The First Lego League Explore (Ages 7-10)

Beginning in September of 2022 in Afternoon Activities, the Humanitree Lego Robotics Teams got started with the 2022-2023 season ‘Superpowered’. Throughout the season, they investigated where energy comes from, how it is distributed, stored and used and all the steps in between! Focusing on the First Lego League Core Values, the children really learned about effective teamwork as well as how to bring their ideas together to reach their goals.

In January, Ninfa Salinas, an expert in her field, came in to talk to the children about energy, how it is collected and distributed, and why renewable energy is important in today’s world. The children used this new knowledge to reflect on their projects and make improvements. They also continued to build renewable energy sources with Lego, and code their wind turbines, electric vehicles, etc.

On Saturday, February 18th, 2023 our two teams presented their projects at the Tec de Monterrey during the First Lego League Festival. Reviewers came around to hear all about what the children learned. One of the teams was recognized for their creativity, earning a certificate for their poster. The other team was recognized for the way in which they resolved the challenge, earning a certificate in this area. Over these months of hard work, the children improved their teamwork and communication skills, becoming innovators all while having fun. A huge congratulations to all of our team members for their hard work and dedication!

 

The First Lego League Challenge (Ages 11 - 14)

Chris Such - Computer Science Teacher

Anajel, Ansel, Damian and Miguel had begun their LEGO First League after-school club experience in September of 2022. They showed their enthusiasm, intelligence and careful consideration when planning for and carrying out their Energy Innovation Project but also their Tabletop Programming Activities to prepare for the competition as a whole. The Innovation Project was to propose a model that aimed to solve at least one issue involving Energy production/consumption around the world. We had decided on producing a multi-functional, portable device that possesses the capabilities to capture wind, solar and hydropower energy through its various attachments, to ultimately store inside internal batteries that could be disconnected from the device and to use for domestic purposes in the event of a power outage due to natural disasters and other unforeseen consequences.

Their Tabletop Robot Programming Activities consisted of programming instructions for a robot built during the club to undertake as many obstacle course objectives as possible. This requires precise coordination from multiple members of the team simultaneously as well as relentlessly following the philosophy of the practice, reflecting and improve routine. This is the purpose of the huge tabletop placed at the back of Hub 11 that many student could do little to resist gawking at and fiddling with. The combination of these two core elements for the project allows the participants to consider and experiment with, what is frankly, often opposing and different skill sets that most students would struggle with excelling at either one, let alone both at the same time.

With many moments to prepare for the upcoming competition taking place at Tec de Monterrey on the 18th of February, the students were both excited and nervous about the approaching challenge. All students and coaches had arrived at the arena at 8 a.m., all of us tired and slightly fresh faced from the early morning chill. All of us soon woke up however due to the incredibly high tempo, high-spirited and energetic atmosphere that all of the other senior teams had brought with them. This allowed us to take a tour around the other teams participating in this year’s competition and discuss their ideas but to also gauge the commitment and passion displayed by other competitors. 

With many hours of preparing and practising in the morning, the students first went to present their Innovation Project idea to the judges in hopes of impressing them with our critical thinking skills and creativity. The students had decided that in another attempt to impress the judges, they should ask them if they prefer the presentation to be delivered in English or Spanish. They had preferred Spanish so our students were quick thinking and charming enough to allow for this last-moment alteration to the plans.

In kind of a rush approaching the times dedicated to the Tabletop Programming Activities, our allocated 3 games to achieve the highest score possible from at least one of those rounds began roughly at 1:30 pm. During their first game, the kids achieved a score of 185, placing them initially in 9th place out of a total of 40 teams participating. Over the next two hours between moments of rest outside of the arena, also including food and drink to recharge the batteries (pun intended), our team participated in two more games, each lasting only 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Our next two games both achieved a matching score of 170 which unfortunately wasn’t enough to improve on our initial high school during the first game but considering many teams taking part hadn’t achieved such a consistently high score during each game, our team of programmers and presenters did themselves proud nonetheless.

At the end of the day, Damian resulted in second place for individuals who had collected the most badge pins handed out from every team, and we finished the day contented, exhausted but also happy with our unique experience, spirited team performance and more importantly, the desire to enjoy the experience.
 

 

The First Tech Challenge (Ages 12 - 16)

Bob James - Head of Computer Science

Scattered around the lunch area of Hive and Flight lunch terrace are words that encapsulate the spirit of a typical Humanitree student: ‘Perseverance’, ‘Responsibility’, ‘Achievement’, ‘Effort’ and ‘Courage’. At the recent Robotics Competition, held at ITAM last Saturday, Inaki, Fede, Franz, Martin, Xavier and Andree, under the spirited guidance of their coaches, Miss Lilia and Miss Sophia, had the opportunity to fully exemplify those characteristics. From the outset, the aim of the day was not to ‘win’ the leaderboard, it was, after all, only our sophomore participation in such a demanding competition. No, our goal was to participate, to do our best, but above all, to learn from the experience. You see, to the untrained observer, the focus of the event might simply be the robotic gaming arena, however, the event is so much more than this: it is about teamwork, communication, grace under pressure and resilience. It is about the hundreds of seemingly ‘insignificant’ moments that culminate in our Humanitree team developing their robot design, building the robot, programming it and then testing it. These events are genuinely about perseverance, responsibility, achievements, effort and courage. Inaki, Fede, Franz, Martin, Xavier and Andree walked into the competition hall and participated as credible contenders, and they left a little wiser and more experienced. Subsequently, the robotics team is already making plans for their 2023-2024 season with a renewed sense of enthusiasm and purpose. Well done to all.