FIRST Lego League: Coach's Handbook

These are the resources for your team to succeed this season! If we are missing anything, please contact us at spartans20808@gmail.com.

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General Information

What does an FIRST Lego League team do?

FLL teams are a group of students who work with coaches to learn and share together. FLL consists of two different parts, the robot and the innovation project. For the robotics part of the team, the students build and code a robot and use it to solve mechanical missions on an FLL table. At a competition the students run their robot on a competition table and try to score as many points as they can. The Innovation Project is an important opportunity for your team to do a project about an innovative solution that they come up with that addresses a problem in their community. At competitions, the students also present to the judges about the progress of their robot design. While they do all this work, the students learn to work with each other, and other teams, using Core Values, which are values describing how each person on the team should act. FIRST does an excellent job introducing teams to the four aspects of FIRST Lego League, Robot Game, Innovation Project, Robot Design and Core Values, in the Challenge Overview document. The Challenge Overview document is the first link in this helpful resource page.

​​https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/fll/challenge/challenge-and-resources. We suggest that coaches begin by reading the Challenge Overview document in order to learn what teams are expected to do. We also suggest that you read the Welcome Letter, found as the link above.

Important Resources

FLL Central Library of Official Team Resources Rulebook, Rubrics, Mission Model Instructions, Table Building Instructions https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/fll/challenge/challenge-and-resources

FLL Central Library of Official Judging Resources https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/fll/challenge/volunteer-resources

Judging Rubrics

The rubrics are some of the most important documents to read. The judges use them to score your team during judging sessions. Print out the rubrics and show them to your team. Using rubrics you can see how to do better in judging by making sure to design your presentations to increase your score. You should use the rubrics throughout the season to guide your work. https://firstinspiresst01.blob.core.windows.net/first-energize/fll-challenge/fll-challenge-superpowered-connect-rubrics-2022-23-greyscale.pdf Programming Resources and Robot Design The Seshan Brothers have created programming lessons and robot directions for Spike Prime. Their work is excellent and free. https://primelessons.org/en/ Lego

They created an excellent curriculum that guides teams through the process of building and coding a robot: https://education.lego.com/en-us/lessons/prime-competition-ready Innovation Project Resources The Seshan brothers have also created a set of tutorials for the Innovation Project, Core Values, and Robot Game. Again, their work is excellent. https://flltutorials.com/en/ How to build a FLL competition table where you put your competition mat and mission models: table-build.pdf (firstinspires.org)

Robot Game

Introduction

One of the most important aspects of FLL is the Robot Game. Twenty-five percent of your score at a competition comes from your team’s performance solving Missions on the Robot Field. An additional twenty-five percent of your score comes from your performance during Robot Design Judging. In order to do well in both these aspects of FLL your team will need to learn to build and code robots, then adapt what they have learned to build and code a robot for this year’s field. First, your team needs to know what this year’s game is. We suggest watching this video, made by FLL, that lays out the missions the robot needs to accomplish and some of the rules about what the robot can and can’t do as it solves those missions. A more detailed set of rules about the missions is in the Robot Game Rulebook, which the kids should read once they are ready to do so.

Learning to Code a Robot

There are several curricula that already exist that guide FLL teams through the process of learning to build and code a robot. One of the best resources for building and programming FLL robots using the Spike Prime set comes from the Seshan brothers. They offer a complete set of coding instructions and robot designs. We highly recommend them. https://primelessons.org/en/ Another excellent curriculum that guides teachers through helping their FLL team build a code and FLL Robot comes from LEGO: https://education.lego.com/en-us/lessons/prime-competition-ready

Making the Robot

One thing that sets more advanced FLL teams apart is the degree to which they design their own FLL robot. After your teams have learned to build and code using one of the curricula listed above, we recommend that they design, build and code their own robot. We have also built our own designs using our own ideas of what works best.

1. Basic Robot Building Instructions: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15cZP67jICnpMcQKc4WjWVNzpoVepPZqc/view?usp=sharing

2. More Advanced Robot Instructions: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J2fTdZ0jQDVxN0tEbN4fghBh_CDEsyEG/view?usp=sharing

3. Build Plate for Advanced Robot: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mpvtflo37957uFttt3tSXQNNUD6X-wvR/view?usp=sharingVideo on what makes for a good robot.

