23 posts tagged with "fll"

✨FIRST LEGO League Asia Pacific Open Championships 2025 – This Time, I'm a Judge! ⚖️ Unforgettable experience to be part of the hashtag#FLL hashtag#APOC 2025 again, but this year, not as a coach… as a judge! 💼💙

Over four incredible days, 59 amazing teams from all around the world gathered for this international celebration of robotics, innovation, and teamwork through the FIRST LEGO League at Macquarie University. And on Day 3 (Saturday), it was our turn to dive deep into the brilliance of these young minds. 'Sadly'🧐, Judges don't get to join the epic harbour cruise with 600+ students, coaches, and volunteers! We've got serious business to handle! ⚖️

These are what we celebrated and assessed during judging! All guided by the heart of hashtag#FIRST: Gracious Professionalism (clap, clap, cheer, 👏👏🎉) 🔹 Core Values 🔹 Innovation Project 🔹 Robot Design 🔹 Engineering Excellence, Breaking through 🔹 Rising All-star, Motivation

After 4 jam-packed hours of presentations, show cases and Q&A, the judges spent the whole afternoon in passionate deliberation process (yes, we were really into it, until 6pm, with closed curtains!). Each of us proudly advocated for the teams that wowed us most with creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration. 💬🔥

🎉 Congratulations to all 59 teams! You've earned your place on this stage, and you've shown the world what determination, teamwork, and innovation look like.

What stood out most to me? Seriously, these robots were awesome 🤖! Every team brought contagious energy, optimism, and passion, and it reminded me why I love being part of this community. 💙 🧠 Bold ideas 💡 Imaginative thinking 💪 Unshakable resilience 🤝 Unstoppable team spirit

Huge shoutout to the organizers (Will, Aaron), 28 judges (Melinda, Hester, Garry, Luke, Mary-Jane, Wil, Peter, Dawud), volunteers (Jack, and lots, lots of them), students, coaches, and mentors who made hashtag#APOC2025 such a magical experience. It's no small feat bringing together teams from across the globe, you did it with heart, precision, and joy.

So proud to be part of the hashtag#FIRST community, helping inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and world-changers. 🚀🌟

Read more via LinkedIn Post

'Motivate Award' 🏆 & 'Robot Performance Award' 🏆 for Team Cleverbots from FLL National East! The girls have made history for the school by getting not one, but two prestigious awards on the national stage (out of 48 top teams from NSW and QLD)! 🎉

"A team of all girls always endeavor, to charm and inspire, and to be also clever! Congratulation goes to the CLEVERBOTS!!" 👏 - the judges said about the team in the award ceremony. The innovative project & core value presentation with customized t-shirt, headband, name tags, text badges, and AI badges, clearly made an impression, earning high praise from the judges. 🙌

After three months of relentless hard work, the team scored outstanding 395 points in their first Robot Game run 🤖. Cleverbots not only had an incredible day but also secured the 3rd highest score on the East Coast 🥳 (Nationals North, East, South) - Perth's event is next week.

As their volunteer coach for the past two years, I couldn't be prouder of these amazing future engineers and innovators. Watching them grow, collaborate, and achieve greatness has been nothing short of inspiring. 💖

Can't wait to see all the incredible things they will accomplish in the years to come. 🚀

Read more via LinkedIn Post

With just two weeks to go until the FLL Submerged Nationals, excitement is building as 48 of the top teams from across NSW and ACT prepare to gather. The atmosphere is electric as we look forward to meeting all the incredible teams, exchanging ideas, and marveling at the creativity displayed in their innovation projects.

Sharpening Our Innovation Project​

Our team has been hard at work improving every aspect of our innovation project. The spotlight is currently on our rover design, which we're reworking in Fusion 360 (no more TinkerCad). This powerful engineering software has allowed us to refine our 3D model with precision, resulting in a sleek and functional design that's as impressive as it is innovative. Watching the project come to life through our 3D printer has been a thrill.

Previously, printing the model required multiple smaller components, but now we've optimized the process to print the entire rover in one go! This is no small feat—it's been tricky to ensure every component is accurate, steady, and durable. Despite the challenges, we're getting closer to perfection with every iteration.

Raising the Bar in the Robot Game​

On the robot game front, the stakes have never been higher. After scoring a solid 345 points at regionals, we were feeling confident—until another team surpassed our score. This healthy competition has lit a fire under us, pushing everyone to bring their A-game.

