Atlanta Get-Together?
I've been thinking about trying to get my Atlanta-area friends together for a half-day or full-day of robot tinkering, show-and-tell, and Q&A. Nothing official, but Martijn's post below reminded me that I had been wanting to see if there is interest.
If you are in or around the Atlanta area and would be interested, drop a comment here. I'll talk to my friendly, neighborhood LEGO Ed rep and see what we can come up with - teachers, parents, and students - everyone would be welcome.
Jim
If you are in or around the Atlanta area and would be interested, drop a comment here. I'll talk to my friendly, neighborhood LEGO Ed rep and see what we can come up with - teachers, parents, and students - everyone would be welcome.
Jim
Comments
I'm right below you in SC, and I'd definitely be interested! I could pass this on to some FLL people in my area if you want...? We could come together.
Richard
Ethan
I'm in Atlanta and would come depending on schedule. Great idea!
James
Josh
I would certainly be interested.
Mitch
A number of FLL Coaches in the Atlanta area had requested in May that I try and put together a technical training session (and invite you and Kristie to come).
Unfortunately, I became overwhelmed by a number of issues and never was able to make it happen. If you are wanting to hold a get-together in September, we will be more than willing to provide the facility (Atlanta Girls' School) and assist with logistics.
Back in May, the biggest interest from coaches and students was in discussing or demonstrating technical building concepts or engineering ideas. While programming discussions can be held online, it seems we learn engineering better in person.
Kids (and coaches for that matter) have very little knowledge or experience with gears and many have expressed an interest to learn more about how to design robots that can carry out numerous tasks on a single run using gears and other building techniques.
Some basic discussion of how to use a gear might be needed, but I get the feeling that most folks want to see a demo (live or video) of an existing complex robot or two followed by a discussion of how the builder achieved certain desired effect.
For example, the team from New Hampshire's video that hit the Internet just before the GA State FLL Competition had kids (and coaches) staying up late for multiple nights trying to figure out how they did things (I caught Emily using a flashlight and her laptop on few occasions after midnight trying to reverse-engineer their design).
I am not sure what you have in mind for a get-together but that was a big topic of discussion during most FLL season post-mortems.
Thanks,
Mitch Strickland
Atlanta Girls' School FLL Teams
If the school would really be willing to let us gather there, that would be great. Email me directly and we'll talk.
Jim