Alpha Force
2013 NATURE’S FURY
FLL Team #3070 – Alpha Force Mark VI
This season marks the 6th year for this team as well as the last season for the senior members. More posts to come!
Attended:
- 2013 Qualifier Event at Pascack Hills High School, Montvale NJ
- 2013 State Finals at Mt. Olive High School, Flanders NJ
Awards:
- 2013 #3 Robot Design, Bergen Qualifier
- 2013 #2 Programming Award, State Finals
—o0o—
2012 SENIOR SOLUTIONS
FLL Team #7185 – Alpha Force Revolution
The team cranking up the revolution for a better season this year with seven members (6 old, 1 new) in 4th and 8th grade
Attended:
- 2012 RoboFest at NJ Science and Engineering Festival, Clifton High School, Clifton NJ
- 2012 Qualifier Event at Liberty Science Center, Jersey City NJ
- 2012 State Finals at Mt. Olive High School, Flanders NJ
Awards:
- 2012 Champion’s Award, LSC Qualifier
(Right) Robot’s Name is SuperLolo.
Fitted in with a 4-speed gear box and 4-wheel-drive gearing that allows switching between power and speed as needed. SuperLolo, meaning super “grandfather” is heavy and bulky but powerful. This grandpa uses 3 light/color sensors all the better to track/see the lines with.
(Left) The RoboFest demo robot is a remote-controlled car built with a rear wheel differential and a fully functional steering wheel. The car can be controlled remotely using Bluetooth technology and a cell phone to turn left and right and to move forward and backward.
Research Project:
- Helping a caregiver grandmother and a Parkinson’s patient grandfather through the use of a specially designed exoskeleton and remote override system
Learned:
- It is great to work with friends. And play hard too.
- To overcome the obstacles and challenges presented by time, distance and space to the whole team
- To always be there and understand the meaning of commitment and responsibility
- To ask better questions for our resource persons and during our brainstorming sessions
- To work hard at designing and building
- To work harder at programming
- To even work harder at testing, testing, testing…
- To expound and give better answers and explanations during demos and interviews
- To present their reports, project, designs and work better visually and orally
- To greatly improve teamwork
- To be more responsible with their leadership roles
- To finally and truly enjoy the whole process…
—o0o—
2011 FOOD FACTOR
FLL Team #4751 – Alpha Force Reloaded
The team got reloaded this year with LOTS of new members, resulting in six 3rd and 7th graders, (3 old, 3 new members). Shown here with Scott Evans.
Attended:
- 2011 Qualifier Event at Pascack Hills High School, Montvale NJ
- 2011 State Finals at Mt. Olive High School, Flanders NJ
Awards:
- 2011 #1 Robot Design, Bergen Qualifier
It comes complete with “aprons”, “serving trays” and an easier way of running the programs.
Research Project:
- Using a system of tiny robots and big robots to help inspect the food coming in to the stores and food companies
Learned:
- To overcome all sorts of challenges, scheduling conflicts and still do one’s best!
- Each team member did different things and tasks for the team but all contributed to work that needs to be done.
- With teamwork, all things are possible, even if there’s not much time left.
- Building with Legos is fun. Building robots and machines with Legos is cool. Making them come alive is awesome!
- Learned to do other cool things like making stop animation videos using Legos and our phones
—o0o—
2010 BODY FORWARD
FLL Team #3974 – Alpha Force 3.0
3.0 represented the third generation of team members (1 old, 3 new) with one 2nd grader and three 6th graders
Attended:
- 2010 Qualifier Event at Hillsborough High School, Hillsborough NJ
Awards:
- None but the rewards are the great fun, friendship, challenges and memories this year!
(Right) Robot’s Name is Fabio.
Cleverly designed with a multi-purpose feature that was used for many uses at varying heights. The youngest member made all the attachments used for the missions.
Research Project:
- Helping polio victims in poor countries
Learned:
- You must dig deep into the problem to find a solution.
- There is a way of overcoming challenges, no matter what.
- That not all communities are rich and that some communities have extremely limited resources
- Hard work and the importance of teamwork
- If programming is a lot of work, then testing over and over again for accuracy can drive you nuts!
—o0o—
2009 SMART MOVE
FLL Team #3360 – Alpha Force
Totally hooked into FLL and returning with five members (1 old, 4 new) in 4th, 5th and 6th grade
- 2009 Qualifier Event at Hillsborough High School, Hillsborough NJ
- 2009 State Finals at Mt. Olive High School, Flanders NJ
Awards:
- 2009 #1 Robot Design, Hillsborough Qualifier
(Right) Robot’s Name is Bullet.
Research Project:
- Keeping kids safe while crossing busy intersections
Learned:
- Teamwork, friendship and cooperation
- Problems can be solved in many different ways, designs and ideas!
- Programming is easy. Making the programs work is hard.
- Hard work and practice make perfect.
—o0o—
2008 CLIMATE CONNECTIONS
FLL Team #7125 – Livingston Alpha Force
Rookie year with three members in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade
Attended:
- 2008 Qualifier Event at Montclair High School, Montclair NJ
Awards:
- None but the rewards fpr this experience are great!!!
(Right) Robot’s Name is … {unnamed}. We were too overwhelmed to even think about naming this guy. He’s our very first working robot!!!
Research Project:
- Controlling the gypsy moth problem that attacked the trees in our town
Learned:
- To do our best!