Michael sets up radio
Group sets up to Crazy Frog track 6
Drivers walk in driving and dancing
Judges!
Goooood morning!
Were the CHIRPYBOTS
And were READY!
Just another day
On the N1
From Pretoria
To Johannesburg
Know what I mean?
Been there?
And getting the T shirt
EVERYDAY
You guessed it!
Were talking Traffic!
· stressed and frustrates motorists
· wear and tear on vehicles
· wasted fuel
· inability to forecast travel time
· delays drivers
· non-productive activity
· motorists are forced to use alternative routes which blocks these routes
FACT
Presently…
On the Earth…
There are
1,2,3,4,5,6 and a half
BILLION people!
Crowding together
Just over half of them living in cities.
You don’t need to be Einstein to know that the traffic is going to be BAD!
GROUP BLISTER OUT
Somewhere in an obscure planning office in South Africa, the head honcho ponders the solution to the traffic problem…
Tiri lu lu, tiri lu lu ding
Manuel, Trevor Manuel…
Mr Manuel we have one word for you…
LEVE-TAXI!
In order to minimize the time between inter-city travel,
We use something similar to a monorail,
Magnetically accelerated, levitated and works on a toll.
The problem with monorail transport is that it is heavily reliant on public transport for the last mile.
To overcome this problem a car is attached to a trolley which then travels at high speed in between cities.
It works on a system similar to that used to move baggage at air port terminals where the traveller loads their bag on a trolley and programs the destination the bag has to go.
The solution is a combination of 4 cutting edge transportation developments
· RUF -
· Maglev Train -
· Monorail -
· Bosporus tunnel Train –
You take some pillars
You add monorails
Place some offramps far away to avoid bottlenecks
It works like this:
Stage 1 – Vehicle speed is low, Vehicles are attached to the trolleys and vehicles are still self driven
Stage 2 – Vehicle speed increases and are not self driven anymore
Stage 3 – Vehicles are propelled at high speed to their destination where the process is reversed on the other end.
Impact of our solution
· Gives motorists a time to relax
· Doesn’t affect vehicles
· No fuel is used
· Very fast and thus effective
· Erases human fault
· No alternative routes needed
To end of the Chirpybots presentation…with much thanks to the Village People...
Without traffic…
You can get there really fast…
Without traffic…
Road rage is all in the past…
Without traffic
Mother earth can maybe last…
Technical Presentation
All:
Good morning Judges
Tim:
It’s my pleasure to introduce to you, the Chirpy Bots. Emile and Estee will the do the innovative design brief.
Estee:
Our superbly designed robot makes use of gears for a drivetrain. We chose this form of drivetrain as it is strong and reliable and easy to assemble. Our engine is placed in the middle of the robot as it gives use a balanced centre point. We then connected the engine in the centre of the robot to the outer wheels using a gear ratio of 1:1. Because we geared our robot it is 4WD which lets us get over most obstacles. Our 1:1 ratio gives us the perfect balance between power and speed. Our compact and sturdy design gives us manoeuvrability and reliability. We have placed struts coming down from the NXT controller to prevent the wheels from flexing.
Emile:
We have placed a touch sensor on the side of the robot so that in our final mission we can move our robot along the wall. We have also placed a light sensor at the front of the robot along with our touch sensor. They are close to the ground and because we have a light sensor there is more speed accuracy and reliability this allows us to function in multiple light conditions. Our ultra-sonic sensor is placed in the front of the robot and is at the optimal height to sense all objects on the board. The built in rotation sensors are easy to use and are perfect when we cannot use other sensors and it allows for precise movements.
Estee:
And now we’ll hand over to Michael and Andrew for the strategy and problem solving
Michael:
We make use of numerous attachments and extensions for specific missions we have attachable sensors for example in the final mission a touch sensor that is used for movement along the border wall. We also have extensions for our arm for certain hoops that are usually out of reach.
Andrew:
When programming we made sure to program in short missions so that if something goes wrong it will not affect other missions. After programming our numerous missions we timed each mission and then organised them from shortest to longest with an exception to the final mission.