Our team's mantra? Keep improving. Today's practice session was a testament to that commitment: we racked up an impressive 465 points! Through tireless tweaking of robot designs, refining our attachments, and honing strategies, we're discovering new ways to push boundaries and maximize efficiency.

Preparation for Nationals has truly been a team effort. Whether it's reworking the rover design, troubleshooting the 3D printer, or diving into the robot game's mechanics, every member has been playing a crucial role. Even I've had to hit the books, ensuring I can answer any questions and offer the support our team needs.

With just two weeks left, our focus remains sharp. There's no doubt the competition will be fierce, but we're ready to rise to the challenge. Nationals isn't just about the scores; it's about the journey, the learning, and the camaraderie that comes from working together toward a shared goal.

Checkout the badges we have made. The AI badges are created by Bing Copilot & Dall-e, looks pretty awesome! Bet it is going to be a hit during the nationals.

We can't wait to meet the other teams, see their incredible projects, and make memories that will last a lifetime. Let's bring our best and make these Nationals truly unforgettable! 🚀

We're thrilled to share that Team Cleverbots truly shined at the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Regional competition for the Submerged season, held at Macquarie University! Competing among 30 incredibly talented teams, our young innovators secured two major awards: the Robot Performance Award for the top score and the Robot Design Award. Yes, we're headed to nationals again! 🎉🏆🏆

LEGO, AI, and the Future of Learning​

One of the highlights of our journey this season was how the team approached and embraced artificial intelligence (AI). In our judging session, the Cleverbots were asked, "How do you use AI in your project and coding?" The response from our team members was insightful beyond their years:

"We don't copy from it. We use AI to explain coding questions. We understand its limitations like bias. We've learned prompt engineering."

These answers reflected not just technical skills but critical thinking and a mature understanding of AI's capabilities and constraints. They're not only mastering robotics but also developing a responsible and thoughtful approach to technology—skills that will serve them well in the future. 🌟

The Electric Energy of FLL Competitions​

Walking into an FLL event is like stepping into a whirlwind of creativity and excitement. The energy is contagious, with kids buzzing with ideas and eager to share their robotic creations. It's a sight to see young minds working tirelessly to solve complex challenges, and every volunteer, judge, and referee plays a pivotal role in making these events memorable. Special thanks to Melinda and Fredrik—your dedication means the world to these budding engineers!

A Tribute to Jack: A Mentor for Generations​

No FLL event would be complete without a nod to Jack, a true hero and inspiration for so many young participants. For 15 years, Jack has been guiding and inspiring teams with the same enthusiasm and kindness. Our coach Bianca, a former FLL student herself, captured the sentiment perfectly: "Jack hasn't changed!" Thank you, Jack, for your invaluable contributions to this community and for being a role model to so many kids.

Onward to Nationals!​

With their trophies in hand and heads held high, the Cleverbots are ready to bring their best to the national stage. We couldn't be prouder of their achievements and can't wait to see what they accomplish next.

To all the teams, volunteers, and mentors: thank you for making this journey unforgettable. Here's to the amazing power of teamwork, innovation, and the enduring magic of LEGO and learning! 🚀

Read more via LinkedIn Post

Our Year 7 & 8 team is diving deep into the past with our project for the FIRST LEGO League Submerged season! We're developing BlueBerry, a deep-sea rover designed to explore the ocean floor 🌊 and uncover ancient civilizations lost to time. Rover BlueBerry will help identify and analyze submerged ruins and artifacts, bringing marine archaeology into the future.

What Makes "BlueBerry" Special?​

• Eco-Friendly Design: We're committed to minimizing our rover's environmental impact on delicate marine ecosystems.
• Real-World Potential: We aim for BlueBerry to be a tool for professional marine archaeologists, aiding in real discoveries.
• AI-Powered Discovery: BlueBerry uses AI to recognize archaeological finds and send real-time data to researchers on the surface.

Preparing for Competition & Seeking Expert Advice​

As we gear up for the regional competition, we're fine-tuning BlueBerry's design and capabilities. We'd love insights from LinkedIn experts—whether in robotics, AI, or marine archaeology.

• What challenges should we expect with underwater exploration?
• How can we enhance BlueBerry's AI for more accurate artifact detection?

3D Model and Landscape​

We've designed a 3D model and are ready to print it!

