In three years the IET sponsored group of Lego Robotics enthusiasts has quadrupled in size (from three members to twelve!). This year three teams entered the IEEE Robotics Competition, pitting their skills against over 120 other teams with all kinds of amazing talents.
Our teams entered a nifty robot in the SUMO wrestling match. Here is a link to show how they did: http://bit.ly/BackStreetSumo. There was an interesting fault in one of the three rounds when it looked as if the robot was bemused by the iPhone the referee was using to time the match, and we lost that round and conceded the match.
And two of the teams entered the DragRace. Getting to the second and third place was a fantastic achievement. Here is the photofinish of the final race: http://bit.ly/BackStreetDragRace The scoring was "one point for being first to cross the red line and two points for stopping in the red box" So the other team won by one point.
Comments from the team were that a tournament engaging 120 teams is bound to be a bit chaotic, and indeed it was a long day. The adrenaline rush of the actual challenges was great, but they also realised the difficulties of a knock-out competition: one fault (a badly placed iPhone, eg.) and you lose the entire match.
On the other hand they appreciated the transparency of how the presentations and reports were scored, and they were delighted that their position in the robot challenge was not affected by those elements (maybe because they did so well!).
In the fulness of time the teams will consider engaging with the FLL in the autumn. A different set of rules, perhaps a more reasonable way to score robot performance, but the obscurity of the assessment of the project work was unsettling.
From my perspective as 'head coach' it has been great to see the team members develop over the past three years, and wonderful to have more help with the coaching, including a full term of teaching from Robert Sears, as well as two other parents stepping up to help out. The skills the teams have learned have been very much wider than the merely technical, and we are all grateful.
Frank Johnson.