Meeting+Notes


 * December 1-** We went over the results of the competition on Nov. 21. The club members begin to design a new robot.


 * December 8th** - Students worked on creating robotics and sponsors sorted the kits.


 * January 12th -** 7 seven members attended the robotics meeting on the 12th of January. The students started to build new robots with sensors and some without sensors. The students labeled their robots and placed them on the cart. Today they should aim to complete their robots. Next Tuesday, the students will start programming their robots to perform a specific task determine by the robotics sponsors.

In the near future, if not also at the Jan. 26 meeting, I also feel it would be really important to refresh the members' memories with the calculation involved in finding the distance one turn of any wheel will travel and how they can use that to program their robots. Members turned off their bricks, picked up the floor and placed the chairs neatly under the tables.
 * January 19th** -11 members attended. One new member Harrison Miller will be a good addition to the club. While the members worked on their projects, Lindsey and I came up with some ideas taken from the book "Classroom Activities for the Busy Teacher: NXT" by Damien Kee; the book was recommended by Mrs. Bradford. We thought it would be a good idea to do a little instruction at the beginning of each session, maybe 10 minutes or less. I would like to introduce the idea of the flowchart to the members as a means of planning their programs. I will use a master from the book and have copies available for the next meeting. Although it is not my week to supervise the meeting on Jan. 26, I would like to attend for the first few minutes to introduce the flowchart. Lindsey and I thought that for those who are finished with their builds, we could have an activity ready. Mrs. Bradford recommended that the first activity be "Stay Away from the Edge" which features the light sensor. (Mrs. Bradford thought the touch sensor activity might be too easy for the members who had been attending for awhile, but agreed it might be a good activity for the new members.) I will have copies of both activities ready for the Jan. 26 meeting.


 * January 26** - Members worked on building their own domabots so that at the Feb 2 meeting they can do the "Stay Away from the Edge" activity. Mrs. Bradford and Lindsey worked on building the new shelf/drawer system to store the LEGO pieces. The framework is done, but the pieces need to be hammered together a little to make sure they're secure before adding the drawers. If possible, we might see if we can attach wheels to the shelf so it can be brought out easily for meetings.


 * February 2** - Members continued to work on domabots, and some worked on the "Stay Away from the Edge" activity, adding sensors and writing out programming flow charts. However, none of the students could log on to the computers in the library, so no programming could be done. Members who couldn't make any more progress on the activity returned to free building. I (Lindsey) started to sort LEGO pieces into bins for the shelving system, but I don't know if the framework of the shelf has been hammered to make it secure yet.

Continued working on sensors and robots. Some had a chance to test the light sensor, were able to get 3 computers to work for programming. Continued sorting onto shelving. 7 members in attendance. Mrs. Roy
 * February 9**


 * February 16** - Members continued to work on building robots. One new member started, and we got him started with building his own robot. By the end of the session he was ready to start programming, but he needed to reset the password for his server account since he had forgotten it. We'll need to go over the basics of programming with him when he returns.


 * February 23** - Club meeting cancelled due to weather.


 * March 2** - 6 members attended. 7th graders were asked not to attend after-school clubs due to the writing TAKS on Wednesday. The members discussed the upcoming Robotic Showcase at McNeil HS in early May and then brainstromed possible robots to build for display. The group decided on an amusement park theme. Each group come up with a "ride" to create and was asked to complete a flow chart of the tasks that their robot/ride would preform and draw a picture of what it might look like. Mrs. Frey and I (Vickie) continued to brainstorm and help the students with ideas while continuing to sort the many pieces. The frame work for the shelf was inspected by Mr. Tiner (shop teacher) and it passed inspection. At the end of club time, each group was given an empty lego box to store their build.

March 23- 6 members continued building. The programs couldn't be found on the computer so not able to program. Lindsey and Teresa Roy checked progress- didn't get a lot accomplished because of the computers not having the program available. The shelf doesn't seem very sturdy so may need to look at that again.


 * April 6 -** A scheduled robotics meeting was planned;however, robotics was cancelled due to TAKS testing being held in the library. Five members of robotics did show up for Robotics. Mrs. Frey and Mr. Perez were in attendance.


 * April 13** - 6 members continue to build for the Showcase on May 11 at McNeil HS. 3 members said that they would be able to attend the showcase and wound not need transportation. It was suggested that we video the students explaining their robotic to also take with us. Bradford, Roy, and Orlando