Robotics Program
The objective of the robotics program is to encourage students to think like scientists and engineers, by researching and solving real-world problems, utilising (primarily) the LEGO Robotics technology. In time, the program will seek to expand into more complex robotic technologies, such as that offered by the PICAXE microcontrollers.
Summary
FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Program Description
The For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) robotics program allows students to compete with their peers from other schools, on a regional and national level, in high-energy tournaments. These tournaments seek to entice students to think like scientists and engineers, through research and the construction and programming of autonomous robots. The FIRST LEGO League is currently in its third year of operation in Australia, and has recently begun operating in Victoria.
Each year the US city of Atlanta plays host to the FIRST world championships, held at the Georgia Dome and the Georgia World Congress Center. The championships consist of three separate events which are run concurrently:
FIRST LEGO League (FLL) World Championship (Years 4 to 9)
FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) World Championship
FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Championship (Years 9 to 12)
2017 FIRST® Robotics Competition Program
Robot Build
This year, the robots were built at Swinburne University's Factory of the Future, rather than out of the King David School. Below are some photos of the build.
Day 1 - KDS student Guy sharing robot design idea
Day 2 - KDS students prototyping with Swinburne Uni mentor Kai
Day 4 - KDS students at Swinburne with KDS alumnus Boaz
Day 4 - KDS students learning to program with Swinburne mentor Kai
2016 FIRST® Robotics Competition Program
Robot Lockup
Robot Lockup - February
This event was once again a great success! Both robots were locked up ready for the competition.
AI Robotics with their robot
RoboCats with their robot
Teachers and mentors
Robot being locked up, by Robert Feigin Memorial Scholarship Trust Trustee, Ricky Feigin
2016 FIRST® LEGO® League
Victorian State Tournament
The FLL Victorian tournament was again held at Swinburne University of Technology. The stand-out team from those connected with the Robert Feigin Trust was the team from Christ the King School in Geelong, which achieved second place out of 34 teams in the Victorian championships.
As part of our Outreach program, the Trust helped sponsor the team to travel to Sydney for the national championships, where they secured fifth place! This was a phenomenal effort for this primary school team, especially considering that many of the teams were composed of Years 7-9 students.
2016 Christ the King "Cre8te the Future" Team
2015 FIRST® LEGO® League
Outreach
In June 2015, staff and students from the King David School, supported in part by the Trust, travelled to Northern Bay College, Geelong, and Sunshine College to support their FIRST LEGO Robotics programs. Some photos from these outreach events are posted below. See also Outreach.
Victorian State Tournament
The 2015 FLL tournament was held at Swinburne University of Technology for the first time. Swinburne acknowledged King David's assistance in a successful tournament, and several of the school’s students, teachers and alumni volunteered their time at the tournament.
Two KDS teams participated, and received critical praise from the judges.
2015 FLL tournament
2015 FIRST® Robotics Competition Program
Robot Lockup
Once again the program got off to a great start, with the annual Robot Lockup event, held on Tuesday 17th February, our biggest yet. The event had a large turnout from industry (BAE Systems, Rockwell Automation, Ford Australia and Autodesk), Swinburne University, parents, students and our KDS alumni.
RoboCats and AI Robotics with local MP David Southwick
The King David School team, A.I. Robotics, and the Swinburne University/Ford Australia all-girl team Melbourne RoboCats put on a wonderful display, with both teams showcasing the fabulous work they have done over just six weeks. This year's challenge is Recycle Rush, in which the robots are required to pick up rubbish and bins, and place them in certain zones designated as landfill.
AI Robotics Robot in Action and the team with KDS alumni Devon and Robert Larson
March 2015 Tournament
The tournament was again a big success. Both the King David team, AI Robotics, and the all-girls team hosted at King David, received awards at the competition.
AI Robotics received a US $5,000 Grant from News Corporation for the work they continue to do helping other teams develop capacity in FIRST Robotics, and the Robocats were recipients of the Judges’ Award in recognition of their innovation.
2015 Judges Award - Robocats with Ford & BAE Systems staff
2014 FIRST® Robotics Competition Program
Robot Lockup
The team got the year off to a fantastic start. On 18 February, a large crowd gathered at the King David School for the "Robot Lockup", which has become an annual event attracting a crowd to watch the robot bagged up, ready to be sent to Hawaii for the international tournament. This year's robot was nicknamed Scorpion due to its two scorpion-like pincers.
2014 Bag n Tag event, and the robot being shipped out
Hawaii Competition
The team departed Melbourne on 24th March to compete at the Hawaii Regional FIRST Robotics Competition, with 39 teams from several countries competing at this event held at the University of Hawaii. There was a strong Australian contingent with five teams in total, two from Victoria (our KDS team A.I. Robotics and the rookie team from Rowville Secondary College we had been mentoring).
Team arrives in Honolulu Monday 24th March
The competition was a wonderful success, due in part to the fabulous support provided by engineers from BAE Systems and Rockwell Automation. Despite a number of technical issues on the first day of the competition (the designated practice day), the team was amazing and kept on working nonstop. The perseverance paid off when the last of the problems were sorted out by the end of the day, and the team was able to consistently shoot and score.
Testing the catapult
The robot passed the detailed safety inspection that covered everything from the mechanical, electrical and software side of things. It was a tough day for many teams, and the most impressive part of the day was during the final four hours when our team split into two groups, one went to assist the Chinese team that had been struggling all day to get their robot ready; and the second team went to the aid of Rowville Secondary College who were also having trouble passing their safety inspection. The team was very proud of the Rowville team for winning the Rookie Inspiration award.
The two Melbourne teams
In the end the team finished 24th out of 39 teams, a strong result considering the relative youth of the team.
Rockwell Automation's On The Move Event
Two members of our team exhibited the school's leadership in Robotics at Rockwell's annual On The Move event, which was held at the Melbourne & Olympic Park Function Centre in late March.
Rockwell Automation's 2014 On The Move Event
Duel Down Under
At the "off-season" Australian Championships known as the Duel Down Under, held during the last week of June, our team received the Safety Award. The team competed against 23 other schools from Australia and around the world, and were tasked with creating a robot that shoots balls (not too dissimilar to light Swiss balls) into various goals for various points.
Outreach program
During the year KDS hosted Monterey Secondary College (Frankston) and Glen Iris Primary School for an FLL robotics immersion event. Monica Feigin, Trustee of the Robert Feigin Memorial Scholarship Trust, was in attendance for the Monetery visit. A subsequent visit was arranged to Northern Bay College (Geelong), where teachers from KDS ran a LEGO robotics immersion event for approximately 20 students and several teachers.
Photos from Northern Bay College, Corio, a joint initiative between Ardoch, RFMST and KDS
Victorian State First Lego League Championships
King David once again successfully hosted the Victorian championships, sponsored by the Robert Feigin Memorial Scholarhsip Trust.
Competition Tables Einstein and Curie at the Victorian Championships at KDS
Looking forward
Next year is going to be a really big year, with Australia to host its first ever regional FIRST event next year (second week of March) in Sydney. More details to follow closer to the date.
2013 FIRST® Robotics Competition Program
Team Melbourne snaps up the Inspiration Award - second year running!
Our FIRST Robotics team received the prestigious Inspiration Award again this year, out of the 16 competing teams at this year's competition. In the eyes of FIRST this is seen as the most sought after award, and was awarded to our team for their work in promoting FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and in particular supporting/promoting STEM Education.
Team Melbourne with their frisbee-playing robot
The team spent a great deal of time working with Rowville Secondary College and with BAE Systems to establish a second Victorian team. Rowville were extremely grateful to the leadership and support that we offered them. Both BAE and Macquarie University recognised The King David School for its tireless work and efforts, which will ensure that we continue to garner their ongoing support.
Additionally, the feedback and mention that the school received this year at the FIRST LEGO League Operational Partners meeting at Macquarie University, Sydney (attended by Milorad Cerovac, the Robert Feigin Science Program coordinator), was extremely encouraging of the work and support they have.
Sydney's Big Day Out event: Sydney, Tasmanian and Melbourne teams celebrating together
International Competition in Hawaii
On the back of its successful 2012 national competition, our team travelled to Hawaii in March, 2013 for the FRC Hawaii Regional Tournament. All up, including parents and teachers, the team numbered 27 people! The team went well prepared to show off their strengths, including a large poster and handouts to advertise the team.
