Prairieland Nanobots

This is my latest video creation. It is a video/photo montage that follows the journey of the Prairieland Nanobots Robotics team from their humble beginnings in the hallways of their school, to the Regional and State competitions. This team was without a doubt, bad to the bone.

Prairieland Nanobots Moving on to State!

The Nanobots finished 10th overall out of 35 teams at the regional tournament, qualifying them to move on to the State Championship in January. They also had a 3rd place finish for Robot design which provided them with a certificate to present to their school. Most importantly though, they had lots of fun.


































Nanobots perform their research presentation for the crowd after being identified as having one of the most entertaining presentations the judges had seen.
Nanobots savor their victory

Nanobots Participate in Scrimmage

The Prairieland Nanobots and 28 other central Illinois teams participated in a First Lego League (FLL) robotics scrimmage on Saturday November 4th. The event was held in the gymnasium of Peoria's Lincoln High School, and was the first opportunity for these teams to showcase the robots they've designed for this years robotics challenge.

Below are some photos of the Nanobots at the scrimmage. Enjoy!

The Nanobots pose with some of their coaches at their pit area.

One of two competition tables at the scrimmage.

The Nanobots at a practice table.



The Nanobots compete.


The Nanobots enjoy a laugh while repairing their robot after it split in two when it became entangled with the space elevator during one of the 3 runs.

Overall things went very well. The Nanobots scored a high of 91 on the last run, which more than tripled the 30 points scored on the first run. We learned alot from our own robot, and I think we may have even picked up some ideas from the other teams. We'll start to work on those ideas next week, and hopefully we'll be ready for the Regional competition coming up in four weeks.

2006 Prairieland Robotics Club Gets Under Way

For the second consecutive year, Prairieland Elementary students are participating in a Robotics Club. The goal is similar to last year, design and build a robot using the lego mindstorms system, and enter competition with other schools in the F.I.R.S.T Lego League. Most of all though, the plan is to have fun, and if we're lucky, the kids will learn some stuff along the way.

Last year the Prairieland Explorers garnered a 3rd place victory at Regional, and then went on to capture 3rd place at the State competition. Last years competition was called the Ocean Odyssey.

This years robotic challenge is called Nano Quest. Both the research project and the robot missions will involve concepts related to Nanotechnology. According to the FIRST Lego League site, "Nanotechnology is a new scientific frontier that will impact many facets of society, such as medicine, computers, and the environment."

Here is a list of the missions and the maximum points involved with each.

Individual Atom Manipulation - 40 Points

Smell - 20 Points

Stain-Resistant Fabric - 60 Points

Atomic Force Microscopy - 40 Points

Self Assembly - 30 Points

Smart Medicine - 50 Points

Nanotube Strength - 40 Points

Molecular Motor - 40 Points

Space Elevator - 40 Points

Complete 6 Missions - 20 Bonus Points

There are two separate robotics teams at Prairieland, this blog will be chronicling the journey of one of them, the Prairieland Nanobots.

Update 10/18/2006
The Prairieland Nanobots have been divided up into smaller sub teams. Researchers, Builders, Programmers, and Programmer/Testers. They've made some progress in developing the nano-tube strength mission, the dirt trap mission, the space elevator mission, and have begun to put together some research. Next week will be a continuation of the same. Once these initial missions have been mastered, the Nanobots will begin to add additional missions to their repertoire.

Here is the tournament schedule for the Nanobots.
November 4th (Saturday) scrimmage in Peoria.
December 9th (Saturday) Regional tournament in Peoria.
January 13th (Saturday) State tournament in Arlington Heights (if we qualify in Regional).

Prairieland Explorers go to State!

January 14, 2006:
After capturing 3rd place at the Regional Tournament in Peoria, the Prairieland Explorers robotics club moved on to the State Competition in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago. Up against over 100 teams, the Explorers pulled out a 3rd place State victory and also won the Spirit award for team enthusiasm.

Below are some photos that chronicle this adventure. You can also view video of the robot in action at the tournament by clicking here, or here. There is also video of the 3rd Place Award Presentation, and the Spirit Award Presentation.

Enjoy!

The Explorers iron out their strategy in the school library.

The competition floor. Loved the giant flat panel viewing screens.

The Explorers posing with their Coaches.

Each of the Explorers got a cougars paw painted on their face.

An Explorer carries the team placard. The mention of a middle school is a misprint, the Explorers are in Elementary school. The team consists of 4th and 5th grade students.

The Explorers getting in some practice on the practice table.

Another view of the practice table.

The Explorers robot is positioned for first run.

The Explorers cheer as their robot completes another maneuver flawlessly.

The Explorers grabbed 3rd place on their first run, and held that spot throughout the competition. They are listed as team 1528. The score of 305 for the first round was later raised to 335 due to a scoring error by the judges. To see a listing of all the teams final scores, click
here.

The Explorers accept the 3rd place trophy.

Alex poses with the two trophies brought back from State.

Prairieland Elementary Principal (Kurt Swearingen) is presented with the two trophies awarded at the State tournament.