Michael:
And now Alex will explain the finer details of Locomotion and Navigation.
Alex:
Once we had a mat we decided that we would build a driving robot to complete our missions. We also decided that it would be useful to have a 4WD robot to get to inaccessible locations. We also decided that wheels worked better over treads because wheels turned better and treads had problems with slipping. We started off by making a strong base which we could build on we then worked closely with the programmers to see which sensors needed to be where. After this was finalised we then placed the engines and other important sensors and the NXT onto the base. Once we had our base idea we then ran our test missions until we fine tuned the robot design into what you see here.
Alex:
Liam and Tim will cover the way we solved time issues with regards and our programming strategies.
Liam:
With our strategy we decided to do missions that were close together to save time. We also decided to collect hoops of the same colour to achieve the hand privileges.
Tim:
When programming we ran the programs several times to make sure that they were consistent. To be sure that we did not confuse our missions we numbered them according to the positions they must be done in along with a short description e.g. 1 Hoop. Because we used numerous sensors it allowed our program to be very efficient and reliable.
Tim:
Sean will cover the Structural influences in the robot.
Sean:
The robot was designed with sturdiness in mind so that it would be able to scale obstacles and take rough treatment during particular missions so that if it accidently crashed into an object we wouldn’t have to rebuild it each time. The robot was also designed so that the NXT could be removed and replaced with minimum hassle. The robot was created after everyone’s ideas were heard and considered so that a balanced robot could be designed. Our attachments are easy to use, lightweight and suited to their task for example the arm used to collect beacons.
If you have any further questions please feel free to ask if not we would like to show you a few excellent missions.
(Andrew will explain the mission)
Good morning Judges
Tim:
It’s my pleasure to introduce to you, the Chirpy Bots. Emile and Estee will the do the innovative design brief.
Estee:
Our superbly designed robot makes use of gears for a drivetrain. We chose this form of drivetrain as it is strong and reliable and easy to assemble. Our engine is placed in the middle of the robot as it gives use a balanced centre point. We then connected the engine in the centre of the robot to the outer wheels using a gear ratio of 1:1. Because we geared our robot it is 4WD which lets us get over most obstacles. Our 1:1 ratio gives us the perfect balance between power and speed. Our compact and sturdy design gives us manoeuvrability and reliability. We have placed struts coming down from the NXT controller to prevent the wheels from flexing.
Emile:
We have placed a touch sensor on the side of the robot so that in our final mission we can move our robot along the wall. We have also placed a light sensor at the front of the robot along with our touch sensor. They are close to the ground and because we have a light sensor there is more speed accuracy and reliability this allows us to function in multiple light conditions. Our ultra-sonic sensor is placed in the front of the robot and is at the optimal height to sense all objects on the board. The built in rotation sensors are easy to use and are perfect when we cannot use other sensors and it allows for precise movements.
Estee:
And now we’ll hand over to Michael and Andrew for the strategy and problem solving
Michael:
We make use of numerous attachments and extensions for specific missions we have attachable sensors for example in the final mission a touch sensor that is used for movement along the border wall. We also have extensions for our arm for certain hoops that are usually out of reach.
Andrew:
When programming we made sure to program in short missions so that if something goes wrong it will not affect other missions. After programming our numerous missions we timed each mission and then organised them from shortest to longest with an exception to the final mission.
Michael:
And now Alex will explain the finer details of Locomotion and Navigation.
Alex:
Once we had a mat we decided that we would build a driving robot to complete our missions. We also decided that it would be useful to have a 4WD robot to get to inaccessible locations. We also decided that wheels worked better over treads because wheels turned better and treads had problems with slipping. We started off by making a strong base which we could build on we then worked closely with the programmers to see which sensors needed to be where. After this was finalised we then placed the engines and other important sensors and the NXT onto the base. Once we had our base idea we then ran our test missions until we fine tuned the robot design into what you see here.
Alex:
Liam and Tim will cover the way we solved time issues with regards and our programming strategies.
Liam:
With our strategy we decided to do missions that were close together to save time. We also decided to collect hoops of the same colour to achieve the hand privileges.
