State Tournament Results

The teams at the tournament were all excellent, top-notch teams with engaging projects and remarkable robots, so we had stiff competition.

  

TEAM Temp-Assure's FLL state tournament experience -  64 teams, stiff competition, robot troubles, teamwork, and..... 2nd place INSPIRATION AWARD!!! (one of the three kinds of teamwork awards). The judges thought our team was inspiring to other teams and to each other. We were nominated for the following three awards as well:

1. Gracious Professionalism
2. Research
3. Inspiration
4. (Another team also nominated us for the Against All Odds award, but in the awards ceremony, we were not officially nominated for it)

We were thrilled to have the judges recognize the work our team has done in the community to start, support, and inspire other FLL teams. We are all overjoyed to have received one of the top nine kinds of interview awards, and to have ranked 15th place in robot scoring.

  

Now we have another Lego trophy to add to our collection. TEAM Temp-Assure is still in surprised and excited shock, smiles everywhere. What an inspiring, and satisfactory day!

~Madeline

STATE!

State!!! We're a day away from the state tournament now! Oh so excited! Pack up the robot, gather the boards, ready your smiles, and all the rest, let's do our best! Ready? Can't wait to go, awards or no! Fun, fun, look out state, here we come!

-Madeline

Regional Tournament 2011

At the tournament yesterday our team had fourth place in robot score and we did great in the interviews.  Our team got the CHAMPIONS AWARD!  (That means that of the 30+ teams in attendance yesterday that we had the best overall team score).   And, we were nominated for robot design, project presentation, and core-values.  To say that we are excited, is a bit of an under-statement.  A lot of hard work and dedication, especially in the past 2 weeks, has really paid off.

We are moving on to the state competition in 3 weeks!  We want to have fun more than anything else, but we are going to keep working hard to improve our robot scores and we will continue to work on core values and teamwork.  We hope that the other teams have fun at state too and wish them the best of luck as well.

Good job to all the other teams, they did great.

Thanks for reading,

Avery

Click here for more pictures of our tournament.

Twas the Night before the Tournament

'Twas the night before tourney, as observed by this gal,
Ev'ry teammate was stirring - even our robot, "Pal."
The pictures were placed in the binder with care,
In hopes that blue ribbons soon would be theirs.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of robots danced in their heads.
And the robot in its charger, and the team with white caps,
Had just settled their brains for a long night's nap.

They dreamed of the tournament all through the night.
Lights above the game table, fluorescent and bright,
Shone down on the LEGOs. Oh, what a sight!
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a team of seven children, eager to cheer.

They sprang to the table. The ref blew the whistle.
Away flew the robot as fast as a missile.
The team kept on cheering, 'til match finals were nearing,
And how does it all end? Come out and see, my friend!
---

Where? We'll be at the Marquette High School tournament. It starts at 8 am and goes until 5 pm. Judging interviews are in the morning, robot competitions in the early afternoon, and then come the awards! Hope to see you there.

~Madeline

Eight Days Until Marquette

Our team is competing at the Marquette tournament in eight days. WOW!

As far as being ready, ...we still have work to do.  Our skit is still being worked on, the project needs a model, the robot needs programming, and the binder needs organizing.

However, we have the team banner stand put together, the team pictures have been taken, and we are all having fun!

Our team is formally presenting our project tonight for the Waukesha 4-Leaf 4-H club because we are not ready with the skit yet. The skit is our way of presenting our project and inovative solution to the judges at the tournament.

Our team name is TEAM Temp - Assure and the product name and slogan for our inovative solution is Infra Temp!  The temptastic way to test your food. Do you like it?

Thanks for reading,
Avery

The Past Week

In the past week we have gotten together more often and we have programed two missions!  We are working 3 or 4 more missions also.  The skit is coming along, and so is the binder to show to the judges all our research.   We are also going to work on the display boards soon.

The Marquette tournament is two weeks away and we are going to be there.

This weekend, we built the stand for our banner.  With a little paint, we will be ready for the tournament and EVERYONE will be able to spot us coming! 

We are also hopeful that we can do some fundraising before the tournament too.

Thanks for reading,

Avery

The Tournament Is Coming Up Very Fast

The first tournament is in ONE WEEK.

The team is hoping that we will be at the tournament in the third week of November. The girls are making the survey and designing the binder.  The boys are designing the robot.  The name of our project has been decided and we have some ideas for the team name.

Side note;
We are hoping that you will take our survey.   The link is below.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6XF7D5P


Thanks for reading
Avery

The Survey Is Back Open

The survey is back open.  We are trying to get more information on what people think of our idea.  If you haven't taken the survey, please do, or email it to friends.  The survey may be open for two or three weeks so please do it as soon as you can.  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6XF7D5P

If you read one of the earlier posts, you my have read that we had Sara from the Waukesha County Heath Department come to the meeting this week.  Well, she gave us lots of things to think about, and lots of information too.  Thank you for coming Sara and Dianna.

Thanks for reading
Avery

The Last Day To Take The Survey

Sunday is the last day to take the survey.  So, if you haven't taken the survey, please take it.   If you have started yours and have to finish it, please do so by Sunday. (See link below). The survey is for anyone, of any age, even kids can take it! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6XF7D5P Thanks.

Thanks for reading.
Avery

The Skit And Robot

We are making progress!

The team is doing well so far.  Our robot is going well and has been made thinner.  We also have a basic skit done.