We also uploaded the model to GPT-o1 for suggestions, and the improvements are incredibly futuristic!

We're excited to learn and grow from your feedback! Follow our journey as we bring history to life, one dive at a time. 🌊

In this FLL season, we decided to take our chatbot project to the next level. On top of helping us with coding for the LEGO SPIKE Prime, we wanted to explore if we could add all the season documents into the chatbot to help with research and navigating through the rules of the robot game. The idea was to make it easier for our team to access and understand the challenge, rules, and guidelines, all in one place, through a simple conversation with the bot.

To do this, we downloaded all the essential documents: PDFs, excel spreadsheets, PowerPoints from the FIRST LEGO League website. These documents contain all essential information about the Submerged season, including robot game rules, mission details, and field setup instructions. We then uploaded everything to our Azure storage account, which made it easy to connect the documents with our chatbot.

Using Azure, we linked the chatbot with the documents so it could answer questions related to the robot game rules and season guidelines. For example, if we needed to know what specific missions required or how points were awarded, we could ask the chatbot, and it would pull the information directly from the official documents.

The setup process on Azure turned out to be more straightforward than we anticipated using Azure AI Studio. Azure provides great tools for building, training, and deploying AI models, and we were able to get our chatbot running smoothly in a short amount of time. It was a valuable learning experience to see how cloud-based AI services like Azure work in real life. With this setup, our chatbot became a research assistant, helping us quickly reference complex rules and documents during our robot strategy sessions.

We are also keen on responsible AI during our learning. This season, we had sessions with students on AI bias and responsible AI use, which were critical in shaping how we approached this project. We taught the students that while AI can be incredibly powerful, it's also important to recognize its limitations. It's not just about getting the right answer; it's about understanding how the AI processes information and ensuring it's providing accurate and unbiased responses.

We talked about how bias can creep into AI models, especially when the data or documents they rely on are incomplete or misinterpreted. By being cautious and ensuring we used the chatbot as a support tool rather than the sole decision-maker, we are ready to explore AI's potential responsibly.

We're excited to continue using our chatbot for coding, research, and game strategy while keeping in mind the lessons we've learned about using AI. Our team is ready to dive into the Submerged season with confidence, knowing we have the tools and understanding to make the most of AI without losing sight of what's most important: learning, teamwork, and innovation.

I had the exciting opportunity to present a talk at the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Australia season kickoff in August 2024, an event where young minds gather to prepare for a year full of innovation, teamwork, and, of course, robotics. My talk was titled, "ChatGPT, Write Python Code for My Robot, Please!", A topic that connected artificial intelligence, robotics, and education in a way that resonated with both the kids and mentors.

One of the most exciting things to prepare for this talk was building up a Python knowledge base specifically for the LEGO SPIKE Prime, the popular robotics kit used in FLL. SPIKE Prime uses a powerful hub and motors that can be programmed in Python. By leveraging ChatGPT's advanced language model and training it with SPIKE Prime's API and specifications, I was able to get it to generate Python code that effectively controls the robot's movements and sensors. This is a great option for kids (and even adults) who might struggle with the initial complexities of writing code from scratch.

For example, using simple natural language prompts like "write Python code to move the robot forward for 20 cm", ChatGPT can now produce highly accurate, ready-to-run Python scripts that control the motors of a LEGO robot.

During the presentation, I walked the audience through several real-world examples of how ChatGPT can assist in generating Python code for SPIKE Prime robots. I showed how, with minimal guidance, the AI could create scripts that made the robot move forward, turn, stop, and even detect objects using sensors. The kids were thrilled to see how a few simple prompts resulted in real-time robot movement, and their imaginations lit up at the possibilities of using AI to enhance their learning and problem-solving.

One key aspect of my talk was addressing the responsible use of AI as a learning tool. I emphasized how tools like ChatGPT should not be seen as a shortcut or replacement for understanding core concepts but rather as a tool to enhance learning. I encouraged the kids to experiment with the AI, ask it questions, and use it to break down complex problems, but to also remain curious about how the code works. This way, they could continue learning and developing their own skills while benefiting from the AI's assistance.

To make the talk even more engaging, I introduced two major figures in the tech world: Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. I explained their roles in the development of AI and how their vision has contributed to making these cutting-edge technologies more accessible to everyone. The kids were fascinated to learn about the real people behind the tools they were interacting with and how AI is evolving to shape the future of not just robotics, but many industries.

