Outreach Events
Highland Park Library’s Bots for Baby Boomers
To introduce FIRST to people born before 1960, we assisted at the Achilles Wheel hosted event at the Highland Park Public Library. Baby Boomers were taught how to code a basic robot and how to build an arm using TETRIX pieces. The senior citizens then had a competition on a FIRST competition field. A good time was had by all!
To introduce FIRST to people born before 1960, we assisted at the Achilles Wheel hosted event at the Highland Park Public Library. Baby Boomers were taught how to code a basic robot and how to build an arm using TETRIX pieces. The senior citizens then had a competition on a FIRST competition field. A good time was had by all!
The Coder School Anniversary Event
The Coder School of Highland Park, IL held its one year anniversary celebration and invited us to attend as presenters. We brought our robot and a poster about our team and were provided with a demonstration booth. Many of the smaller children who were present at the event were very interested in our robot and kept coming back to play with it. Along with our booth, we were also given a time to present a short, yet polished speech on FIRST and what our team does. That speech was live streamed on Facebook and can be viewed here. Following the speech, we showed a demo of our robot's color sensor code, a video of this can be viewed here. (The Coder School's Facebook)
The Coder School of Highland Park, IL held its one year anniversary celebration and invited us to attend as presenters. We brought our robot and a poster about our team and were provided with a demonstration booth. Many of the smaller children who were present at the event were very interested in our robot and kept coming back to play with it. Along with our booth, we were also given a time to present a short, yet polished speech on FIRST and what our team does. That speech was live streamed on Facebook and can be viewed here. Following the speech, we showed a demo of our robot's color sensor code, a video of this can be viewed here. (The Coder School's Facebook)
Braeside Elementary School’s STEAM Night
The whole team attended Braeside Elementary School’s STEAM Night to present FLL lego robots and help the 4th and 5th graders with theirs. We also presented our completed missions for Hydrodynamics challenge to the students and adults at STEAM night and helped them with their FLL lego robots. Additionally, we brought our FIRST Tech Challenge robot and created an obstacle course for the students to navigate. The students enjoyed the opportunity to drive the robot and to try to get a best time on the obstacle course. We hope to have help the children get excited about coding and robotics!
The whole team attended Braeside Elementary School’s STEAM Night to present FLL lego robots and help the 4th and 5th graders with theirs. We also presented our completed missions for Hydrodynamics challenge to the students and adults at STEAM night and helped them with their FLL lego robots. Additionally, we brought our FIRST Tech Challenge robot and created an obstacle course for the students to navigate. The students enjoyed the opportunity to drive the robot and to try to get a best time on the obstacle course. We hope to have help the children get excited about coding and robotics!
Building at Highland Park High School
Our team attended Highland Park High School every Tuesday for 9 weeks to build and code robots for them that will be used for their outreach. We built mini REV robots that they use to teach people about robotics and FIRST. During that time they also taught us some basic element of building and a little of coding. We are very thankful that Achilles Wheel’s let us help them build robots and for them to let us drive some of their robots that they used in Relic Recovery.
Our team attended Highland Park High School every Tuesday for 9 weeks to build and code robots for them that will be used for their outreach. We built mini REV robots that they use to teach people about robotics and FIRST. During that time they also taught us some basic element of building and a little of coding. We are very thankful that Achilles Wheel’s let us help them build robots and for them to let us drive some of their robots that they used in Relic Recovery.
Northwood FLL Competition
It's Gonna Blow attended a Lego League competition at Northwood Junior High. We showed a lot of kids in FLL what a FIRST Tech Challenge robot was like, how it worked, and gave them an opportunity to drive the robot. As FLL robots operate exclusively in autonomous mode, the junior high and elementary students enjoyed the opportunity to manually drive and see the robot instantly respond to the controller. Many of the Lego leaguers were very interested in what the next level of FIRST robotics would be like when they felt they were ready to move on up and join, or create, an FTC team.
It's Gonna Blow attended a Lego League competition at Northwood Junior High. We showed a lot of kids in FLL what a FIRST Tech Challenge robot was like, how it worked, and gave them an opportunity to drive the robot. As FLL robots operate exclusively in autonomous mode, the junior high and elementary students enjoyed the opportunity to manually drive and see the robot instantly respond to the controller. Many of the Lego leaguers were very interested in what the next level of FIRST robotics would be like when they felt they were ready to move on up and join, or create, an FTC team.
Braeside Robotics Club
Once to twice a week for about ten weeks, members of the team went to Braeside Elementary School to help the students in their robotics club. A few times, we brought one of our robots to show them how it worked and how cool it was. We even ended up allowing them to drive the robot through a course, set out with masking tape. After noticing that the students really enjoyed driving through the course, we began timing it to determine the best driver.
Once to twice a week for about ten weeks, members of the team went to Braeside Elementary School to help the students in their robotics club. A few times, we brought one of our robots to show them how it worked and how cool it was. We even ended up allowing them to drive the robot through a course, set out with masking tape. After noticing that the students really enjoyed driving through the course, we began timing it to determine the best driver.
Meeting with Guy Levi
Our team met with Guy Levi, the Chief Innovations Officer at MindCet. With Levi, we talked about FIRST and various codes, eventually coding a simplified version of Vuforia, specifically for teaching younger kids to code. This code is exemplified with an app, "AR מעגל חשמלי," or Electric Circle AR (Augmented reality). It allows the user to arrange pieces of paper in a specific order to form a circuit, which then communicates with an electronic device's camera to bring the circuits 'to life'.
Our team met with Guy Levi, the Chief Innovations Officer at MindCet. With Levi, we talked about FIRST and various codes, eventually coding a simplified version of Vuforia, specifically for teaching younger kids to code. This code is exemplified with an app, "AR מעגל חשמלי," or Electric Circle AR (Augmented reality). It allows the user to arrange pieces of paper in a specific order to form a circuit, which then communicates with an electronic device's camera to bring the circuits 'to life'.
Decision Making and Problem Solving Seminar with Robin Erickson, PhD
Our team brought in Dr. Robin Erickson to help us with our team decisions. Dr. Erickson has over 20 years of consulting and research experience at global professional services firms. Her research has been widely published and she is a much sought after speaker. In the past, It's Gonna Blow had been having trouble with making timely choices as a team. Dr. Erickson taught us about the process of making better and more timely decisions using John Dewey's 6-Step Reflective Thinking Model. She improved how we work together to form decisions that allowed for better compromise, allowing us to better understand and work with one another. She also helped us understand each others ideas and combine them to come to better decisions. We are very thankful to Dr. Erickson for making time in her extremely hectic schedule to meet with us.
Our team brought in Dr. Robin Erickson to help us with our team decisions. Dr. Erickson has over 20 years of consulting and research experience at global professional services firms. Her research has been widely published and she is a much sought after speaker. In the past, It's Gonna Blow had been having trouble with making timely choices as a team. Dr. Erickson taught us about the process of making better and more timely decisions using John Dewey's 6-Step Reflective Thinking Model. She improved how we work together to form decisions that allowed for better compromise, allowing us to better understand and work with one another. She also helped us understand each others ideas and combine them to come to better decisions. We are very thankful to Dr. Erickson for making time in her extremely hectic schedule to meet with us.