We have had a few people respond to our Survey Monkey survery but we are still  hoping that more people will take our survey.  It only takes a few minutes.  Here's the link if you need it: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6XF7D5P

The tournament is only a few weeks away.

We are Having Sara  from the Heath Department come to our meeting on Monday to help us learn more about food safety.

Things to work on:

We have to come up with the team name and the name of our project.
We also have to write the skit and work on the robot.
The banner still needs a design.
We need to build the model of the project.

Side note:

Our board is built, but a few of the pieces are the wrong color, so we are contacting the Lego company to tell them.  At least the pieces that are incorrect are the fish and the cow and things like that, not the most essential pieces.

Thank you for reading.
Avery

Making The Skit And Building The Robot

At the meeting the boys worked on the robot and the girls worked on the skit. The skit is based on a nursery rhyme that we are changing up to add the things that we want to tell the judges.
The robot is going good so far and they are making it thinner.
The team name is undecided so far, and the binder still needs a design. The Banner needs to be designed too. The hats are on their way. The t-shirts are being embroidered.
There are only three weeks and a few days until the tournament.

Thanks for reading.
Avery

Here's The Survey

This is the survey that Avery made on Survey Monkey. Please take our survey. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6XF7D5P

The Meeting on Wednesday

At the meeting we chose our project and we began working on the robot and the banner design.  We split into two groups; building and project "teams." The building group will be in charge of building the robot and programming the missions.  The project team will be responsible for doing more extensive research on our project and exploring options to present our idea to the judges.

One other important part of our meeting was developing a strategy for the project board for the robot.  We think we have a good plan in place but, we will continue to work on it together as we continue to meet.

We put together a survey today using Survey Monkey so we can gather information about our research project.  We are hopeful that we can present our idea to trusted family and friends to see if there is an interest in our project, to find out how practical our innovative solution is, and whether or not they would use our idea.

Thank you for reading.
Avery

Building The Board

Last week Friday we built the board. It turns out that we have the right pieces but they are the wrong color.
So the board is built but five or six pieces are the wrong color. We had a great time building it. It was so much fun! We Built the board over two meetings and one build the board date. We had to make a few adjustments to finish it up but we're done.


Avery      

Meeting on Wednesday 9/21/11

At the meeting on Wednesday, an idea was smashed, by the same person as always, ALEX, THE IDEA SMASHER!  Simply put him in charge of researching your ideas, and he’ll come back and tell you it’s already invented!

    

     The idea had to do with a temperature taking device.  It was a really cool idea, but ALEX smashed it!  Thanks, Alex.  We found a way to make something new out of it. The meeting went well, and nobody left up-set, as always.

     Thanks for the help mentors and coach!!!

Avery

Field-trip to Pick-N-Save to meet our expert.

     This year the team went to Pick-N-Save for a field trip.  We got to see the back of the store as well as the kitchen and storage areas.  We all thought it was cool to see the parts of the store that you never really get to see just shopping there. 

     We learned a lot of really cool stuff. Did you know that the Pick-N-Save puts food out in a very neat way?  To find out how, keep reading.  

     Pick-N-Save puts the food out in the order it came in.  For example, let’s say that there is one truck full of milk coming in today.  So, that load of milk goes in the front of the room.   Then, before the first truck of milk is gone, the second load comes in and goes it the back of the room.  When the first load of milk is gone, they start on the second load.  Then, when the third load of milk comes in, they put the second load in front and the third in the back.  By doing this, they ensure that the oldest products get used first.   

     The manager of the store, David, also showed us the freezers, coolers and food prep areas, as well as the meat storage and prep area.  We were also surprised to learn that they have different areas for cutting and preparing different types of meat.  They have an area for beef, pork, chicken and seafood.  They do this to prevent cross-contamination between the species.  The chicken even has it’s own room because it is the most common source of food contamination. 

    David showed us all the behind the scenes areas of the store and included lots of food safety information; everything from temperature control, pest control, storing of inventory, and general food safety as it pertains to the employees. 

     The fieldtrip to talk to our expert, David, was very informative and fun!

Thanks for reading.

 Avery

A New Season, A New Team

The team this year is a little different.  This year there are two new team members, and one new mentor. The new team members are Avery and Hannah. Hannah is a past team member that is rejoining the team. She and her older brother were on the team back when we first started.  Her older brother, Andrew, is the new mentor on the team. Avery is joining for the first time this year. The full team this year is Madeline, Curtis, Jessica, Spencer, Hannah, Avery, and Alex. As for mentors this year, we have Andrew and Daniel who were both original team mebers from back when we first began.

The new year always has new problems.  One of our problems this year, is the board is late, thankfully though there is plenty to do until the board comes.  We need to decide on the final project, and get to working out the last few kinks with our project.

Thanks for your time.

Avery   

State!

State went great. The robot scored pretty well, but the project even higher. The booth was flooded with judges. The excitement level rose. The pressure was on.

After a full day of robot matches, teamwork, and project excitement, we came to the awards ceremony. As the awards were being announced, the team grew tense. "And the first place Innovative Solution award goes to..... 3176!!!" announced a judge. "That's us!" we exclaimed.

All the research and thinking put into our project payed off. TEAM FIRST Aid went home with a grand golden LEGO trophy!

Afterwards we headed to Culver's to celebrate.

You can see our state tournament pictures here.

Now we are looking forward to another year of teamwork, programing, and innovation!

~Madeline