The person in the video was using a different robot set than you will be using. You will be using a Spike Prime robot set. He was using an older robot set called EV3. Despite these differences, what he says in the video is still true today. I suggest studying the video. (another video of a team adapting this same strategy for the robot) Here are some great pictures of how an advanced robot design can look The Build Plate allows you to quickly mount and unmount mechanical attachments. This is useful for a robot game that only lasts for 150 seconds, as you need to be able to quickly change the robot's attachments to accomplish different tasks. You can see how this works in this video. If you look at the pictures of the Advanced Robot, you will see some key features. First, you will see that the wires are all tucked inside the robot. This is so that the robot is small and does not have any wires that can get caught on things. Also, this makes the overall profile of the robot flat sided so that it can back against the field walls and so square itself up on the walls. As you build your robot we advise you to hide your wires inside the robot so that they don’t get in the way. Be sure to run them through the robot in such a way that they don’t rub on the wheels at all. If they rub on the wheels, the robot will not drive well.

Robot Design Presentation

During the robot design presentation, teams have a crucial five-minute window to explain their robot's design to the judges. While a scripted presentation is not mandatory, it is recommended for clarity and structure. To align with the Robot Design Rubric, which judges will follow, tailor your script accordingly. The best approach to developing this presentation is to read the rubric for that section of judging and then write a script that directly addresses the rubric.

For instance, the rubric includes criteria like "Iterate," which evaluates a team's ability to improve their robot. To address this, consider presenting images of evolving attachments or mechanisms developed to tackle missions. Describe why these changes were made and provide relevant statistics, such as mission speed and repeatability. For example, show iterations of an attachment designed for the Solar Farm mission, highlighting improvements based on testing results.

During the presentation, emphasize any unique or outstanding features of your robot or code that you are particularly proud of. Showcase these elements to the judges and explain why they stand out.

To effectively meet the rubric's criteria, use images, the actual robot, or a laptop screen (with brief videos if possible) to illustrate your team's work. Engage each team member in the script to ensure everyone has a role.

As you prepare, maintain organized records of your robot's development, attachments, and test results. Involve the team in scripting, deciding what to showcase, and how to address all aspects of the rubric.

Remember that you have a limited five-minute window for the presentation, so practice the script diligently. You will also have five minutes for questions, so be prepared to provide additional examples supporting your presentation. Encourage each team member to contribute during the question period while demonstrating good Core Values – listening attentively to others, including judges, and avoiding interruptions.

The judges are interested not only in the robot's mechanical and design progress but also in the evolution of your code. Be ready to display and discuss code improvements over time and any significant innovations your team has implemented.

If you use Spike Prime, present the MyBlocks you've created, explain their functionality, and justify why you've incorporated them into your project.

Innovation Project

Introduction

What is the Innovation Project? FIRST has created a good introduction to the Innovation Project in the Challenge Overview document that can be found at the top of resources page. We suggest using the Seshan brothers tutorials about the Innovation Project as you develop your innovation project. Click on the link and then click on the Innovation Project Link. We recently looked over all the tutorials. All of them are good, but two of them don’t apply any more. Ignore the tutorials on the Global Innovation Award (unless you want to apply for the Global Innovation Award) and the STEAM City Challenge. As you look at the tutorials, please keep in mind that the rubrics are slightly different this season. Read the tutorials, but use this year’s rubrics. https://flltutorials.com/en/

Core Values

Introduction

To excel in Core Values, focus on fostering a cooperative team environment. Utilize the Seshan brothers' tutorials at FLL Tutorials for valuable insights into teamwork and Core Values. We've also compiled core values activities to enhance teamwork, detailed here. Integrate these exercises into your practice sessions and periodically evaluate their effectiveness. During judging, showcase cooperation, kindness, and effective communication. Ensure each team member has a chance to contribute, fostering a respectful atmosphere. Judges appreciate unique team personalities. Display this not only during judging but also throughout the competition. Create custom outfits, sing team songs, wave banners, and celebrate other teams' achievements. Core Values encompass teamwork, respect, and team spirit. Follow these guidelines and use the recommended resources to make a positive impression during the competition's Core Values evaluation.

