FLL Queens Tournament

On December 20th P.S. 139 went to a robotics tournament held at Aviation High School. It was a great event. Many parents came to see Robotech, our team, in action. P.S. 139 worked as a team in everything that they did that day. They cheered each other on in the pit and everyone participated in the research. They also sang and danced beautifully. I was proud to be their teacher and coach.

P.S. We took first place in teamwork and 2nd in robot performance!

Robotics Team Helps Plant Trees in Rego Park

It took over three months but we did it! TreesNY donated 5 trees, two arborists, and an educational coordinator to help P.S. 139 plant trees, educate over 120 kids about trees and tree maintenance and help us have pride in our school. The educational coordinator went into over 5 classes ranging in grades 1-5, talked about trees for 20 minutes, took the kids outside, and helped them plant trees. Arborists were on hand to answer questions and help install the trees. NY1 also came and interviewed people from our school. P.S. 139 was on NY1 and had the opportunity to tell their story to all of NYC.

Rego Park P.S. 139 First Lego League Pre Competition

This was a fun day filled with learning and dancing. The kids had a chance to see other kids' robots. They also had a chance to practice with their own robot. We made sure to remember that gracious professionalism was an important part of the competition. When other children asked us about our robots we made sure to answer their questions and not worry about them taking our ideas. FLL is all about sharing and not being overly competitive or hoarding information. We also danced the Cotton-Eyed Joe. What fun!

P.S. 139 meets P.S. 40 kids and Environmentalist

It was such a welcome surprise to get an invite from Iffat to meet her team and at the same time hear a scientist discuss climate change. We learned a great deal. Did you know that the warm current from the Florida Gulf also helps warm Barcelona, and if climate change keeps occurring Barcelona may no longer be as warm as it is today? The children asked many questions and learned a great deal, I suspect so did the parents.

Getting Help From a 20 Year Veteran

This weekend several kids came over for pizza and robotics. They worked on several challenges with a programming veteran of over 20 years. The big challenge was restructuring the robot because its bottom piece was touching the ground. This meant that skidding of the wheels was occurring often because the treads were not on the floor.

NYC First Lego League Mr. K Visit

Today the robotics team received a visit from Mr. K. He's a teacher and FLL coordinator. He sat around the table and helped the kids come up with various ideas on what they could do with the cool new module they created. Another group worked on a component for another mission- the house. It was great to see the students working together on such a complex task. We lost one of the gears to elevate the house but luckily we had one the exact same size, although, the color was off. This weekend the team will come to my house and we will work on several missions and prepare for the research portion.

Robotics Kids Plant Daffodils in Rego Park Community

Today several members of the robotics team volunteered to work with P,S. 139's Green Committee to plant daffodils in the school yard and the local community. The kids came out at 9 and worked until 1:00. They planted on Austin Street, 63rd Drive, the schoolyard and Alderton Street. They dug 9 inch holes and placed the bulbs 3 to 6 inches apart. As they went out into the community they were suprised to see people pick up shovels and help them plant. We had a great time and look forward to seeing the daffodils bloom in the summer.

Quadruped Robot

BigDog is the alpha male of the Boston Dynamics family of robots. It is a quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs on rough terrain and carries heavy loads. BigDog is powered by a gasoline engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system. BigDog's legs are articulated like an animal’s, and have compliant elements that absorb shock and recycle energy from one step to the next. Click Here To See

NYC Robotics Kids Visit Polytechnic Institute

Today, two kids from the Robotics team went to Brooklyn to learn more about the FLL game. They were able to hear about the setup of the game, practice with their robot and talk to other teams and coaches. They had a great time. On the train they talked about some skits for the research portion of the project. It was great to see students at the University walking around, in the lunch room and acting as mentors to the FLL teams. Here are a few things we learned: no rulers allowed although you can make one out of legos, using rotation counting to get from one place to another can be difficult when your coaster tends not to stay in place and touch sensors are great unless they bump into an unplanned target.

NYC Robotics Kid Sees Science Barge

The science barge in Manhattan is a great place to go for parents and teachers. It demonstrates solar and wind power in action. It also demonstrates innovation: a greenhouse on a barge using soil-less gardening to grow strawberries, tomatoes, peppers and more. Rebecca, a robotics student at PS139Q, realized all the positive impacts that soil-less farming could have on an urban neighborhood. Imagine every apartment growing herbs and vegetables instead of having to shop for them in a grocery store. Imagine the environmental significance: less trucks bringing produce to stores. This means less fossil fuels being used. Schools could grow their own vegetables and feed students fresh vegetables grown by students in their own school. Rebecca learned that if every roof in Manhattan had an urban soil-less garden, those gardens could provide fresh vegetables for every person in Manhattan with zero carbon emissions.

NYC Roobotics Team Gets Visit From Climate Change Presenter

KidsTechLabs Robotic's team received a visit from Shino who discussed global warming and climate change. Shino is one of only 200 people trained by Al Gore to discuss slides from an Inconvenient Truth. Shino stayed for over an hour and after the discussion talked with the class about things they can do to impact their environment and reduce their carbon footprint. The team gave their thoughts: Walk more, use recyclable bags at the grocery store, use energy efficient appliances, plant more trees and become educated about what you can do to reduce your carbon footprint.

The team also learned about cool projects going on around the neighborhood. For instance, in Ridgefield Conneticut a company has built technology onto bicycles used in a gym to power the grid. What does this mean? Exercise classes create energy to power lights instead of using additional fossil fuels.

After Shino left, the class was given the challenge of coming up with additional technologies that could impact their environment. Their answers centered around capturing energy from a person's movement; Sneakers which obtained energy from a person walking, toilets that captured energy from a single flush ( a company actually invented a micro hydrolic turbine in 2006), gym floors that obtained energy from foot motion and more.

I loved their innovative and clever ideas!