Robots that built 100 teams will compete in ball games
52 high school teams from around the country in the FRC robotics competition and 48 teams in grades 4-5 in the FLL robotics competition, along with thousands of students, teachers, parents, instructors and volunteers, will gather at the Nokia Hall for the largest robotics competition in Israel on March XNUMX-XNUMX. The winning teams will fly to the world finals in St. Louis in April this year. Among the guests on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the competition is a visiting group from Los Angeles and the chairman of the FIRST global association, Mr. Dean Cayman, the inventor of the Segway. The teams must build a robot that is able to perform the required tasks during a team ball game.
The robotics competition in Israel, which has been held by the FIRST association (acronyms for inspiration and recognition of science and technology) for 9 years in Israel, has gained many fans among students, parents, schools and executives from the high-tech industry in Israel. This year the competition celebrates a decade and among the guests of honor will be the chairman of FIRST worldwide Dean Cayman for a special visit.
Dean Cayman is an inventor, entrepreneur, and tireless devotee of science and technology. As an inventor, he holds more than 440 patents in the US and abroad, including the home dialysis machine, a home insulin pump, a Segway, and many others. Among the dozens of awards and recognitions he received is the National Medal for Technology which he received in 2000 from the President of the United States Bill Clinton for inventions that advanced medical care around the world.
His passion for science and technology led him to found the organization FIRST in the USA in 1989 (non-profit).
The program was founded with the goal of "creating a world where young people celebrate technology and science... a world where young people dream of being heroes of science and technology". FIRST activity in Israel was founded by Avihu Ben-Non in collaboration with the Technion. The activity is supported by the Ministry of Education and in 2013 was declared the leading pre-academic program of the Technion.
The FIRST organization in Israel holds three different competitions in the field of robotics and technology every year:
- For elementary school students, the FIRST Lego League (Jr.FLL - FIRST Lego League).
- For junior FIRST Lego League students (FLL - Junior FIRST Lego League)
- FIRST's challenging robotics competition for high school students (FRC - FIRST Robotics Competition).
FRC
The important and prestigious competition takes place in only four countries in the world, Israel being one of them. This year the competition will host 52 teams from different schools from around the country.
In this year's competition, the teams must build a robot that is able to perform the required tasks during a team ball game. Each team was given a period of six and a half weeks to build the robot and prepare it for the competition according to the competition rules.
Each group is given a basic set of tools, which is the basis for building the robot. Each group must divide into several subgroups, each dealing with a different aspect of the robot's construction, programming, building a website for the group, and so on.
The robot must perform three main tasks, an autonomous action determined as part of the game (without any help from human contact) such as shooting baskets, a manual game (in which the robot is operated by the team members) and the ability to perform the bonus task, such as climbing ramps and lifting another robot.
Among the groups: a group of Bedouin students from the settlement of Kashifa, a combined group of Jewish and Arab students from the Gilboa Regional Council, a group of girls from a religious school in Be'er Sheva, and many more from the social, cultural and geographic spectrum in Israel - Tel Aviv, Ramat Hasharon, Herzliya, Mashgav, Ein Shemer, Arad, Dimona, Yeruham and more.
FLL
A competition that combines research, construction and programming of a robot, values and fun. The FLL competition is a global competition, in which more than 200,000 students in grades 70-3,300 from 324 countries around the world participate, of which about 48 are in Israel. XNUMX teams, including XNUMX teams from different schools, will qualify for the national finals at the Nokia Hall. During the season, each team was required to build and program a Lego robot to perform research work and all this in the spirit of FLL values. In the competition, the teams are evaluated on their achievements in each of the dimensions. The teams that win the regional competitions qualify for the national competition, and the team that wins the national competition will represent Israel at the FLL World Festival - the global final. The duration of planning and building the robot for the competition is about three months, from the opening kick to the regional competitions.
In the robot performance category, the groups must build and program a robot that will be able to perform various tasks. On the day of the competition, the robot must complete the tasks in 2:30 minutes. When a score will be given to the robot's performance. The tasks change from year to year, and every year during August they are published on the FIRST world website. The robot arena consists of a map - a surface with lines and drawings on which the robot travels, and mission models - Lego models placed on the map, according to which the robot's performance is scored. The robot must be completely autonomous.
Special groups participated in the competition - students with learning disabilities and those with special needs.
Jr.FLL - a program designed for children aged kindergarten to third grade. Over 16,000 children all over the world participate in the Jr.FLL competition every year, in 2500 teams, 120 of which are from Israel.
The Jr.FLL program exposes the very young students to the fascinating world of science and technology.
This program presents the students with a challenge from everyday life, to be solved through investigation and creative thinking.
Under the guidance of instructors, students work with LEGO pieces and moving parts, with the goal of formulating and presenting a solution to the challenge.
achievements and awards
The FLL team from Rocham won third place in the FLL Global Innovation Award for the development of the Freeze Stick, the FLL teams from Modi'in - Maccabim - Reut took second place in the championship award, the Katzir Holon team took third place in the championship award and more.
