Fifth Annual U City FLL Warm Up at UCHS

On Saturday, September 26th, University City High School was host to the fifth annual University City FIRST LEGO League Warm Up.  This event, sponsored by U. City Robotics, brought together 27 teams and approximately 125 students plus parents and mentors from across the region and as far away as Cape Girardeau.  FIRST LEGO League (FLL) introduces young people, ages 9 to 14, to the fun and excitement of science and technology. Teams, composed of up to ten children, build and program an autonomous robot to score points on a thematic playing field, as well as research and create a presentation centered around creative and innovative solutions to a problem (this year they will seek to solve the world's trash problems) and adhere to set of core values known as gracious professionalism.

The teams came to the Warm Up for an early chance to test drive the robots they are building and programming for the 2015 FLL challenge, TRASH TREK.  While there was no official refereeing or scoring, they had an excellent opportunity to meet and compete with other teams, and to practice for the upcoming November qualifiers (two of which will be held at Brittany Woods Middle School.) The event is also used by FIRST LEGO League of Eastern Missouri to train referees for the upcoming competition season.

FLL teams get the chance to play
this year's robot game in a timed
environment. 

Technical support was on hand to assist teams with design, building, and programming as well as subject expertise for the project presentations required as part of the competition.  The City of University City sent an employee from Waste Management, and Washington University sent six subject experts to help with project research.

Students get expert help on their research projects.

Six of our own district FLL teams, from Jackson Park Elementary, Flynn Park Elementary, and Brittany Woods Middle School, participated in the event.  All district teams were sponsored by Rankin Technical College, who was also a sponsor of the event and provided technical support staff.

Members of the Brittany Woods team make adjustments
to their robot.

Our high school robotics team, the UCHS Robolions - FIRST Robotics Competition team #3397 - brought their competition robot to demonstrate and even allowed some of the kids from FLL to try their hands at driving it.  The Robolions also provided help with set-up the night before, and volunteered at the event in various capacities, including providing programming expertise and support.

UCHS Robolions team members
set up the FLL competition fields.

FIRST  (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded in 1989 to inspire young people's interest in science and technology. In 2015 FIRST programs will reach 400,000 students around the world through four leveled programs for kids K-12.  FIRST kids are significantly more likely to attend college, major in science or engineering, and be outstanding future employees and citizens, For more information, please visit www.usfirst.org.  

Robots "Warm Up" at UCHS

The gymnasium at University City High School buzzed with excitement Saturday morning October 5th, as 22 registered elementary and middle school robotics teams from across the area converged for the fourth annual U. City FLL Warm Up (formerly the "U. City Scramble").  FLL, which stands for FIRST LEGO League, is a component of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics program started by inventor Dean Kamen in 1989 to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology. (Click here to read about our high school's FIRST Robotics Competition team). 

Teams crowd around the tables in the UCHS gymnasium
to observe practice matches.

In FLL, small teams of students aged 9 to 14 design, build, program, and test robots made from LEGO MINDSTORMS technology. At the beginning of each season (which lasts approximately 3 months) teams are issued a challenge with a series of obstacles that their robots must overcome, and research project ot complete and present. The 2013 challenge is called Nature's Fury, and  explores natural disasters and how technology can help us to prepare, stay safe, and rebuild.

At this year's Warm Up, teams had the opportunity to put their robots through their paces in the robot game, meet other teams and see their robots, and get a feel for what an actual competition might be like.  In addition, teams could meet with a panel of experts from the Red Cross and Washington University to ask questions and get help on this year's project.  Students and staff from Ranken Technical College were also on hand to provide programming assistance to the teams. 

A team from Flynn Park listens to a referee explain one of the
many "missions" they can complete in the robot game.

This event is typically the first chance the officials and referees have to see the robot game in action, and is used as a training event for them as well. One of the founding tenants of FIRST is the concept of Gracious Professionalism, which means that teams can compete fiercely but still treat each other with respect and kindness and help everyone to achieve their best game. The Warm Up is a great example of this in action, as teams learn from and help one another. 

Of the 22 teams participating this year, five were from University City schools,  including Flynn Park, Jackson Park, Barbara C. Jordan, and Brittany Woods Middle. Members of the UCHS Robolions FRC team assisted and served as referees. University City is proud to be one of the only local districts to have robotics teams at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. 

The "pit" areas are a hive of activity, as teams tweak and
troubleshoot their robots

In the weeks to come, teams will continue to hone their robots, research their project, and prepare presentations.  The competition season kicks off on October 26th with the first in a series of ten qualifiers, two of which will be held at Brittany Woods Middle School on November 9th and 10th.  The top teams from each qualifier will then go on to compete in the Eastern Missouri FLL Championship at Florissant Valley Community College on December 8th.  The winner of that event has the chance to compete against teams from around the world  in the FIRST World Championship, held April 23 - 26, 2014, at the America's Center right here in St. Louis!  For details and qualifier schedules visit the St. Louis FIRST website.

The Warm Up, brainchild of U. City parents Nicole Adewale, Celina McGinnis, and Ed Deitzler, has grown steadily since its inception in 2010.  The event started as a way to, "pull together resources to help University City's FLL teams prepare for the official qualifying events" says Adewale (UCHS Class of 1986), "but from the beginning we (and Superintendent Pruitt) felt it was important to share our resources with other teams in the area, which would in turn allow us to learn from other teams.  What we originally envisioned as an extended practice event has turned out to be a premier technical conference for elementary and middle school students and has also become a major training opportunity for referees."

The sponsoring organization for the Warm Up was U.City Robotics, founded by parents several years ago to promote FIRST programs in University City and introduce our students to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields through the excitement of competitive robotics. Kids who participate in FIRST are significantly more likely to attend college and major in science or engineering (in fact, all seven 2013 graduating seniors from the high school's robotics team, many of whom began robotics in middle school, are currently majoring in science or engineering.)

U. City Robotics is grateful to the Deitzler, McGinnis, Holahan and Adewale families for organizing and setting up the event and to members of the St. Louis FIRST Robotics FLL committee, Ranken, Wash U., Edwardsville Robotics, and the Red Cross for supplying nearly 30 volunteers who provided a stellar opportunity to the teams who participated.

All photos courtesy of Celina McGinnis

UCHS AP Biology Students Participate in Washington University Study

This past school year UCHS Advanced Placement (AP) Biology students participated in an ecological and molecular genetics study sponsored by Washington University to identify cyanogenesis in white clover. Teacher Julie Ertmann's students collected white clover samples from around the University City High School campus and tested them to determine if they contained the genes to make the compounds that make cyanide.

Junior Isaac Tobias and Senior Chris States discuss the proper
 way to read test results with their teacher, Julie Ertmann

Three trials were conducted on each clover cluster collected.  Testing involved mashing up the clover and mixing it with water, linamarase (a plant enzyme), and linamarin (a sugar).   If the clover tested was cyanigenic they would be able to detect the cyanide in each of the trials, but if it only produced the enzyme they would only be able to detect cyanide in the trial with the sugar (linamarin).  

Senior Anna Soifer adds linamarase and linamarin
 to the clover samples

Samples in the incubator.

Students then collected data (number of cyanagenic plants, number of enzyme producing plants number of sugar producing plants) and calculated the ratios between them. Their data was submitted  to Washington  University, who will pool it with data collected from across the country, sorted by region.

Senior Ursula Monaghan checks to see if a reaction has occurred.

An unusually high number of cyanagenic plants were discovered on the UCHS campus, leading the students to conduct a second set of trials, which yielded the same results.

Senior Chris States uses a smartboard to record study data

Senior Grace Deitzler (who credits this class with greatly influencing her decision to become a biology major)  found it “interesting that the plant would produce just the enzyme, because it's a metabolic waste, as it serves no other purpose for the plant, whereas the sugar (linamarin) could be used if necessary for other purposes within the cells."

The author of this blog will have to take her word on this, and is very pleased that our students have the opportunity to so greatly exceed their elders’ knowledge on such matters.

Thank you to Grace Deitzler for reporting and photography on this post!

Update: Anna Soifer is now studying archaeology at Johns Hopkins University, Ursula Monaghan is studying biomedical engineering at Swarthmore College, Chris State is studying business administration at William Jewel College, and Grace Deitzler is studying biological sciences and chemistry at Missouri S&T. 

UCHS Robolions Competition Photos

The UCHS FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team 3397, The Robolions, had a great time at this year's St. Louis Regional Championship.  Although they didn't advance to the World Championship this year, their robot looked great and performed well.  Here are a few photos from the competition. Read more about team 3397 here and here.

