Robotics team make friends around the world

The Langton Lions have been sharing their experiences at the FIRST® LEGO® League Open European Championship in Germany. 

The team of five from Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys in Canterbury represented the UK at the event earlier this month, competing against 56 teams from 34 countries.

During the four-day event in Paderborn they presented their project aimed at improving the quality of life for elderly people – a daily dispensing medicine box – as well as programming their LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education robot to complete a set of missions on an obstacle course.

And the team – James Meakin, Carlos Purchase-Galarza, Tom Roblin, Ross Price and Ollie English – along with their LEGO MINDSTORMS Education robot UniBot, reached the quarter finals of the competition and were awarded second place in the Strategy and Innovation Award category. The Champions’ Award went to the team ApoioBot from Brazil.

In the Quarter Finals the robot was having its best round and was on target for a very high score – possibly beating the World Record – before going wrong.

Team member Carlos said: “I am very disappointed that the robot did not achieve what we knew it could but the experience of just being at such an amazing competition is unbelievable – I will never forget it.”

Team mate Tom added: “The best thing was meeting and talking with children from other countries and cultures. My entire FIRST LEGO League experience has taught me that it’s not all about winning, it’s about the enjoyment. I also learnt a lot about working in a team and playing to each other’s strengths.”

Fellow team member James said: “I’ve made loads of new friends in Australia, Lebanon, Israel and Brazil, among other places, and we’ve already been in contact since the championships.”

And one of the team mentors said: “This has been an incredible journey for all the boys.  You simply cannot experience anything like this anywhere and I hope that they get the chance to experience it again.”

To find out more about the FLL competition in the UK, take a look at this YouTube video made by the UK organisers, The Institution of Engineering and Technology or visit the website.

Find out more about the new robot in class

Are you keen to find out more about LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education EV3? Then take a look at the new films highlighting the special features of the platform.

Announced in January, the EV3 platform is the third generation of LEGO® Education robotics technology, offering students the chance to build and program a fully functioning robot in just 45 minutes.

In these short ‘Quick Tips’ films LEGO Education Technical Support expert Tim Lankford will help you discover more about the EV3′s Colour Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Intelligent Brick, Infrared Sensor and Beacon, Large Servo Motor, Medium Servo Motor, Touch Sensor and Ultrasonic Sensor.

LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 is a full teaching solution developed with educators to actively engage students in a number of key curriculum areas such as computer science, science, technology, engineering and maths correlated to national standards.

The EV3 platform includes customisable curriculum and digital workbooks; a hardware platform based on real-world robotics technology for engaging, hands-on activities; an intuitive software platform consisting of both programming and data-logging interface including 48 step-by-step tutorials.

The LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Core Set comes with the EV3 Brick, rechargeable battery, sensors, motors, large brick selection, a new ball wheel, and building instructions.

Also available is the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Expansion Set, which enables students to build larger-scale, more complex robots. For easy classroom management, both the base education set and the expansion set have storage bins and sorting trays.

For information on how to implement LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 in your school, visit www.LEGOeducation.com/MINDSTORMS

Inspiring the next generation of robotics experts

More than 400 youngsters from across Wales are getting hands-on with robotics in a series of free workshops and clubs, thanks to Technocamps.

The Technocamps team offers Technoclubs and workshops on computing and STEM-related topics to 11 to 19-year-olds in schools and colleges around the country.

The project includes workshops using LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education resources, in which students are given the opportunity to learn how to program their own robots.

Stewart Powell, Workshop Developer for the Technocamps project based at Swansea University, has been running a number of successful workshops with pupils from the Swansea area.

He said: “Pupils have thoroughly enjoyed working with the LEGO MINDSTORMS kits and thrived at the chance to create and program different robots to complete a variety of different challenges.”

In addition to the workshops, around 40 schools from across Wales are currently working on their LEGO MINDSTORMS projects for the Robotics of the Future competition due to be held at the Big Bang Cymru at the University of Glamorgan on July 3. The competition was recently featured on BBC Wales Today.

Built on the success of last year’s event, the day will see almost 250 pupils showcasing their projects and competing against each other in a bid to become the Robotics of the Future champions.

The Technocamps project is a European-funded initiative led by Swansea University in partnership with Aberystwyth, Bangor and Glamorgan Universities. To-date the project has engaged with more than 4,000 students through a variety of workshops from basic programming to robotics.

For more on Technocamps and the resources it can offer your school, visit the Technocamps website and to find out more about LEGO MINDSTORMS Education visit the LEGO Education UK website.

Introducing The Carousel: a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® disc changer

Take a look at this amazing disc changer made using LEGO® MINDSTORMS®.

