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.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Message from FIRST: Sharing your experiences

Greetings Teams:

Do you have valuable FIRST experiences to share?  Do you want a FIRST
keychain?  SharingFIRST is a social networking site especially for
girls where FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST Tech Challenge, and
FIRST LEGO League members can all share technical and non-technical
experience with peers as well as with newer and/or younger teams. To
help us complete the grant supporting SharingFIRST, we invite you to
add information to the site.  In late April, we will be contacting you
to help us evaluate the site.

Things you might upload on the site include: lessons on torque, an
explanation of gears, instructions on how to build a robust robot,
advice for recruiting and retaining new team members, how to use a
particular tool, applying to colleges, career information, etc.  We
want YOU to upload documents, presentations, and anything else that
may be of interest to members of the FIRST community.

Because a major goal of the grant is to provide FIRST girls and women
with a place to share their experiences, we ask that you share this
message with the girls and women on your team.  The site is open to
everyone, but we ask you to actively encourage the girls and women on
your team to participate.

You can check out the site at www.sharingfirst.org.  To upload
materials, you will need to request a username and password.  Please
send the following info to ksullivan@usfirst.org:

your name
your preferred username
your chosen password
tell us if you're a student or a coach/mentor
tell us what program you're involved with (FRC, FTC, or FLL).

The first 50 girls and women to upload materials will receive a
limited edition SharingFIRST keychain.  Just be sure to let us know as
soon as you have uploaded your materials (contact
ksullivan@usfirst.org).

Go Teams!

Friday, March 13, 2009

National Pi Day? Congress makes it official

Washington politicians took time from bailouts and earmark-laden spending packages on Wednesday for what might seem like an unusual act: officially designating a National Pi Day.

That's Pi as in ratio-of-a-circle's-circumference-to-diameter, better known as the mathematical constant beginning with 3.14159.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a resolution introduced two days earlier that designates March 14, 2009 (3/14, get it?) as National Pi Day. It urges schools to take the opportunity to teach their students about Pi and "engage them about the study of mathematics."

Please visit http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10194354-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5 for the complete article.

Robotics Hands On and Interactive (for grades 7-10) - April 4, 2009

An event for TAG students in grades 7-10 at Portland State University in Portland Oregon - April 4, 2009

The Oregon University System and Johns Hopkins University's Center For Talented Youth are collaborating to bring a day of hands-on robotics to the Portland State University campus on Saturday, April 4, 2009 from 9:00 – 4:00. Faculty and students from several Oregon instituitions of higher education as well as experts from industry will be on hand to lead small-group sessions. The content and pace will be targeted towards high-achieving students. Students are not required to be members of the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) to attend; students must be accompanied by an adult.

For more info, please visit http://oregonspacegrant.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/robotics-hands-on-and-interactive-april-4-2009/

Kohl's Scholarship Opportunity

Message from FIRST LEGO League Headquarters

2,000 outstanding children (ages 6 to 18) will be awarded scholarships
by Kohl's for making a positive impact on their community. We know many
teams actually execute the solutions they develop as part of the FLL
Challenge Project and this is a great opportunity to get further
recognized for those efforts!

Visit http://www.kohlskids.com for official rules and to nominate a
deserving young person. The deadline is March 15th, 2009.

Monday, March 9, 2009

NXT(R) motor internals

One of the best description about test the motor's capabilities and some nice photos about the internal parts.
See it for yourself and let me know what you think by leaving a comment here.

http://www.philohome.com/nxtmotor/nxtmotor.htm