This year's robot, "Serenity", ready to compete.

Inspecting the robotic arm.

Christine and Mike remove the robot's mechanical arm to replace a bolt sheared off in competition.

Andrew blogs live from the pit.

Marquise reattaches the arm, post repair.

Grace, Henry, and Paul talk strategy.

Serenity performs during a match.

Carl and Walter drive during a match.

Placing Serenity on the field.

Go Lions!

Robots Rock! UCHS Robolions help make STEM ‘The New Cool’

Christine, Marquise, and Jonah working on electronics.

What do you get when you mix a few hundred kids with A+ geek credentials, dedicated adult volunteers, representatives from the country’s top science and technology corporations and universities, sky-high energy, the steady beat of techno pop, and some of the coolest robots you will ever see?  A FIRST Robotics Competition, that’s what!

This weekend (March 15^th & 16^th, 2013) The University City Robolions, UCHS’s own FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team will compete along with 40 other high school teams from Missouri and surrounding states in the St. Louis Regional FIRST Robotics Championship. You can catch the Robolions and their competitors in action from 9:00 – 4:00 Friday and Saturday, at the Chaifetz Arena on the campus of Saint Louis University.   This event is free and open to the public.

Carl cutting metal.

This will be the fourth regional championship for the Robolions, FRC team 3397. The team was founded in 2010, and has been growing in size and ability ever since.  The twenty-some members of the team spend hundreds of hours over the course of the school year in pursuit of robot perfection.  Beginning with a kickoff in January, teams from around the world (2,548 in 2013) receive a game challenge and a kit of parts.  With the help of coaches and mentors (the Robolions’ mentors are from Boeing) they are given six weeks to design, engineer, build, and program a robot from scratch to perform the tasks required for the game.  This year’s game is called ULTIMATE ASCENT and challenges robots to do things like pick up Frisbees, shoot Frisbees at targets and climb a metal pyramid. Teams also look for opportunities to practice Gracious Professionalism, a key component of the FIRST programs.

Lafayette getting ready to do some programming

The short, intensive build season requires students to work collaboratively and quickly, learning and implementing a wide spectrum of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)-related skills.  From engineering a chassis using CAD programs like Autodesk Inventor, to designing electronics and building circuit boards, to figuring out the mechanics of moving parts and programming the robot to do a series of complex tasks, our students experience intense hands-on learning in a real world environment.    They must master the safe use power tools, learn to fundraise, write grants, and hone their communication skills as they interface with local partners like Ranken Technical College for assistance with things like welding and machining robot parts. In addition to the considerable technical skills involved, students also develop skills in marketing, presentations, interviews, and even some sewing. 

The 2013 competition robot, "Serenity"

At the end of the six-week build season, the robot is “bagged and tagged” and set aside until the regional competition.  The Robolions continue their hard work in the UCHS robotics lab right up until the day of competition, doing things like building a practice robot, polishing their programming, developing marketing materials, and writing on their blog. Experienced team members work with younger students to learn new skills and prepare them for leadership positions next year, and scouts are busy sizing up the competition and considering alliances.

In 2011, the Robolions were the Eastern Missouri Regional champions, along with their alliance partners from Hazelwood Central High School and Camdenton High School, an achievement which secured them a spot in the 2011 FIRST World Championships.  Their goal of course is to make to the 2013 World Championships, which will be held here in St. Louis at the Edward Jones Dome, April 24^th – 27^th.  Regardless of whether they make it, UCHS robotics students are passionate about science and technology, and are well on the path to becoming tomorrow’s technology leaders.   Come on down to the Chaifetz this weekend and check them out – we guarantee you’ll have a good time!

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology)was founded in 1992 by inventor Dean Kamen, with a vision  “to transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders” and a mission to “inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.”

For more information on FIRST robotics visit www.USFIRST.org and check out The New Cool by Neal Bascomb. For information about local FIRST programs visit www.STLfirst.org.  Competitions can be streamed live via the NASA website.  Follow the UCHS Robolions on their blog, The Fourth Law of Robotics or friend them on facebook.

Look for updates on the UCHS Robolions in the weeks to come!

UPDATE:  See competition photos here.