Trashformers Update -- 11/11

Some good work at the special robot meeting today.  The team worked on two missions, and managed to do some research on the team project as well.  Thanks to Ryann and Payton's mom for the cookies, and Jonas' mom for the pizza.  We'll try to complete some of these missions at the next team meeting on Friday.

 Pictures

Trashformers Team Project -- Styrofoam

By essentially a unanimous vote, the team has selected Styrofoam as the trash item for this years team project.  With this decision made, we must now move forward and actually complete the project.  Therefore, I need everyone to begin doing research, finding information, and discussing ideas.  Feel free to post information and links in the comments to this post.  The more discussion and information sharing that occurs here, the less time we will need to spend during team meetings and we can spend more time on the robot missions.

Now, with Styrofoam as the trash item, we really need to work on the following questions.

• What problem does this trash create?
• Is it recyclable?  If not, why not?  If so, why isn't it done more often?
• How big is the problem?  Looking here for how many tons/year, etc.
• Remember, we need to come up with a solution.  Are there any possible solutions already being discussed?  What can our team do to contribute?  Is there an education opportunity?  Should we make a blog?  A video? 
• Also remember, we need to share our work with others.  Who can/should we share with?  How will we share?

New Team Name -- Welcome to the Trashformers.

Congratulations on selecting a new team name.  At the last meeting, a number of possible names were presented and voted on, and the unanimous winner for the team name was the "Trashformers;"  thanks to Sam's mom for the suggestion.  I will begin updating the team documentation accordingly.

Trash Trek Project, revisited

We have a number of good ideas for projects, summarized below:

• Batteries -- Jonas
• Prescription bottles -- Runyi
• Styrofoam packaging/polystyrene -- Chow-Fong
• Water bottles -- Ryann and Payton
• Cans -- Aniketh
• TBD -- Sam

The team needs to narrow this down, ultimately to one project.  I have asked team members to research the topic indicated above and prepare a brief presentation for the next meeting.  I would like you to be able to talk about the following:

• What problem does this trash create?
• Is it recyclable?  If not, why not?  If so, why isn't it done more often?
• How big is the problem?  Looking here for how many tons/year, etc.
• Remember, we need to come up with a solution.  Are there any possible solutions already being discussed?

If anyone has a link they want to point out to the team, they can leave it in the comments.  Keep up the good work, and keep the discussions going.

FLL Qualifier

Good news!  We have officially been entered into the qualifier at DSU on 1/23/16.  This means that the countdown clock to the right is now official.

As in, we officially only have 89 days to get everything done.  Oh noes!

New Team Name

Here is a post to discuss the new team name?  How about the NCS Sparkle Ponies?

Trash Trek Project

We had a good first meeting, started to get to know each other, and started building the models.  Until our next meeting, our homework is to start thinking of topics for our team project.

We need to identify a piece of trash that most of us have to dispose of; if we have to get rid of it frequently, then it will likely lead to a bigger problem.  What kinds of trash do you deal with daily/weekly/monthly?

For example:

• I buy a lot of things on Amazon.com
• lots of cardboard boxes (recyclable)
• lots of paper and plastic packaging (recyclable?)
• blister packs and plastic containers (not recyclable)
• I like to eat eggs
• eggshells (compost?)
• egg cartons (not recyclable)
• I buy lots of groceries
• plastic bags (sort of recyclable)
• I do some automobile maintenance
• quart oil containers (NOT recyclable)
• antifreeze containers (NOT recyclable)

We need to come up with a few ideas like this, and then think about what happens after we throw them out.  Where does it go?  Is it recyclable?  How does recycling work?  Why are some plastics recyclable and not others?  With a number of ideas, and answers to questions like these, we should be able to zero in on a project that we can all agree on and have fun with.

Knowing what questions to ask and finding answers requires research.  Here are some links to the Delaware Solid Waste Authority to get you started:

Universal Recycling

What can be recycled?

Recycling booklet.

Welcome to a New Season!

A new year.  A new challenge.  A new team.  A new team number.

Welcome to another FLL season.  This is the Team NCS2 collaboration site, which I hope will be the main portal of communication for the team so they can work together between the team meetings.  The timer has been updated to reflect the date of the new qualifier tournament.

This year we have the Trash Trek Challenge.

Some important links:

http://firststatefll.org/index.php/fsfllmaininfo

http://www.firstlegoleague.org/challenge/2015trashtrek

And, some inspiration from last year's robot game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJSeMeAGmXE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLuMAEwJajg