BERKSHIRE ROBOTICS CHALLENGE
Registration for the 2007 Berkshire Robotics Challenge
Your Action Required!
You must first register your team for next year’s challenge with Berkshire Robotics Challenge by July 17, 2006. After you have been notified that your registration has been received by BRC you can then register with USFIRST at www.usfirst.org
The Berkshire Robotics Challenge 2007 (BRC 2007) offers an opportunity for children from fourth to eighth grade (ages 8-14) to build their science and computer skills while designing and programming a robot to complete a challenge. Students will work in teams toward a competitive goal while learning problem-solving, teamwork and good sportsmanship. The event is a blast!
What, Where, When Is The BRC 2007 Challenge?
The BRC 2007 challenge is called “Nano Quest”. There is a new frontier that will impact every facet of society, from medicine to computers to the environment. As visionaries and scientists, the 2007 FIRST LEGO League teams will explore unimaginably amazing new technologies that start in the Nano world and lead to the things we do and use every day.
Teams will discover the secrets of everyday stuff through this cutting edge field of research, where carbon Nanotubes, Buckyballs, molecular motors and quantum dots will be considered part of daily conversations. Sure it sounds like science fiction, but the future has arrived!
Imagine
a wire as thin as a toothpick that lifts a car off the ground...
Imagine clothes that never get dirty...
Imagine a world where gravity doesn’t matter...
Imagine a fleet of programmed molecules that find and kill cancer cells, leaving
healthy cells alone…
Imagine going into space on an elevator made of tiny tubes...
What do all of these have in common? Nanotechnology!
FLL teams have been to space, searched the oceans, and explored ways to help humankind. We now zoom from the world we know, through a super high-powered atomic microscope, to the strange world of individual atoms. Here, in a world 100,000 times smaller than the thickness of a strand of hair, everything jumps and shakes. The details of this challenge are kept secret until September 12, 2006!!!
Our Berkshire County competition will be held on a Saturday, March 10 2007 at the Lenox Memorial Middle School/High School and is based on the FIRST LEGO League Challenge.
Please note that although the BRC 2007 event will hold its competition in March 2007, we are using the same kits and mission as the FLL 2006 event, which is timed to be held in early December 2006. Some teams have enjoyed starting their preparation early and competing in a state-sponsored First Lego League tournament in the fall or winter.
For the BRC 2007 tournament, we may slightly modify the scoring to encourage completion of all phases of the challenge; however, any of our teams are free to enter the 2006 FIRST LEGO LEAGUE tournaments in other parts of Massachusetts or New England.
While the principles of physics and programming involved could be integrated into a school science curriculum, most of our teams have organized themselves as after school or neighborhood clubs, meeting weekly from November through the competition weekend. We (and the FIRST LEGO LEAGUE organization) provide support and technical assistance for coaches.
The short answer is to make sure you get kits!!! We’d like you to register with BRC before July 17, 2006, and once we notify you that we have room for you in the tournament, go to USFIRST, register with them and order your competition kit. Due to the growing demand of this event and the limited space that is available, we must require that all teams register with BRC before you register with USFIRST - we don’t want you to spend several hundred dollars on the USFIRST FLL fees only to find out that the BRC tournament is full. We certainly encourage you to enter the FLL events as well.
What Does the Whole thing Cost?
What Resources Are Required?
BRC's registration fee is $25. The competition requires the use of a LEGO® Mindstorms kit and the FIRST extender kit for the current year’s competition. These kits can be ordered from FIRST at www.usfirst.org. For veteran teams that competed in our previous events and still have their LEGO Mindstorms kit in good working order, the team registration cost is $150 (this includes official team manual, team number and administrative support from USFIRST); and the FLL 2006 Challenge Kit is $65 (this includes all table top elements specific to the challenge as well as a pre-printed 4’ x8’ roll-out mat that can be simply placed on an existing table or floor). Therefore, the total cost for veteran teams is expected to be about $200. For rookie teams that do not have the LEGO Mindstorms kit, a FLL Robotics Starter kit can be ordered from FLL for an additional $260. (If you watch for sales, these kits are widely available at toy stores and can be obtained for about $180 to $200.)
FLL and BRC are limiting the team size to a maximum of 10 kids. Each team needs a coach; any responsible adult(s) who can help the group problem solve and work together will do. The RCX programming for the LEGO block containing the microchip is simple enough that the kids can teach themselves and the coach. We'll have coach support available from experienced local coaches. The FIRST LEGO League offers a website at http://www.usfirst.org and coaches' chatrooms.
Our teams last year met weekly for 8-10 weeks and did well with the challenge. The competition itself takes about 6 hours on a Saturday in early March with Sunday as the snow date. We also hold a Coaches’ Meeting on a Saturday in January to go over specific details of the challenge. As we did last year, we intend to incorporate a guest lecturer to discuss their use of robots in research consistent with the year’s FLL theme.
The specific details of the challenge are contained in the team manual. Generally, the Lego robots are challenged to turn, climb, lift and drop small items which are provided in the FIRST extender kit along with light and motion sensors.
REGISTER NOW!
All interested teams must register with BRC 2007 by e-mailing Denise Johns, of the Berkshire Applied Technology Council at djohns@berkshirecc.edu with team name, coach’s names, team roster (if possible) and e-mail address and phone number. Additionally, you must send a check for $25 for each team payable to the Berkshire Applied Technology Council to:
Berkshire Applied Technology Council, Inc.
C/O Berkshire Community College
1350 West Street
Pittsfield, MA 01202
Remember…your registration with the BATC is not
finalized until we receive your payment!
Registrations will be accepted in the order in which they are received until the maximum 28-team field is reached. A waiting list will be established if any registered teams drop out. The competition is open to any school or neighborhood team; however, until July 17, 2006, we are limiting registrations to three teams from any single school. If there are any spaces after July 17, 2006 we will try to accommodate schools that are interested in registering more than three teams.
Want More Information About BRC 2007?
Most teams were able to obtain necessary funding for team expenses (i.e., registration fees, LEGO Mindstorm kits, etc.) from individual team sponsors. We can also help with fundraising or send a coach to speak to a group that might be interested.
Do you still have questions? Please call any of the following individuals for more information about BRC 200:
Denise Johns 499-4660 x 386 djohns@berkshirecc.edu
Dorothy Curtiss dcurtiss@berkshire.rr.com
John Wood 448-5474 john1wood@ge.com
Lee Flournoy 499-0500 ldf@flournoylaw.com
Doug Crane 684-6206 dacrane@crane.com
Denise Jezak djezak@lenoxps.org
Bernie Klem 684-4721 bernie@gargancommunication.com