Competition Overview

Introduction

Competition schedules vary from region to region in the world. In most regions teams prepare for a qualifying competition and then a regional competition. Teams that qualify at the qualifying competition get the right to move on and compete in the regional competition. How this is handled and the dates of the competitions, will depend on whichever organization is sponsoring FLL in your region. The main task of a team is to prepare for and then compete in an FLL competition. Of course, so much of the learning and the joy comes in preparing for the competition, but the formal reason for the team is to attend a competition. At a competition teams take on two major activities. They attend a judging session (described at this link) and they compete in the Robot Game, which is well described in this video. Each team will get to run multiple Robot Games and only their top score will count towards their overall performance.

Preparing for the Competition

This section is pretty wordy, but this is all very important and valuable information for your team. FLL prepared this video about preparing for competition. https://youtu.be/gO6uV4Ark0w Preparing for the competition means creating a strong Innovation Project and coding and building a robot to accomplish as many of the missions as possible in the Robot Game, all while practicing good Core Values. As the competition date gets nearer, it is important to begin to organize presentations of the Innovation Project and the Robot Design. To do this, have the teams read the rubrics over and think about what they can say and show in their presentations that will help the judges to understand their work and get them the best score possible. The students will likely want to write scripts for both presentations. They may also want to select important images, or, if possible, video clips, to show to the judges that help them demonstrate their work. The judges generally keep strict time and so it is important to make the scripts a realistic length and to practice them. Each student should speak. Also, it is a good idea to prepare them for the judges questions and to review with them the judges scripts. Many of the judges’ questions, and the official script that judges are advised to follow, are publicly available to teams, and judges, here. https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/fll/challenge/volunteer-resources To help the kids prepare for competitions, I would pretend to be the judges. They would walk into the room, present their presentations and then I would ask them questions. Afterwards we would talk about what worked and what did not work. We would make sure that everyone spoke during both the scripted part of the judging and the quotation and answer part. We would talk about how well the kids had answered the questions and what else they might say. We would comment on big ideas or facts that they might want to include. We even practiced turning a question so that the students would know how to include the team’s best material into their answers. We also made sure that no one spoke too long. With only five minutes to answer questions, it’s important to have short answers that pull in the best material the students have. We also worked on making sure the kids addressed the rubrics. We even practiced using certain words that are in the rubric to help the judges to see why our answers met the rubric’s criteria. Another important part of preparing for the competition is practicing the robot game. This season each team is permitted to have four technicians up at the field, and to switch in technicians from the team. As you get closer to the competition, it is important to practice the robot game many times so that each person knows what they are supposed to do. After each game they should talk about what worked and what did not work and then try it again. It is not necessary that each member of the team be a technician at the field. Working out who should take on what roles is something that you need to supervise as you practice for the competition.

Day Before Competition

The day before the competition you want to make sure that you have the team outfits, scripts, presentation props or slideshows, the robot, the robot charger and spare parts for the robot. It is a good idea to put the robot into a protected box. At our competitions we had the robot and its attachments on a cart that we wheeled to the table. If this is not practical for you, we suggest that you bring the robot and its attachments in a box up to the table. We also had the luxury of having a laptop computer that we could bring to competitions that had all the robot code on it. Make sure that the correct code is downloaded onto the robot and is ready to run. Also make sure the robot is fully charged before going to the competition. Many teams stop making code changes to the robot game a couple of days before the competition just to make sure that they don’t break something right at the end.

Day Of Competition

Day of the competition At the competition you will go to one judging session, described in the flowchart, and a set of robot games. The main goal is for the kids to have a fun time and show what they know, have learned and what they can do. To help them with that, the best thing to do is to be prepared in advance and then help them focus on the positive things that have happened. Judging Flowchart - What judging will look like at your competition

https://firstinspiresst01.blob.core.windows.net/first-energize/fll-challenge/fll-challenge-superpowered-judging-session-flowchart.pdf