The talk was super fun! The combination of showing how AI can be a practical, hands-on tool for robotics, while also discussing the broader implications of responsible AI use, made it a well-rounded experience. Watching the kids' excitement as they saw the robots come to life through AI-generated code was a highlight, and I hope they left feeling empowered to continue exploring the amazing world of robotics and AI.

The New FLL Submerged Season Is Just Around the Corner! 🌊

As the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Submerged season approaches, We are already thinking about how we can make the most of AI to tackle the challenges ahead. This season's theme revolves around underwater exploration, and I'm excited to see how we can take our robotics game to the next level using AI-driven tools.

My focus this time will be on improving two key areas:

1. Enhancing the accuracy of Python code output for LEGO robots.
2. Better understanding of users' commands to create more efficient coding solutions.

I'm thinking of using GPT to build a custom chatbot that can help with these tasks. Imagine having a chatbot that doesn't just understand generic Python code, but knows the ins and outs of LEGO robot programming! This would mean more accurate code suggestions tailored specifically to FLL robots and tasks, which is a game-changer for programming efficiency and strategy execution.

To make this happen, I've been working on some prompt engineering to improve how the AI interprets commands. I've also created a detailed LEGO Python API spec and description documents based on the official Spike Prime website. This will help the chatbot understand the unique functions and syntax needed to control the robot during FLL missions.

By customizing the AI's knowledge with these API docs, we can train it to generate highly accurate code snippets for movement, sensor interaction, and strategy planning. This could save a lot of time during robot development and testing, allowing us to focus on fine-tuning strategies rather than troubleshooting code.

The idea of combining AI and robotics for FLL is super exciting, and I can't wait to dive deeper into this project as the season progresses. Who knows, maybe AI will give us the edge we need to ace the Submerged season!

Team Cleverbots embarked on an exciting journey this year, advancing through both regional and national competitions. Their dedication and hard work paid off when they were invited to participate in the prestigious international competition for the Masterpiece season. As part of their innovation project, I had the privilege of helping them develop a web app. The app, powered by an AI chatbot, is designed to inspire people to explore new hobbies through personalized recommendations, making it easier for users to discover activities they might not have otherwise considered.

As the coach of Team Cleverbots, I work closely with a group of seven enthusiastic Year 7 and 8 girls. Their drive and passion for technology are remarkable, and together they developed an innovative application called "Fresh - Hobby Sharing AI App." During the four-day international event, I supported the team by delivering presentations, demonstrating the app's unique features, and helping them engage with participants from across the globe. The event was a melting pot of creativity, featuring robot competitions and team-building exercises, with 52 teams representing 26 different countries. It was a fantastic opportunity for the girls to showcase their skills and creativity on a global stage.

This international event not only served as a platform to demonstrate the power of AI in innovation but also sparked meaningful conversations among coaches, educators, and participants. We discussed the implications of AI in education, how it can shape the future, and the importance of ensuring that young students are empowered to create with these technologies. The event highlighted how technology can be a tool for both personal growth and global collaboration, and I'm incredibly proud to have been part of such an inspiring experience with Team Cleverbots.

Hooray! We Are Invited to the FLL Asia Pacific Open Championship! 🎉

I'm thrilled to share that Team Cleverbots was invited to the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Asia Pacific Open Championship at Macquarie University! With 52 teams from 26 different countries, it's an incredible opportunity to compete, share knowledge, and, of course, have some serious fun with LEGO robots.

The event spans four amazing days, and it's been nothing short of spectacular. We've competed in intense challenges, presented our innovative projects, and celebrated every moment with singing, dancing, and chanting! The energy here is off the charts, and it's been such a joy to connect with teams from all over the world.

What makes this event even more special is the sense of community and collaboration. Teams from across the globe are not just competing, but sharing their strategies, learning from one another, and building friendships. It's a beautiful mix of cultures, technology, and creativity all coming together through the love of robotics.

Every minute of the championship has been a blast, from the thrilling competition rounds to the downtime where we bond over common interests and celebrate each other's achievements. Seeing people from so many countries come together over a shared passion for LEGO robots has been truly inspiring.

Whether it's working on our robot's strategy or cheering each other on during matches, this experience has been one for the books. Here's to the amazing memories, new friendships, and endless fun we've had at the FLL Asia Pacific Open Championship. We've enjoyed every second of it!