Team Melbourne poster and handout
Despite a solid performance that got the team very close to two awards, none were taken home. The team was pipped by the Adelaide team for the Rookie All Stars Award, and were the second highest ranked Rookie team, behind the Chinese. Additionally, our robot scored more than half of the points gained by our three-team alliance.
The robots ready for play
The competition was a nonstop, highly energetic tournament, with frisbees being fired at quite substantial speeds by some of the most amazing robots that one could ever imagine high school students building. At times, in particular the finals, the competition resembled an episode from Robot Wars. One of the highly fancied Hawaiian teams found itself on the receiving end of numerous gang tackles. Sadly for them, whilst they were clearly the best robot of the competition, they were quite brutally knocked out of the competition final. And who ever said that robot building was lame, and tame?
The Team
On a positive note, the students and parents from all six schools that make up our team were absolutely stoked to have been part of this amazing experience, and are keen to participate next year. They were particularly impressed when Australia's Consul-General to Honolulu, Mr Scott Dewar, was invited to speak at the Opening Ceremony for the final day of the competition. He visited our pit area, and even posted on our team's Facebook group.
Kim Beazley, former Labor leader and current Ambassador to the USA, also posted on the team's Facebook page and tweeted the following message: Good luck to #Aussie teams at #robotics comp in #Hawaii.
2013 FIRST® LEGO® League
King David's Team Golem travelled to Sydney for the Australian FIRST® LEGO® League Championships held at Macquarie University on Sunday 24th February.
Golem, named after the mythical Jewish creature, won the Research Project Award at this national tournament. This was an incredible achievement as they were competing against the best teams from around Australia. This award followed on from the team winning the Research Project Award at the State tournament two months earlier.
In Sydney, we were yet again recognised for our leadership in STEM education when we received the most sought after award (Inspiration Award) at the June Australian Championships known as the Duel Down Under. This was a remarkable achievement as we were competing against 13 other worthy teams. Rowville Secondary College, who joined us at this Australian championship event were grateful in the assistance given to their team.
KDS's Sasha Goldenberg running a LabView session with two of Rowville's students
On 15th July, KDS was honoured to host a LEGO Education workshop which attracted around 30 teachers to a day-long conference. The success of this day continues to cement the school's leadership in STEM education, particularly robotics. KDS's award winning FLL team has also been working with three local primary schools, providing technical assistance and advice to their students and teachers.
Getting the word out
The team was privileged to represent the First Robotics Community at some high profile events this year.
As the 2012 Australian robot champions, six members of King David's Team Golem were invited to showcase the FRC at Sydney's Big Day Out event, which attracted approximately 65,000 people. The FRC field was located adjacent the entry, which gave the team extensive exposure. Our robot played non-stop from 10:00am to 4:24pm in hot conditions, which was an incredible achievement and testament to our team's robust design.
Members of our FRC team were also honoured to be given the opportunity to support BAE Systems at the Australian Grand Prix “Driving Science, Driving the Future – Education Expo” Initiative on the 14th to 17th March 2013.
On 15th July, KDS was honoured to host a LEGO Education workshop which attracted around 30 teachers to a day-long conference, run by Barbara Bratzel (US Educator and Author) and Sandra Googan (LEGO Australia Education Manager). The success of this day continues to cement the school's leadership in STEM, particularly robotics, education. Subsequent to this event the school hosted Glen Iris Primary School for a morning LEGO training session, which was also followed up by a visit from three of our students (Rafael Ungar, Gabi Abrahams and Sasha Goldenberg) to Glen Iris for a follow-up training session.
2012 FIRST® Robotics Competition Program
A new team has been formed in 2012 and hope to be heading to the USA for the world championships, to follow in the 2009 team's footsteps. But first, the team travelled to Sydney in late June for the national competition.
Beginnings of the 2012 Team
A meeting was held in May involving senior managers and engineers of BAE Systems and La Trobe University, who confirmed their intention to continue their relationship with our FRC team. The BAE engineers have been very impressed with the interest and commitment demonstrated by our students.
The robot's design and testing got under way early in the year, here is a video of it shooting its first hoop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sePIjip7Epo
Below is a photo taken of some of the students with one of the BAE mentors after the initial build day held on a Sunday.
