FIRST ® LEGO® LEAGUE (FLL)
IN LOUISIANA
Fast-Start Training
Destrehan High School
September 14, 2013
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Goal of “Fast-Start” Training
• Provide an understanding of the FLL program
• Clarify FIRST Core Values, and Highlight the Research
Project, but spend most of the time on the Robot Game
• Leave with a working robot and at least one program!!!
Fast-Start Agenda
• 10am-11:30am FLL Presentation / Discussion
• 11:30am-12pm Lunch
• 12pm-2pm Workshop
• Building and Programming Your Robot!
Welcome to FIRST LEGO League!
Introduces students to real-world engineering challenges by building
LEGO-based robots to complete tasks on a thematic playing surface.
FLL teams, guided by their imaginations and adult coaches,
discover exciting career possibilities and, through the process,
learn to make positive contributions to society.
Elementary and middle-school students get to:
• Design, build, test and program robots using LEGO MINDSTORMS®
technology
• Apply real-world math and science concepts
• Research challenges facing today’s scientists
• Learn critical thinking, team-building and presentation skills
• Participate in tournaments and celebrations
It’s fun! It’s exciting! And the skills they learn will last a lifetime!
FLL Teams are Judged in 3 Categories:
The FLL Core Values
are how they do it.
The Robot Game
and Project are
what teams do.
The responsibility of FLL teams is
to follow the FLL Core Values !
• We are a team.
• We do the work to find solutions with guidance from our
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coaches and mentors.
We know our coaches and mentors don’t have all the
answers; we learn together.
We honor the spirit of friendly competition.
What we discover is more important that what we win.
We share our experiences with others.
We display Gracious Professionalism® and Coopertition®
in everything we do.
Don’t forget….
We have fun.
It’s a judging category!!!
GRACIOUS PROFESSIONALISM®
• Gracious attitudes and behaviors that are “win-win”
• Gracious folks respect others and let that respect show
in their actions
• Gracious professionals make a valued contribution in a
manner pleasing to others and themselves as they
possess special knowledge and are trusted by society
to use that knowledge responsibly
the PROJECT:
an important part of participation in FLL !!!
In the Nature’s Fury Project, your team will:
• Identify a community that could experience a natural
disaster
• Identify a problem that happens when a natural disaster
occurs
• Create an innovative solution that helps people
prepare, stay safe, or rebuild
• Share your problem and solution with others
FIRST has Project Resources!
• Project Video (YouTube version)- Project Manager, Jinnel
Choiniere, reviews the NATURE'S FURY Project. Can't
access YouTube? Download the video.
• Project FAQs - This page is the first place to go for
answers to Project questions if you’ve already read the
Challenge document. You should also visit here often for
answers to questions you never even thought of, because
the postings here contain official information that will be in
effect at tournaments.
• Topic Guide
http://www.firstlegoleague.org/challenge/2013naturesfury
Understanding the ROBOT GAME
Requires 3 Important Resources
• Robot Game Updates … the FINAL WORD!!!
Contains official information that will be in effect at tournaments.
• The Challenge Documents
(Field Setup, Missions, Rules) Download Challenge
• Mission Model Build Instructions
the Robot Game Video is only a visual aid and
SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON FOR CORRECT INFORMATION!!!
Robot MISSIONS
GAME UPDATES
15–SIGN FRICTION… sign
can only be held up by the
slider’s friction with the mat or
other beams of the model
13–PLANE LENIENCY AND
OBSTRUCTION … If plane
departs and hits nothing…
scores as reaching LT BLUE.
17–BRANCH LOWER THAN
LINES … entire branch…
lower than the lowest
molecule of electric lines. 10
10–ELECTRIC LINES IN
PLACE… lines must be in
their setup position.
From Mission description:
GAME PENALTY … ref places a
roof debris model on west-most
roof mark which is completely
empty ... for penalties after the
4th, the west-most debris is
placed as far as possible into the
northeast corner of the LT blue
region. The robot may not remove
debris from the LT blue region.
8–PEOPLE WITH WATER
1P+1W=15, 1P+2W=15,
3P+2W=45
6–PAGE 9 PICS
…, the lady and child are
placed as shown, but the
words “lady” and “child” are
under the wrong pics.
(field set-up clarification)
19–BROKEN OBSTACLES
… not "model damage"
18 – DARK BLUE WATER
If…pick your robot up while
crossing an obstacle …
keep the water.
4–SAFE PLACE
EXTENSION … If only part
of robot in scoring zone
obviously designed/added
for extension, no score.
2013 Robot Game Field Set-Up
NXT Programming Basics
The easiest way to get started with NXT Programming is to go through
“Getting Started” and then use the NXT Tutorials for common tasks.
Example:
Drive Forward
EV3 Robot
We are all new to it and still learning, but check out
the excellent website below to get up to speed:
http://www.stemcentric.com/ev3-tutorial
Where do you start?
Great source of
information!!!
LA FLL Qualifiers
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Each team may participate in ONE qualifier
Designed to accommodate 12 teams each
Registration will open in early October
Selection based on geographic proximity
Advancement based on total # of LA teams
Check LAFLL.org website for updates
CONFIRMED QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT HOSTS
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(dates Nov.9th or 16th will be added when confirmed):
Destrenhan High School, Destrehan
Northshore High School, Slidell
Fontainebleau High School, Mandeville, Saturday, Nov. 16th
Sci-Port, Shreveport
McNeese University, Lake Charles
Scotlandville Middle Pre-Engineering Magnet Academy, Baton Rouge
FIRST Award Structure
Determined by
judging sessions
Determined by highest
score in three 2½ min
robot rounds
Additional Judges’ Awards may be given as a tournament choice. Typically 1st and
2nd place awards are given for Robot Performance. In qualifying tournaments, core
awards are combined into one each in Core Values (blue), Robot Design (red), and
Research (yellow). Refer to FIRST rubrics for judging criteria.
Great Information on www.lafll.org!!!
Lafll.org Team Portal has
ANSWERS & RESOURCES
A Closing Thought…..The Complete FLL Participant 
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Unique Headwear
(Temporary) Hair Color
Face Paint
Team T-Shirt
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Team Name – Sea Dragons
Team Number - 5315
Yearly Theme – Ocean Odyssey
Color Theme – Purple, Grn, Gld
Sponsors, Logos
Cheer, Song, Chant
Team Buttons
Team Handouts
Posters
Laptop
Pit Display
Pit Decorations
No Advertising!