Tim:
When programming we ran the programs several times to make sure that they were consistent. To be sure that we did not confuse our missions we numbered them according to the positions they must be done in along with a short description e.g. 1 Hoop. Because we used numerous sensors it allowed our program to be very efficient and reliable.
Tim:
Sean will cover the Structural influences in the robot.
Sean:
The robot was designed with sturdiness in mind so that it would be able to scale obstacles and take rough treatment during particular missions so that if it accidently crashed into an object we wouldn’t have to rebuild it each time. The robot was also designed so that the NXT could be removed and replaced with minimum hassle. The robot was created after everyone’s ideas were heard and considered so that a balanced robot could be designed. Our attachments are easy to use, lightweight and suited to their task for example the arm used to collect beacons.
If you have any further questions please feel free to ask if not we would like to show you a few excellent missions.
(Andrew will explain the mission)
Practice times
Remaing practices:
Wednesday (9h30 - ?? at Liam's house)
Robot programming and writing of technical interview from the provided rubric.
(Remember that all members must take part)
Thursday (15h00 - 18h00 at the Technology centre)
We do the teamwork interview, technical interview and team song untill they are flawless.
Friday (0830 - 18h00 or later if needed at the Technology centre)
We do the research presentation, robot game, all interviews and get everything ready for the competition the next day. NB Remember to bring your signed consent/release form!
Mr Marius Buys
mariusbuys@gmail.com
076 800 6983
Wednesday (9h30 - ?? at Liam's house)
Robot programming and writing of technical interview from the provided rubric.
(Remember that all members must take part)
Thursday (15h00 - 18h00 at the Technology centre)
We do the teamwork interview, technical interview and team song untill they are flawless.
Friday (0830 - 18h00 or later if needed at the Technology centre)
We do the research presentation, robot game, all interviews and get everything ready for the competition the next day. NB Remember to bring your signed consent/release form!
Mr Marius Buys
mariusbuys@gmail.com
076 800 6983
SA National Championships - General Information
8 December, 2009
Our aim this year at the SA Championships tournament is to make the tournament a personal experience for everyone. To accomplish this, some of our rules for the pits have changed and I believe that with your co-operation, we will have a stunning tournament.
Information:
Saturday:
1. Spectator entrance will be free.
2. Please remember that teams are allowed to bring their own food and drink, but please make use of the designated eating areas outside.
3. There will be people selling food for the day.
4. Tables and chairs will be placed around the arena for the spectators and parents. We trust that this will contribute to their fun and enjoyment of the tournament.
Arena:
1. No practice rounds will be played when the competition starts.
2. Teams will be introduced during the Opening Ceremony. Team flags, banners and chants may be displayed or shouted etc. This is a walk through event, please keep it short (maximum 30 seconds)
Pit Area:
1. No parents will be allowed in the pit area.
2. After your 2nd warning, we will send a penalty form of your team to the judges to keep in consideration if you were to receive an award.
Judging Rooms:
Only the coach and Mentor allowed in the judging areas with their team
I’ve received many comments from judges during the previous tournaments that coaches and mentors interfere with team presentations; answers etc. It will not be allowed on this tournament; the judges will ask a coach or mentor to leave the room immediately in such an event. The only time that this will be allowed, is on special request if there is a language translations problem (at the latest during the coaches meeting)
Additional Awards:
1. Pit Table Award: This award will go to the team who can integrate their project, robot and teamwork best in a visual display on their table.
2. The pit table award will not contribute in any way to the rankings of the Championship Award.
International Participation 2010 (SA Championship 2009):
Only championship award winners will be considered for international participation.
Teams are responsible for raising their own funds to participate internationally.
No teams are allowed to communicate directly with the international event organizers. All communication will be directed through TUT. Non compliance with this rule will force TUT to withdraw the invitation immediately.
The deadline for accepting international invitations is January 31, 2009. No extensions will be given.
