more eurobricks people that play a role in the FLL?

[Nathan734]

I participated in First LEGO League around 2012 (whatever year Body Forward was). Our team actually got the highest score on the table at sectionals but didn't advance to regionals because the presentation and other stuff wasn't up to snuff. another team at the same place (Fast Cats) won the whole competition, and that was cool.

[Phil B]

Our competition date is Dec 9/10. Last year we did quite well in the robot part, this year our team is struggling. Still, couple of practices to go so I hope we get somewhere quickly :)

PS: It's "Animal Allies", not "Animal Friends" :)

[JopieK]

It is a very nice competition indeed! Seems to be that the kids like it very much.

[DrJB]

My son took part in his school's FLL, and we attended the competition about 10 days ago. It was a good experience for him, but to me it left a bit of a bitter taste as their coach did not offer too much 'coaching' and was more like 'hands-off' (She had her own issues/priorities but I'll pass). I discussed this very topic with one of the judges and she said: Well, if you want to fix it, why don't you take an active part? ... and offered me to be a 'judge' for the rest of the year (still debating as am not sure of the time commitment).

All in all, it was our first time and I learned a lot about the competition, scoring system and everything else beyond the actual robot and contraptions.

What I also learned is that there are many requirements for a team to excel, and many of those go beyond what a single individual can offer. But, then again, the motto of FLL is NOT about winning, it's about working in teams ... i.e. Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition.