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NEON SUPERNOVAHelp the FLL North Florida Champions compete at the FIRST North American Open Championship in Carlsbad, California in May
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WHAT IS FIRST?• FIRST = For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology• FIRST is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization devoted to helping
young people discover and develop a passion for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)
• Founded over 25 years ago by inventor Dean Kamen, FIRST is a Sport for the Mind where young, innovative, and creative minds explore science and technology, solving real-world problems and competing in exciting, hands-on robotics challenges
• Through their FIRST experience, participants win recognition, gain self-confidence, develop people and life skills, make new friends, and perhaps discover an unforeseen career path
• 360,000 kids in all FIRST programs last year: Jr FLL, FLL, FTC, FRC• $25 Million of Scholarships in 2016
WHAT IS FIRST LEGO LEAGUE?• Grades 4-8; ages 9-14• 290,000 kids last season, in more than 80 countries• After School Activity; Once a week, More often for
competition• Kids Learn and Compete in Three Focus Areas
• Core Values = Teamwork, Gracious Professionalism• Robot Game = Robot Building, Programming,
Missions• Project = Create Real-Life Solution and Present
• Competitions: Qualifiers, Regionals (UNF for NE-FL)• For more info, see firstlegoleague.org
FIRST LEGO LEAGUE (CONT.)• Proven, verifiable impact!• FIRST LEGO League’s positive impact on
participants is gratifying and well documented. Over 88% are more interested in doing well in school, and 87% have more interest in attending college.• Research challenges facing today’s scientists• Design, build, test and program robots• Apply real-world math and science concepts• Learn critical thinking, team-building, and
presentation skills • Participate in tournaments and celebrations• Understand and practice Gracious
Professionalism®
TRASH TREK: THEME FOR 2015/16 SEASON• Theme this season is “Trash Trek”, started August last year• We’re not talking trash – we’re cleaning it up! In the 2015
FIRST® LEGO® League TRASH TREK Challenge, 290,000 children ages 9 to 16 from over 80 countries will explore the fascinating world of trash. From collection, to sorting, to smart production and reuse, there is more to your trash than meets the eye. Join FIRST LEGO League teams on a Trash Trek to discover the hidden (or not so hidden) world of trash!
• FIRST LEGO League (FLL®) challenges kids to think like scientists and engineers. During the TRASH TREK season, teams will choose and solve a real-world trash problem in the Project. They will also build, test, and program an autonomous robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS® technology to solve a set of missions in the Robot Game. Throughout their experience, teams will operate under FLL’s signature set of Core Values, celebrating discovery, teamwork, and Gracious Professionalism®.
IN FLL, KIDS LEARN…Core ValuesTeamworkLeadershipIntegrityRespectListeningPatienceCooperationGuidanceContributionSelf-Confidence
ProjectSolutionsWeb DesignSocial NetworkingPresentation SkillsSpeakingCommunication SkillsArtisticActing
RobotComputer SkillsProgrammingCompass DirectionsFriction and TorqueAngular MomentumGeometryGravity and InertiaGear RatiosEngineering
WHO ARE WE?• FLL Team Neon Supernova• Six Middle-school Kids: four girls, two boys, all talented
and great grades (the blonde long-haired one is a boy!)• Seasoned, Winning Coaches
• Brady P. Merkel, 3rd year, Head coach, Engineering and Programming [VP at Bank of America, Software Development]
• Kim Larsen, 4th year, Assistant Coach, Core Values Specialist [Accountant]
• Winning History• 2015/16: Champions at both Qualifier AND North
Florida Regionals; 2nd in Robot Performance• 2014/15 as the LEGO DestroyerZ; State Champions in
Core Values; 3rd in Robot Design• 2013/14 as the LEGO Bosses; Trophied at Regionals
• Aligned with Mark McComb’s Renaissance Jax non-profit organization to further evangelize FIRST in NE Florida
NORTH FLORIDA CHAMPIONS• Jan 16: Competed against 31 elite North Florida
teams at the North Florida Regional Competition at UNF; with teams spanning from Ocala, Lake City, Gainesville, and even South Georgia
• Won overall Champion trophy• Won 2nd-place trophy in Robot Performance
(another team had a higher score by an impressive 100 points)
• Won invitation to tour Mayo Clinic’s Robot Medical facilities in February—further inspiring the kids in Medicine and Engineering!• Won the invitation to represent North Florida at the North America Open Championship in Carlsbad, California in May• Thu May 19 – Mon May 23
OUR ROBOT - NITRO• Built using LEGO Mindstorms EV3 kit (req’d)• Gyro - Enables accurate heading-based
moves• Light Sensors - Two
• Raw mode for more sensitive 0-1000 Scale
• Line Followers• Square Up• Proportional logic to minimize error
• Two Drive Motors• Two Arm Motors• Lightweight, Simple Design• 557 Points in Trash Trek, tooling now for
more
OUR TRASH TREK PROJECT• The Team Project, “R3Score” encourages
restaurants to take steps to be eco-friendly and responsible. Kids use R3Score to survey and score restaurants on their adoption of 3Rs (Reduce, Recycle and Reuse). With a restaurant’s permission, the results are shared on a mobile-friendly web site and social media. The goal: inform concerned customers to “vote with their wallet” and choose restaurants that strive to make a difference.
• Project Site: https://r3score.firebaseapp.com• Facebook: http://facebook.com/neonsupernova• Twitter: @neon_supernovas• Instagram:
https://instagram.com/neon_supernovas/• Google+/YouTube: Neon Supernova
FUNDRAISING• Request• Donate (tax deductible!) to the team so they can
compete at the North American Open Competition• Tax ID: 46-3826037
• What You Get• Social Media posts• Notoriety/PR• Report/Pictures/Videos• Love and Thanks•Future Leaders in STEM!
https://www.gofundme.com/xgjw59r8
CONTACT INFO• Brady P. Merkel, Head Coach• [email protected]• C: 904.252.3769
• Kim Larsen, Assistant Coach• [email protected]• C: 904.894.5997• H: 904.683.7671
• Mark McCombs, Renaissance Jax, FIRST Representative• [email protected]• C: 904.616.9869
• Want a Team presentation and meet the kids? Contact Us!
MORE PICS AND VIDShttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6TiNg9_pwdlkFVi9_nu0nQ
Members of the team meet with a Social Media expert for tips on marketing their project R3Score web site
Before running Nitro (the team’s Robot) for a scoring run, they must get it inspected for any non-LEGO parts, and no Bluetooth or Wi-Fi enabled
Saniya reminds Siya to verify the alignment of the Composter before running Nitro to push the Truck and retrieve the Friendly Packaging. Blake (the long-haired blonde boy, one of the star programmers on the team) looks on to supervise.
A wonderful outcome of this tremendous program—friendship and affinity. Emily and Caroline strike a pose for the camera, fully confident they’ll grow to be extraordinary leaders, and lifelong friends!
A favorite pose of the team is to look in different directions and confuse the photographers!
Coach Brady looks on as Aryaman adjusts the Gyro Proportional Turn to slow down a little more as it nears the target direction—to improve Nitro’s accuracy of course!
An important FLL Core Value is Gracious Professionalism, which means sharing with other Teams, even if they are the competition! Saniya tells them how its done!
Before each robot run, the team must verify the missions are set correctly, and Nitro gets its light sensors calibrated to the room’s light conditions
FLL Competitions bring volunteers with inspiring backgrounds. Here, a NASA engineer gives the countdown before the 2.5 minute autonomous run.
The team created this resource to visualize and design Nitro’s high-scoring run on the Trash Trek mat. Each mission has different points, and the more Nitro gets, the higher he rises on the leaderboard!
INSPIRED?• Help us out• Pass it on• Have a young ‘un? Look for or start a team! The FIRST
programs our exceptional!• Contact Brady if you have any further questions!