A team accepting the invitation will be required to:
Pay their registration fee before / upon acceptance and
Produce sufficient proof that they have the funds available to participate
We received invitations to 3 International Tournaments:
1) World championship, Atlanta, USA, 15-17 April 2010 (Team registration fees $1000)
2) European Championship, Istanbul, Turkey, 22-24 April 2010 (Registration fee Euro 200 per person Including 2 dinners + soft drinks, 3 lunches, children’s festival, airport and hotel transfers)
3) Open International Championship, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 6-8 May 2010 (Team registration fee $1000, Friendship night $10 - $20, Hotel $65 - $80/double bed/day)
The Champions Award winners will have the first option to choose an international tournament, The Champions Award Runners up will have second option and the Champions Award 3rd Place will have 3rd option.
While we all compete for the big prize I would like to urge all teams to again have a look at the core values of FIRST LEGO League. We are the only sport which really accepts the notion of gracious professionalism. It is of utmost importance that we show this in all that we do.
Thank you
Johannes de Vries
http://www.fllsa.org.za/
http://www.firstlegoleague.org/
Our aim this year at the SA Championships tournament is to make the tournament a personal experience for everyone. To accomplish this, some of our rules for the pits have changed and I believe that with your co-operation, we will have a stunning tournament.
Information:
Saturday:
1. Spectator entrance will be free.
2. Please remember that teams are allowed to bring their own food and drink, but please make use of the designated eating areas outside.
3. There will be people selling food for the day.
4. Tables and chairs will be placed around the arena for the spectators and parents. We trust that this will contribute to their fun and enjoyment of the tournament.
Arena:
1. No practice rounds will be played when the competition starts.
2. Teams will be introduced during the Opening Ceremony. Team flags, banners and chants may be displayed or shouted etc. This is a walk through event, please keep it short (maximum 30 seconds)
Pit Area:
1. No parents will be allowed in the pit area.
2. After your 2nd warning, we will send a penalty form of your team to the judges to keep in consideration if you were to receive an award.
Judging Rooms:
Only the coach and Mentor allowed in the judging areas with their team
I’ve received many comments from judges during the previous tournaments that coaches and mentors interfere with team presentations; answers etc. It will not be allowed on this tournament; the judges will ask a coach or mentor to leave the room immediately in such an event. The only time that this will be allowed, is on special request if there is a language translations problem (at the latest during the coaches meeting)
Additional Awards:
1. Pit Table Award: This award will go to the team who can integrate their project, robot and teamwork best in a visual display on their table.
2. The pit table award will not contribute in any way to the rankings of the Championship Award.
International Participation 2010 (SA Championship 2009):
Only championship award winners will be considered for international participation.
Teams are responsible for raising their own funds to participate internationally.
No teams are allowed to communicate directly with the international event organizers. All communication will be directed through TUT. Non compliance with this rule will force TUT to withdraw the invitation immediately.
The deadline for accepting international invitations is January 31, 2009. No extensions will be given.
A team accepting the invitation will be required to:
Pay their registration fee before / upon acceptance and
Produce sufficient proof that they have the funds available to participate
We received invitations to 3 International Tournaments:
1) World championship, Atlanta, USA, 15-17 April 2010 (Team registration fees $1000)
2) European Championship, Istanbul, Turkey, 22-24 April 2010 (Registration fee Euro 200 per person Including 2 dinners + soft drinks, 3 lunches, children’s festival, airport and hotel transfers)
3) Open International Championship, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 6-8 May 2010 (Team registration fee $1000, Friendship night $10 - $20, Hotel $65 - $80/double bed/day)
The Champions Award winners will have the first option to choose an international tournament, The Champions Award Runners up will have second option and the Champions Award 3rd Place will have 3rd option.
While we all compete for the big prize I would like to urge all teams to again have a look at the core values of FIRST LEGO League. We are the only sport which really accepts the notion of gracious professionalism. It is of utmost importance that we show this in all that we do.
Thank you
Johannes de Vries
http://www.fllsa.org.za/
http://www.firstlegoleague.org/
Program for the South African Championship
Date: 12 December 2009
Venue: Sci-Bono Centre (Newtown Johannesburg)
Cost: The team members will be billed for the team entrance fee and the team T-Shirt and some ancillaries and sundries after the event.
(Parents need not to be concerned, the fee will not break the bank!)
Transport: Vis 16 seater bus. Chirpybots depart from Cornwall Hill College Technology Centre at 6am and return about 6pm. Students will call to inform parents of the exact time.
Admin: All team members must bring their completed and signed consent/release form along.
Meals: Please bring money for breakfast, lunch and supper.
Program:
1. Volunteers Arrive 7h15
2. Team Registration 7h30 – 8h00
3. Judges / Coaches meeting 8h10
4. Opening Ceremony 8h20
Keynote Speaker
Introducing the Judges & Referee’s
Introducing the Teams
5. Judging Starts 9h10
6. Lunch Break 12h30
7. Game play in Arena 13h00
8. Closing Ceremony 16h30
Medal Presentations 16h30
Awards 16h50
9. Bus departs directly after awards and the team will stop at a take away for supper.
Venue: Sci-Bono Centre (Newtown Johannesburg)
Cost: The team members will be billed for the team entrance fee and the team T-Shirt and some ancillaries and sundries after the event.
(Parents need not to be concerned, the fee will not break the bank!)
Transport: Vis 16 seater bus. Chirpybots depart from Cornwall Hill College Technology Centre at 6am and return about 6pm. Students will call to inform parents of the exact time.
Admin: All team members must bring their completed and signed consent/release form along.
Meals: Please bring money for breakfast, lunch and supper.
Program:
1. Volunteers Arrive 7h15
2. Team Registration 7h30 – 8h00
3. Judges / Coaches meeting 8h10
4. Opening Ceremony 8h20
Keynote Speaker
Introducing the Judges & Referee’s
Introducing the Teams
5. Judging Starts 9h10
6. Lunch Break 12h30
7. Game play in Arena 13h00
8. Closing Ceremony 16h30
Medal Presentations 16h30
Awards 16h50
9. Bus departs directly after awards and the team will stop at a take away for supper.
Teamwork Interview - draft
1) NB! Remember COMMUNICATE what you say...that means it is more important for the Judges to understand what youre saying than just rambling off your lines!
To do that you need to speak slowly and clearly and in a conversational manner. You also need to UNDERSTAND what youre saying.
2) NB! DO NOT FIDGET, AND LOOK AT THE JUDGE WHEN YOU ARE SPEAKING. The rest of the group must look at, and be interested in, what the speaker is saying.
3) Each time that you speak in the group where every members speaks about themselves or eachother you need to illustrate what you are saying with a little story.
4) Stand up straight
CHIRPYBOTS 2009 – TEAMWORK INTERVIEW
All:
Greet Judges enthusiastically
Emile:
Judges it is my pleasure to introduce you to the ....CHIRPYBOTS!
We will be taking you through our experience of the 2009 Smart move season.
Andrew will be talking about the tasks and areas each member was in charge of.
Andrew:
It is very important for a group not to end up doing the same work and not work against each other.
This way everyone knows what they are doing and everyone has contributed.
We divided what we and to do so that if anyone was sick or unavailable any day, during practice or the competition there was someone else who could happily fill their shoes.
Liam and Alex (raising hands) are the expert builders of our killer robot.
Timothy, Michael and Estee (raising hands) prepared the teamwork interview and did the basic research for our project.
Emile and I (raising hands) focused on programming while we all worked together with Mr. Buys writing the presentation.
We have two teams running the robot on the table with the best team doing the final round.
We all took part in the technical interview, the teamwork interview and our rocking presentation. But mostly Mr Buys made sure that we had FUN.
Michael:
Mr. Buys taught us the value of managing our time to make sure that everyone knew exactly when their jobs had to be complete.
This was especially true for linked jobs that depended on one person having completed their work so that the next person could carry on from there.
For example the builders needed to finish the robot so that the programmers can program the robot and the researchers need to get the basic research done before the presenters could write the presentation.
I can honestly say that we were never panicked about deadlines even though we did have to work hard at stages.
Niel:
We are very lucky to have a values program at our school where all the register teachers reward a value badge for the value of the month, to the person in class who deserves it most.