The ingenious device, made from around 3,000 parts, was created by a LEGO® fan called zwenkka to change XBox 360 discs. You can see a video of The Carousel in action on YouTube by clicking here or for more information visit Palikkatakomo.org, a Finnish LEGO hobbyist forum.

The changer which uses three NXTs is controlled via Bluetooth and a pneumatic system is used to operate the claws. The disc is selected by sending a message (between one and 32) to the changer. The changer then picks up the required disc from the spinning shelf which can hold up to 32 discs.

Seven NXT servos, an RC motor, a light sensor and two colour sensors were used in the device which takes about 42 seconds to change a disc.

Have you and your class made a brilliant creation using LEGO MINDSTORMS? Why not tell us about it and inspire other students!

For more on MINDSTORMS Education and EV3, the next generation of robotics for the classroom, visit the LEGO Education website.

Join the XPRIZE After Earth Challenge and help save Mankind!

Do your students have what it takes to save Mankind? Why not join the XPRIZE After Earth Challenge and find out?

The competition open to students aged between 13 and 17 (with an adult captain) has been launched to coincide with the release of the science-fiction film After Earth, in which humans are forced to evacuate Earth and colonise another planet.

In the first phase of the challenge, teams have to imagine themselves to be a Ranger cadet, exploring the relationship between survival and sustainability while completing a mission to send an unmanned rover to explore Nova Prime, the human race’s new home in After Earth. 

The teams have to make a two-minute video discussing how they promote environmental sustainability in their communities and describing the mission they would design to send an unmanned rover to explore a potential site for humanity’s next settlement. They then have to upload their video to http://xprizeafterearth.com, share their video and encourage friends and family to vote for it!

The top ten teams will receive a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® kit to use for their mission and an HD Sony Handycam to document their experience in phase two. The grand prize winner will picked by judges based on their work in this second phase, and will be featured on the US Blu-ray release of After Earth. 

Registration for phase one is now open and videos have to be submitted by June 7.  

For more information about the competition organised by Sony Pictures Entertainment and  Overbrook Entertainment along with XPRIZE, check out this YouTube video or visit the website.

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UK robotics team on the way to Germany

A team of schoolboys from Kent are gearing up for the challenge of a lifetime at the FIRST® LEGO® League Open European Championship in Germany. 

The Langton Lions from Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys in Canterbury were selected to represent the UK after competing in the National FLL Final at Loughborough University in January.

The five-strong team, all aged 13 or 14, will compete against 53 teams from 35 countries in the four-day event in Paderborn starting on Tuesday evening. In that time they will present their project aimed at improving the quality of life for elderly people – a daily dispensing medicine box – as well as programming their LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education robot to complete a set of missions on an obstacle course.

Picture courtesy of Langton Lions

James Meakin, Carlos Purchase-Galarza, Tom Roblin, Ross Price and Ollie English make up the team – along with their LEGO MINDSTORMS Education robot UniBot, a robot they have worked on for around 500 hours so far.

Carlos said: “The UniBot was conceived back in December 2011. It’s basically the NXT brick and the three servos configured as a drop-in unit to power various tools. It’s enabled us to be very flexible in our design progression by allowing us to completely change mission solutions in a modular manner. We can make changes in isolation thus not disturbing other mission solutions in the process.

“This has taken its toll on our time though; because it is so flexible, the possibilities are endless and we have gone through three generations of tools this year to finally get to the stage we are now. We have devoted in excess of 500 hours to the robot game so far.”

In respect of the other major component of the competition, James says: “The team’s project is based on an ingenious idea which we identified when we were researching the project we completed in the Nationals. It comprises a daily dispensing medicine box; a device enabling older people to store and manage their medication which is easy for the pharmacist to refill and allows the GP to change the dose remotely.”

Tom adds: “We are really excited about presenting this new idea in Paderborn which I think has far reaching and positive implications for the elderly everywhere – not just in the UK.”

Since the UK final in January, the team have been busy raising £5,000 in sponsorship from businesses to enable them to compete in the European event, and they’re now very excited about the trip.

Ross says: “I thought that reaching the Nationals was the ultimate but to go to Germany is incredible and to be the only team from UK, up against over 50 other teams from all over the world is awesome.  What an honour to be representing the UK.”

Ollie summarises the core values of the team: “FIRST LEGO League isn’t just about winning for the Langton Lions (although that is our ultimate aim). There are plenty of other factors that are significant such as teamwork, friendship, experience and learning.  After we leave on Tuesday,  we are going to have fun and meet lots of new people from many different countries, and whether we come back with the cup or not, we’ll remember the experience for the rest of our lives.”

Last weekend Untitled 1, the UK national FLL champions from Bath, won the Champion’s Award at the FLL World Festival in the United States. You can read more about their triumph here.

