NEW SITE

Since the Nanites are no longer in the FLL program, we have created a new site more catered towards FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge): website & blog.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 launches in UK

Not a lot of details but color detection is mentioned.

http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/01/28/lego.mindstorms.nxt.2/

http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.phtml/21837/22861/lego-mindstorms-nxt-20-launches.phtml

It hasn't said if NXT 2.0 will be available in US.

If you find out more, please drop me a note, i.e., leave a comment here

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

FLL Season is Over for the Nanites

Well the season is over for the Nanites. The team had a go run in the state championship but the robot performance fell short. Despite the disappointment with the robot, the team did very well in teamwork and research and took first place in the research project.

We talked to Plastic Mini Figures' mentor, Kevin, and learned a lot from his insight into building reliable robots, in particular, the machanics of doing that. No wonder their robot is so robust!

The Nanites shared their robot and programming with dozens of teams visiting our table. We also learned a lot from other teams. The atmosphere was great.

Something for me to ponder - mixing 3rd and 7th graders turn out to be very tough for coaching. I will not do it again. Perhaps the 7th graders (going to be 8th graders in the fall) can move on to FTC while the little ones can stay on FLL. I don't know yet. But that is something to think about.