Shows the school values poster to the judges and talks about it.
As Estee received the values badge in her class for grace we chose her as the obvious choice to speak about gracious professionalism.
Estee:
Mr. Buys asked us to look up the words gracious and professional as it was one of the major things that you judges will look at to determine what would make up a good team.
Under gracious the dictionary describes words such as affable, congenial, and courteous.
Under professionalism we found proficient, skilled and specialized.
But after talking about it we realised that when you use the two words together it means that while we are very competitive we do not injure people with our words or actions.
That goes for our teammates, competing teams and judges.
We are hard on standards and soft on people.
I think it basically means that we have to respect eachother. I, for example respect Andrew:
For being fiercely competitive and continuing to work on the robot when everyone else said it was not necessary
(Estee point illustrates with little story)
Asks Judges: Can we give you some more examples?
Alex:
I respect Emile for changing the groups mood and making sure we are never too serious.
(Alex illustrates point with a little story)
Tim:
I respect Liam for continuing to build and rebuild the robot.
(Tim illustrates point with little story)
Michael:
I respect Timothy for never being down and making life interesting.
(Michael illustrates point with little story)
Emile:
I respect Estee for pulling a rabbit out of the hat when no one else could find one and baking a delicious cake.
(Emile illustrates point with a little story)
Andrew:
I respect Sean for being forever curious.
(Andrew illustrates point with a little story)
Niel:
I respect Michael for making sure we’re never illogical.
(Niel illustrates point with a little story.)
Sean:
I respect Alex for persevering and giving up camp to help us.
Estee:
We learned that we can use gracious professionalism everywhere and to be humble when you win and gracious when are beaten.
It makes us understand our parents better and we most notice it in successful people who get erespect and support from persons even though these people will gain nothing for themselves by doing it.
We also see it any place where there is competition such as sport.
We realized that everyone is just normal people who have feelings and weaknessesn and that to be successful one has to work around those weaknesses:
Alex:
I was too independant, but I had to change because I worked in a structured team.
Timothy:
I guess you could say I had bad karma but I soon discovered that with a positive attidude I could just get more from everybody else
Emile:
I loved to overcomplicate things but I very quickly realised that it was better to keep things simple because if you make things complicated you just confuse people.
Estee:
I am a bit of a stress queen but I soon had to stop because I learnt that I could trust may teammates and that there was no time to stress.
Andrew:
I was a bit rigid and didn’t want to try new things before I completed one whole thing before starting another. I realized that it is okay to stop halfway with something and start with a new idea, especially if it shows promise.
Sean:
I didn’t take anything serious , which was soon fixed since we had many tight deadlines.
Michael:
I guess you think I asked too many questions? I soon realised that it was not that hard to figure out things from the manual and thinking about it.
Liam:
I was way too quiet! Which did not reeeeally work because I had too come out of my shell to act in the presentation and interviews.
Andrew:
Moving on to the problem and solution for the research project.We actually only settled on the final idea after the regional competition where we still had three solutions that we thought were all equally good. But we realize that it counted against us in the presentation because we might have confused the judges.
We live in an area where three major highways converge within 5 km of our school. Allthough, if I now think about it, the biggest transportation problem that our community has is traffic congestion we took a while before we settled on what we would like to try to research and solve.
That is the N1, The N14 and the R21. On top of that we, Irene are allways on the traffic report due to the bottleneck taht gets created at the railwaybridge on Nellmapius road. Not really the claim to fame one would like to have.
We eventually decided to tackle to the problem of traffic congestion after many strategy meetings where we discussed many ideas and possible sollutions. Once we decided we could see the problem literally everywhere and everyday as parent became frustrated due to endless traffic queues that made us late for school or when we had to leave waaaaay before an appointment just because we could not reliably say that we would arrive on time if we left any later.
Sean:
We realise now that the big picture is to reduce traffic as it affects us, our parents, our teachers in short everybody’s
emotional state
job security
physical safety
family time
free time and the country’s productivity.
Together we made decisions after hearing everyone’s ideas.
