How to Start a New Robofest Team

1. How to Start a New Robofest Team

2. How to Start a New Robofest Team • Starting a Robofest Team is much easier compared to other robotics competitions • Robofest is affordable, only $50 to register a team • Team size is small, 2 – 4 students recommended • Team can be formed by any type of organization, club, home school, public or private school, etc. • You can re-use robots and playing field materials • Focused on kids learning the technologies – you don’t need to spend time on research presentations • Robofest provides teams and coaches with systematic support & teaching resources

3. Getting Started: • Visit www.robofest.net for more information and to sign up for our eNews mailing list • Register as a coach to receive important e-mail information and updates on each Season • There is no cost to register as a Coach, you can register on-line at www.robofest.net • Who can be a coach? • Robofest requires the coach to be an adult • School teacher or administrator • Parent • Mentor

4. Can I be a Coach, if I don’t Know Anything about Robotics? • Yes, you can • Your role is to then find a technical mentor(s) to work with your team • You can be in charge of other team administrative responsibilities • You will learn robotics together with your team members, too!

5. How To Start a Team if You are a School Teacher or Administrator • Find parent volunteers who are interested in helping the team as technical mentors (very important). Volunteers do not need experience in robotics, just an interest in or general engineering/tech knowledge • After registering as a coach, in December/January you can register your team on the Robofest web site • Put together a playing field if your team is going to participate in the Game or Exhibition Competition • Ask students to attend free workshops at LTU (or Webinars or recorded web casts) • Assign some of the team work as (group) homework • Integrate as an after-school program

6. To Start a Team if You are a Parent (School is Not Interested in…) • Find other parents who are interested in forming a student team and parents who could give technical help to your team (very important) • After you have registered as a coach, starting in Dec/Jan you can register your team on the Robofest web site • Put together a playing field if your team is going to participate in the Game or Exhibition Competition • Ask your students to attend free workshops at LTU (or Webinars or recorded webcasts) • Assign some of the team work as (group) homework • Integration in a home

7. How to Select a Robot Kit • Robofest allows any type of robot kit or programming software • If you starting a new team, check to see if there are robot kits currently available at your school or if one of your students has a robot kit at home. • If no robot is available to you, we recommend the following: • If you are an expert of a specific robot kit or you have someone as technical mentor who is an expert of a specific type of robot kit, then use that kit • If you are a robotics novice and there is no technical mentor around you -- selecting a LEGO NXT robot kit would be a safe choice. LEGO robots are easy to learn and teach.

8. How Much Does is Cost to Participate in Robofest? • Team Registration Fee: only $50 + possible qualifying site fee of $20 • A robot kit runs $200.00 ~ $250.00. • If you need to purchase kits, we can provide you with information on options & resources. Most kits can be ordered on-line, depending on the number of kits you need. You may use any type of robot kit/platform, materials, tape, glue, and any type of software.

9. How Much Does is Cost to Participate in Robofest? continued… • Game Competition: Each Game Team needs a robot; a playing field table is about $50.00. If you have a field from a past season you can re-use it , you don’t need to buy a new field each year. • Exhibition Competition: Teams can use as many robots as they would like, a minimum of one robot is required.

10. “I registered a team and I want to learn robotics myself. Is it too late to learn?” • No, now is the perfect time for you to learn! The LEGO NXT box says, it is “for ages 10 and up.” Yes, it is time and you can do it. • Best way to begin to learn • Use the multimedia tutorial on the software CD provided in your kit to learn programming basics • Build a simple robot and program it to do a few things such as stopping, starting, turning, use the touch sensor, light sensor, etc. -- There is nothing better than hands-on learning!

11. Best Way to Learn Continued….. • Search the web for resources, including the Robofest site, to get more techniques and ideas that you can use with your students • Network with other coaches, mentors, and teams through on-line forums • Attend LTU programming workshops with your students. A full schedule of workshops for registered Robofest teams can be found at www.robofest.net

12. It is Never to Late to Learn….. • Here is the good news – A self taught team will often outperform a spoon-fed team. • Robotics education provides for engaging, hands-on application oriented learning • The kids are the main focus of this learning experience. You however, will learn along with them, and the kids may even teach you a thing or two! • There is a learning curve. Your team may not do well the first year, but your team will do better the second year

13. What Will My Students Gain From Being a Part of Robofest? • Robofest sparks student interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics • Robofest encourages team work & helps students develop critical thinking skills • Robofest participation increases students’ math and science knowledge/scores • Encourages students to pursue careers in engineering & science related fields • Robofest will recognize your students achievement with medals and personalized certificates of achievement

14. Robofest 2009 Season Timeline • Coaches Can Register On-line Now • December ’08 - Draft Rules announced. Coaches can register Teams & Select Robofest Competition Location. • January ’09 – Rules finalized • February 28, ‘09 – Warm Up Competition • March & April ’09 – Qualifying Competitions, top teams from each site qualify to move on to compete at Worlds • May 9, ’09 – 10th annual World Robofest 2009 Championship, Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, MI, USA

15. Robofest Questions, Contact Us: • Visit ww.robofest.net • Jerri Ureel, Robofest Coordinator, jureel@ltu.edu, Phone: 248-204-3568 • Contact Dr. CJ Chung, Robofest Director, chung@ltu.edu