To find out more about the FLL competition in the UK, take a look at this YouTube video made by the UK organisers, The Institution of Engineering and Technology or visit the website.

LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education EV3 available for classrooms August 1

The LEGO^® MINDSTORMS^® Education EV3 platform for classrooms will begin shipping August 1, 2013.

Announced in January 2013, the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 platform is the third generation of LEGO Education robotics technology, offering students the chance to build and program a fully functioning robot in just 45 minutes.

It is a full teaching solution developed with educators to actively engage students in a number of key curriculum areas such as computer science, science, technology, engineering and maths correlated to national standards.

The EV3 platform includes customisable curriculum and digital workbooks; a hardware platform based on real-world robotics technology for engaging, hands-on activities; an intuitive software platform consisting of both programming and data-logging interface including 48 step-by-step tutorials.

The LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Core Set comes with the EV3 Brick, rechargeable battery, sensors, motors, large brick selection, a new ball wheel, and building instructions.

Also available is the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Expansion Set, which enables students to build larger-scale, more complex robots. For easy classroom management, both the base education set and the expansion set have storage bins and sorting trays.

For information on how to implement LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 in your school, visit www.LEGOeducation.com/MINDSTORMS

Watch all the World Festival robotics action live!

The FIRST® LEGO® League World Festival 2013 opens today (Wednesday) in Saint Louis in the United States – and you can watch the action live! 

The competition sees 80 teams of young robotics champs from around the world competing in challenges over the four-day event which begins with an opening ceremony tomorrow evening and finishes on Saturday (April 27).

Teams from as far afield as Slovenia, India, Mexico, China and New Zealand will be competing and the UK is being represented by Untitled 1, a team of students from two Bath schools, who won the national championships at Loughborough University in January.

The teams have had to build and program LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education robots to perform a series of challenges, as well as this year devising a project aimed at improving the quality of life for senior citizens. For more about the UK team, click here.

The FLL World Festival is part of the FIRST® Robotics Championships, which also includes the Junior FIRST® LEGO® League Expo, the FIRST® Tech Challenge World Championship and the FIRST® Robotics Competition Championship.

You can learn more about FIRST® Robotics Championships and FLL World Festival here: http://championship.usfirst.org/ and you will be able to watch live streaming here:  http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/robotics/

For more about the competition in the UK, visit the website.

Robot Days are a winner

A grammar school in Northern Ireland has been running special Robot Days for pupils using LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education.

The Wallace High School in Lisburn, has staged two events so far this year for Year 9 pupils and another Robot Day is planned in June.

Twenty students worked in teams of five to build robots using LEGO MINDSTORMS Education and then programmed them using NXT to investigate the use of the sensors. They then had to create programs for the robot and the day ended with an obstacle course challenge.

Ruth Foster, Head of Computing at the school, says the students were very enthusiastic. “They had a sense of satisfaction and achievement with a completed robot that they had been involved in building. And their confidence grew as they successfully solved problems when controlling the robots.”

She says the days increased the students’ understanding of sensors and their knowledge of software programming. And she says their enthusiasm for ICT and computing-related subjects had also increased.

Mrs Foster says that another year group would be given the opportunity to take part in the Robot Day in June and in the future the robots will be used to deliver some of the Key Stage 3 currciulum as part of programming lessons. 

“This will allow many more children to enjoy the experience as full year groups of 180 students will be involved,” she says.

For more information about LEGO MINDSTORMS Education, visit the website.

See the new EV3 Robot Arm in action

Take a look at the new LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education EV3 Robot Arm in action in the latest video on the LEGO® Education UK YouTube channel. 

The Robot Arm is just one of the models that can be made with the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Core Set, the next generation of robotics for the classroom, which is available to pre-order now and will arrive in the UK later this year.

On the LEGO Education UK YouTube channel, you can also see a film highlighting some of the features of the EV3 platform, alongside one of the EV3′s lead designers Lee Magpili,  talking about Gyro Boy and EVan – both created using LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3.

Lee also demonstrates the EV3 spinner production line and John Pinkney, Warwickshire ICT Advisor and LEGO Education Academy Trainer, talks about some of the new features of EV3 that will help teachers in the classroom.

More than 800 educators around the world have helped to create the new EV3 platform which offers students the chance to build and program a fully functioning robot in just 45 minutes. It provides tailor-made robotics curriculum and technology for teaching STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

There are five models that can be built with the Core Set, and also available is the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Expansion Set, which enables students to build larger-scale, more complex robots.

For more on LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3, visit the website. And for lots of other great videos highlighting LEGO Education resources, take a look at the YouTube channel.