We trusted each other to do what was required as there was actually no time to nitpick and shoot down peoples ideas. We had a good and clear vision of whatr we wanted to do and went ahead and really tried to look at something that could solve a very complex issue.
We all attended meetings and practices and if one of us was absent they took the intitiative to catch up what they had missed.
We eagerly helped each other when there was a problem so that no one would feel excluded.
We worked together as a team, had fun as a team and enjoyed the competition.
We all learnt a lot at FLL and realised closely science, math, IT and technology are linked with Robotics and how much fun it can really be.
We gained so many new skills:
(each member illustrates what he/she means by the following statements to site an example)
Tim:
I learnt to listen to my group members
Sean:
I learnt to concentrate
Andrew:
I learnt programming and perseverance
Liam:
I learnt to share my opinion and I learnt time management.
Emile:
I learnt patience
Michael:
I learnt teamwork and found that teamwork isn’t actually that bad
Alex:
I learnt to use others ideas when in a team
Estee:
I learnt to think rationally and work with different personalities
Emile:
Judges were more than happy to answer any other questions you may have and when youre finished may we sing you our team song?
To do that you need to speak slowly and clearly and in a conversational manner. You also need to UNDERSTAND what youre saying.
2) NB! DO NOT FIDGET, AND LOOK AT THE JUDGE WHEN YOU ARE SPEAKING. The rest of the group must look at, and be interested in, what the speaker is saying.
3) Each time that you speak in the group where every members speaks about themselves or eachother you need to illustrate what you are saying with a little story.
4) Stand up straight
CHIRPYBOTS 2009 – TEAMWORK INTERVIEW
All:
Greet Judges enthusiastically
Emile:
Judges it is my pleasure to introduce you to the ....CHIRPYBOTS!
We will be taking you through our experience of the 2009 Smart move season.
Andrew will be talking about the tasks and areas each member was in charge of.
Andrew:
It is very important for a group not to end up doing the same work and not work against each other.
This way everyone knows what they are doing and everyone has contributed.
We divided what we and to do so that if anyone was sick or unavailable any day, during practice or the competition there was someone else who could happily fill their shoes.
Liam and Alex (raising hands) are the expert builders of our killer robot.
Timothy, Michael and Estee (raising hands) prepared the teamwork interview and did the basic research for our project.
Emile and I (raising hands) focused on programming while we all worked together with Mr. Buys writing the presentation.
We have two teams running the robot on the table with the best team doing the final round.
We all took part in the technical interview, the teamwork interview and our rocking presentation. But mostly Mr Buys made sure that we had FUN.
Michael:
Mr. Buys taught us the value of managing our time to make sure that everyone knew exactly when their jobs had to be complete.
This was especially true for linked jobs that depended on one person having completed their work so that the next person could carry on from there.
For example the builders needed to finish the robot so that the programmers can program the robot and the researchers need to get the basic research done before the presenters could write the presentation.
I can honestly say that we were never panicked about deadlines even though we did have to work hard at stages.
Niel:
We are very lucky to have a values program at our school where all the register teachers reward a value badge for the value of the month, to the person in class who deserves it most.
Shows the school values poster to the judges and talks about it.
As Estee received the values badge in her class for grace we chose her as the obvious choice to speak about gracious professionalism.
Estee:
Mr. Buys asked us to look up the words gracious and professional as it was one of the major things that you judges will look at to determine what would make up a good team.
Under gracious the dictionary describes words such as affable, congenial, and courteous.
Under professionalism we found proficient, skilled and specialized.
But after talking about it we realised that when you use the two words together it means that while we are very competitive we do not injure people with our words or actions.
That goes for our teammates, competing teams and judges.
We are hard on standards and soft on people.
I think it basically means that we have to respect eachother. I, for example respect Andrew:
For being fiercely competitive and continuing to work on the robot when everyone else said it was not necessary
(Estee point illustrates with little story)
Asks Judges: Can we give you some more examples?
Alex:
I respect Emile for changing the groups mood and making sure we are never too serious.
(Alex illustrates point with a little story)
Tim:
I respect Liam for continuing to build and rebuild the robot.