Electricals mounted on base during one of the Sunday Build Sessions early in the year
Inaugural Australian National Championships in Sydney
The following report was received from Milorad Cerovac after returning from the National Championships.
Team Melbourne, was awarded the 2012 Robot Champions award after a gruelling tournament. The team finished in 4th position after the qualifying stage due to a poor start, caused by software problems which the team frantically worked on (and progressively fixed) since touching down in Sydney.
Position of teams after Qualifying Rounds:
No 1 - Thunder Down Under (Sydney)
No 2 - Devil Robotics (Tasmania)
No 3 - Robo Roos (Adelaide)
No 4 - Team Melbourne
No 5 - Normanhurst Boys (Sydney)
No 6 - St Marys (Sydney)
No 7 - M.A.T.E. (Sydney) - failed to make final after several motor controllers blew.
Robot Repairs after Normanhurst Rammed Our Robot
For the finals the teams were required to form an alliance of two teams (Red Alliance/Blue Alliance). The hot favourite, Sydney's veteran team (Thunder Down Under) invited the Tasmanian Devils to join them and thus immediately advance to the Grand Final. Tasmania graciously declined, which stunned the crowd, and also meant that they would be forced to play an elimination final. TDU subsequently invited the Adelaide team Robo Roos to join them in the grand final as the number 1 alliance team; whilst Tasmania invited our team to join them as the number 2 alliance team; leaving Normanhurst and St Mary's to form the 3rd and final alliance.
In a best of three match Tasmania/Melbourne defeated Normanhurst/St Mary's 2-0, which included a come from behind game when Team Melbourne managed to successfully balance on one of the teeter-totters (see photo), thereby earning a bonus of 10 points and leap frogging our opponents.
Team Melbourne and our Tasmanian alliance partner
In the grand final best of 3 match, Tasmania and Team Melbourne (Blue Alliance) both scored during the autonomous period (i.e. robot was operating automatically with no human intervention) of the first game, earning maximum points which caught the veteran TDU team by complete surprise. Result was 1-0 the way of Tasmania/Melbourne where the human drivers had minimal impact for all teams. In the second match both our team and Tasmania jumped to an early lead with both our robots again scoring heavily during the autonomous stage. Sensing victory, Tasmania and Melbourne worked like one to finish off the number 1 seeded alliance by having our robot attempt to balance on the teeter-totter thereby earning 10 points and sealing victory. The Sydney team seeing this lobbed several basketballs to prevent the teeter-totter from being lowered. Our robot blocked a couple of the incoming balls, but eventually one got through our defences and lodged beneath the teeter-totter thus preventing any attempt at the match-winning manouevre.
With our Blue Alliance now unable to score any further points, the Sydney/Adelaide Red Alliance attempted to balance on their teeter-totter. In a nail-biting finish and with seconds rapidly disappearing, it appeared that the Sydney team had managed to successfully balance; but as the buzzer sounded it was clear that their robot, TDU had not quite managed the manouevre ... and slowly slid off the teeter-totter ramp (see photo). The second game had been won. The second seeded alliance Tasmanian Devils and Team Melbourne had become the inaugural Robot Champions; the first competition of its kind in the southern hemisphere.
Elimination Game - Melbourne Balances on TeeterTotter
In addition to this remarkable achievement, Team Melbourne was awarded the Inspiration Award, which in the eyes of the FIRST community, is the most sought after award. The Inspiration Award recognises that team which has taken the FIRST mission to heart and inspired themselves and their community. Our work in promoting and assisting other schools with their robotics programs, as well as assisting the Adelaide team with their pneumatic system were a couple of the factors that resulted in our team winning this award.
Gearing up for a US Trip
Build sessions have been running since early in the year. A further series of workshops (e.g. programming, CAD design, electronics) will be run throughout the second semester in order to further develop the team's skills in preparation for a probable US trip.
2012 FIRST® LEGO® League
This year’s theme, Senior Solutions, challenged students to find a way of helping our senior citizens become more engaged and connected with their community.
The success of the Robert Feigin Science Programs was a key factor in the significant increase in the number of students from The King David School participating in this year's premier robotics tournament, with three teams entered, consisting of a total of 24 students from Grade 4 to Year 9.
