17
Oct
2022
Week 6 Update 2022
This week multiple teams built their 1st competition bot. They were even able to test their bots on the competition field. Some of the bots even have intake mechanisms. They were able to test how effective their designs were. Unfortunately not all teams are working at the same pace. Which is fine. But the school environment provides that pressure to compete and even learn from others.
We will be posting the videos on Facebook. Please follow and watch the progress at https://www.facebook.com/
There is a lot of information in this email that you need to share with your child.
We were also able to register the teams for some of the competitions. Please see the schedule below.
Saturday Class Schedule:
Following dates are confirmed for weekend classes. Please note times. There is 30min change to the Folsom teams.
October 29th : (Saturday)
Folsom Middle School : 8:30am to 12:30pm
Marina Village Middle School: 1pm to 5pm
November 5th. : (Saturday)
Folsom Middle School : 8:30am to 12:30noon
Marina Village Middle School: 1pm to 5pm
Competition Schedule:
Below is the updated schedule.
Online Resources:
Kids can research their ideas online when at home. www.vex.com is a great resource. Here are some ideas and links.
VEX IQ:
VEX V5:
VEX Common:
On vex website, they can go to shop to find all the parts used in the robot. And these pages have good descriptions on parts.
Google Classroom:
For the competitions, kids need to document their work on “Engineering Notebook”. The document is posted in Google Classroom/Google Drive.
So, please have your child join Google classroom. Join using a personal email address. School email does not work. If you do not have an email account please create one. Use the following links to join the classroom.
Some of kids were able to join the classroom during the class. Some could not. Check with your kids if they have access, if not they may need help..
Engineering Notebook:
One of the requirements for the competitions is a good Engineering Notebook. The team will be judged on how effectively they use this. We have discussed extensively in the classroom about Engineering Notebook. The teams can spend time at home to work on this book. Please talk to kids and encourage them to work on it.
Although there is a dedicated “Notebook Architect” in every team, whose main job is documenting and being a project-manager-lead, and making sure they come up with a good notebook. But every team member can help with documentation. And at the end of the day it is a team effort.
They can write about:
1) Different parts they have learnt about. Motors/bolts/nuts/spacers. How they can use those parts. There is a lot of information about parts on the “vex.com” website.
2) Different mechanisms: They can document about different mechanisms. What they have learned in the classroom. They can also research online. Again VEX.com is a good resource. They can google for generic information.
a) Gears and gear-ratios. Are they gears or sprockets? What ratios?
b) Drive Trains – What systems are commonly used in VEX platforms. What are the advantages? Why did they pick their drivetrain?
c) Coding – Skills they have learnt that week. How they plan to use it? What ports their components are hooked up to? Draw a flow chart of the process.
d) Time Line – create a timeline of their project. What they like to achieve each week. What is dead line. Are they tracking the timeline?
e) Talk about the team. Who are in the team. What are their roles. Who accomplished what that week. What you plan to do next week.
g) Take meeting minutes. What the team discussed.
Thanks
Falkon Academy
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