(Tim illustrates point with little story)
Michael:
I respect Timothy for never being down and making life interesting.
(Michael illustrates point with little story)
Emile:
I respect Estee for pulling a rabbit out of the hat when no one else could find one and baking a delicious cake.
(Emile illustrates point with a little story)
Andrew:
I respect Sean for being forever curious.
(Andrew illustrates point with a little story)
Niel:
I respect Michael for making sure we’re never illogical.
(Niel illustrates point with a little story.)
Sean:
I respect Alex for persevering and giving up camp to help us.
Estee:
We learned that we can use gracious professionalism everywhere and to be humble when you win and gracious when are beaten.
It makes us understand our parents better and we most notice it in successful people who get erespect and support from persons even though these people will gain nothing for themselves by doing it.
We also see it any place where there is competition such as sport.
We realized that everyone is just normal people who have feelings and weaknessesn and that to be successful one has to work around those weaknesses:
Alex:
I was too independant, but I had to change because I worked in a structured team.
Timothy:
I guess you could say I had bad karma but I soon discovered that with a positive attidude I could just get more from everybody else
Emile:
I loved to overcomplicate things but I very quickly realised that it was better to keep things simple because if you make things complicated you just confuse people.
Estee:
I am a bit of a stress queen but I soon had to stop because I learnt that I could trust may teammates and that there was no time to stress.
Andrew:
I was a bit rigid and didn’t want to try new things before I completed one whole thing before starting another. I realized that it is okay to stop halfway with something and start with a new idea, especially if it shows promise.
Sean:
I didn’t take anything serious , which was soon fixed since we had many tight deadlines.
Michael:
I guess you think I asked too many questions? I soon realised that it was not that hard to figure out things from the manual and thinking about it.
Liam:
I was way too quiet! Which did not reeeeally work because I had too come out of my shell to act in the presentation and interviews.
Andrew:
Moving on to the problem and solution for the research project.We actually only settled on the final idea after the regional competition where we still had three solutions that we thought were all equally good. But we realize that it counted against us in the presentation because we might have confused the judges.
We live in an area where three major highways converge within 5 km of our school. Allthough, if I now think about it, the biggest transportation problem that our community has is traffic congestion we took a while before we settled on what we would like to try to research and solve.
That is the N1, The N14 and the R21. On top of that we, Irene are allways on the traffic report due to the bottleneck taht gets created at the railwaybridge on Nellmapius road. Not really the claim to fame one would like to have.
We eventually decided to tackle to the problem of traffic congestion after many strategy meetings where we discussed many ideas and possible sollutions. Once we decided we could see the problem literally everywhere and everyday as parent became frustrated due to endless traffic queues that made us late for school or when we had to leave waaaaay before an appointment just because we could not reliably say that we would arrive on time if we left any later.
Sean:
We realise now that the big picture is to reduce traffic as it affects us, our parents, our teachers in short everybody’s
emotional state
job security
physical safety
family time
free time and the country’s productivity.
Together we made decisions after hearing everyone’s ideas.
We trusted each other to do what was required as there was actually no time to nitpick and shoot down peoples ideas. We had a good and clear vision of whatr we wanted to do and went ahead and really tried to look at something that could solve a very complex issue.
We all attended meetings and practices and if one of us was absent they took the intitiative to catch up what they had missed.
We eagerly helped each other when there was a problem so that no one would feel excluded.
We worked together as a team, had fun as a team and enjoyed the competition.
We all learnt a lot at FLL and realised closely science, math, IT and technology are linked with Robotics and how much fun it can really be.
We gained so many new skills:
(each member illustrates what he/she means by the following statements to site an example)
Tim:
I learnt to listen to my group members
Sean:
I learnt to concentrate
Andrew:
I learnt programming and perseverance
Liam:
I learnt to share my opinion and I learnt time management.
Emile:
I learnt patience
Michael:
I learnt teamwork and found that teamwork isn’t actually that bad
Alex:
I learnt to use others ideas when in a team
Estee:
I learnt to think rationally and work with different personalities
Emile:
Judges were more than happy to answer any other questions you may have and when youre finished may we sing you our team song?
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