2012 FIRST Lego League team
This year also saw the school host the Victorian FLL Robotics Championship on Sunday 2nd December at the Rebecca Magid Centre. A record number of 21 teams competed in this championship event, with a large contingent of country teams present. The unparalleled success of this Victorian tournament was vindication of the school's leadership in robotics education. LEGO Education's Senior Regional Manager, Sandra Googan, and the FLL Australian Coordinator, Luan Heimlich, had approached the school earlier in the year to take on the responsibility from Melbourne Grammar, in hosting this event, based upon our reputation and support by school management and by the RFMST.
The success of the school as hosts will ensure that The King David School will continue to host this prestigious event for the future. And is affirmation of the school’s leadership role in the area of Robotics Education, with our partners at BAE Systems, La Trobe University and Macquarie University.
The King David School team, Golem, were privileged to win the FLL Research Award for their standout solution which focused on Dementia. The team also scored highly on the three other judging criteria: Robot Performance; Robot Engineering Design; and Core Values. The result was that Team Golem finished in second place on the overall Champions Award, and have now been invited to compete at the National Championships in 2013.
Award winning Team Golem with MP David Southwick and KDS principal Michele Bernshaw
2011 Program
On Sunday 20th November a group of four boys from Years 8 and 9 participated in the FIRST Lego League Victorian Championship held at Melbourne Grammar. Our King David School team finished second in the Champions Award, from a total of 15 competing teams.
The team then headed to Sydney for the Australian FIRST LEGO League Robotics Championships. This was a great experience for the boys, who received a key chain from BAE Systems as well as a medal and certificate of participation.
Sandra Googan, regional manager of LEGO Education, acknowledged the school's considerable experience in robotics (which has been funded by the Robert Feigin Memorial Scholarship Trust for several years now) and organised to come down to Melbourne to see how The King David School can help the Victorian tournament organisers. Sandra has requested that The King David School take a more active role in developing and growing the FIRST LEGO League competition in Melbourne.
Another positive aspect of The King David School’s participation in the FIRST LEGO League tournament this year was the strengthening of its relationship with Macquarie University. Professor Mike Heimlich is currently assisting the school in finding potential industry partners (BAE Systems and Boeing Research) to support and possibly sponsor the school in relation to the advanced FIRST Robotics Competition (known as FRC).
Jeremy, Sasha and Max with the judges from BAE Systems, National Championships
2010 Program
A regular series of training exercises in the use of the LEGO technology was undertaken during 2010. Then on Thursday 18th November four students from Years 7 and 8 (Gabi Abrahams, Sasha Goldenberg, Jeremy Bereszkowski and Max Elkin) travelled to Melbourne Grammar for the 2010 FLL Body Forward challenge. The four students who had never competed before, and were mentored by Boaz Ash (a member of our champion 2008-09 team), worked tirelessly in the several weeks prior to the competition day. Several parents turned up to see the boys in action. They were very impressed with what the students had achieved. We did beat the Melbourne Grammar team, 105 points to 75 points on the day.
2009 FLL World Championships
As winners of the 2008-2009 Australian Championships (see below), Team Golem was invited to attend the World Championships in Atlanta, USA, on 15-18 April 2009. The boys went to Atlanta, thanks to the Robert Feigin Memorial Scholarship Trust, as well as the Pratt Foundation, our co-major sponsors for the Atlanta trip.
This year's FLL competition, which involved the participation of 84 teams from across 25 countries, spanned four days:
Wednesday 15th April: Pit Setup and Coaches Meeting
Thursday 16th April: Judging Sessions and Robot Performance Practice Sessions
Friday 17th April: Robot Performance Competition Event
Saturday 18th April: FLL Closing Ceremony
Each competing FLL team was required to complete/undertake the following tasks:
Robot Performance – each robot had 2 minutes 30 seconds to complete as many of the 10 tasks as possible, worth a maximum of 400 points, on a specially designed mat;
Climate Connections Research Project Presentation – students were required to present their research project (saving Landcox Park Pond) to a panel of three judges;
Robot Design Judging – students were required to speak to, and answer questions from a panel of three judges into the rationale of Team Golem’s robot design and programming, and the use of attachments to complete the mission tasks on the LEGO mat; and
Teamwork Judging – students were given a problem/activity to complete as a team, with two judges assessing the ability of the students to work cooperatively.
Notwithstanding a robot that had been damaged in transit, the students worked well to rectify the damaged parts and to re-program the robot. The highest score attained by Team Golem on the mat was 160. This score placed Team Golem into 62nd place from a total of 84 teams.
Though this may suggest a disappointing result, it must be emphasised that the 84 teams competing were national champions in the case of the international teams competing, and regional champions in the case of the competing American teams. A top 10 finish was deemed theoretically possible based upon Team Golem’s time trials conducted prior to leaving for Atlanta. It should be noted that the three KDS students completely re-designed the NXT robot from the original Sydney design, in order to increase the team’s competitiveness at the international level, though this did reduce the time available for time trialling and refining the overall robot design.
Climate Connections Research Project
Overall Team Golem was determined by the judges to have produced a good solution to a local ‘climate problem’, with the students able to concisely and clearly relate their research problem to the FLL judges. Team Golem’s chosen problem was the impact and solution to the dwindling water levels in the duck pond at nearby Landcox Park. Suggestions offered by the Judges for future improvements to the research aspect of this competition included:
Need to include additional external sources, to better quantify the local ‘climate problem’;
Arguments presented were occasionally obscured by jargon; and
Use visual aids (eg graphs) to better identify the problem and the solution.
Robot Design
Overall Team Golem was determined by the judges to be a good design, specifically:
Excellent that students designed, built and programmed their robot (FIRST strongly advocate that the focus is on the students designing and constructing the robots, not coaches/parents)
Students had a good understanding of the underlying design, science, and technology of the LEGO robotics software and hardware
Future improvements that could be incorporated into the LEGO robot designs are the use of magnetic blocks, to assist in adding/removing attachments more quickly. Note: Team Golem attempted to purchase these parts from Australian LEGO retailers, but were unable to do so as these specialised items were not stocked.
Teamwork
Team Golem received excellent feedback for their ability to work cooperatively with each other, and to be respectful of one another. Specific comments from the Judges included:
Team members were able to give concrete examples of respect for team mates;
Team members assisted each other without being asked;
Members of the team worked enthusiastically together to include each other;
Cooperation is a dominant theme in Team Golem; and
When a problem is identified, a compromise is evident in the solution to that problem.
Summary
It should be noted that this trip has been an overwhelming success in terms of the experience that has been acquired, and the contacts that have been made during this four day event. The experience and contacts that have been gained should:
Ensure the continued success of KDS in the FIRST LEGO League at the Australian regional and national levels;
Provide any future KDS team in Atlanta with the skills and experience to improve upon their successful 2009 campaign; and
Provide KDS with the ability to expand into the more advanced FTC and FRC platforms (note: Terry Black, an FRC coach of American team #1311, has offered to provide whatever assistance, including sponsoring any future KDS team in the FRC; and Eyal Hershko, coach of Israeli FRC team Steampunk has also offered technical assistance, via their Skype network).
Thanks to Team Golem Coach Milorad Cerovac for this report.
2008-2009 Competition
In 2008, to achieve the program's objective, the school registered for the FIRST LEGO League, which is a school students competition that combines:
a research project, based around the year's topical theme - Climate Connections; and
a robotics challenge designed for the Climate Connections theme carried out on a purpose designed mat using the LEGO NXT robots.
On 14 November 2008 a regional competition was held at Melbourne Grammar. Our team, Team Golem, finished 2nd in the blue riband performance event. They also received two awards: the ‘Professional Graciousness’ Team Award; and the Judges Award (to Boaz Ash), for their altruistic assistance to a number of struggling junior schools.
On 7 December, thanks to the support of the Robert Feigin Memorial Scholarship Trust, the team attended the national competition at Macquarie University in Sydney. Their performance there was truly marvellous, and they finished the day by taking first place! The team has was invited to represent Australia at the FLL world competition in Atlanta, USA on 15-18 April 2009. See above for a summary of their performance in Atlanta.
Team Golem
Golem is the name of the King David School
Milorad Cerovac (Coach)
Boaz Ash (Captain and NXT Programmer)
Daniel Bornstein (Research and Presentation)
Bryan Ladowsky (Systems Engineer)
Tahl Swieca (Attachments Specialist)
