SKULL- TEAM #65090 - Check back often for more information here ...

12/09/2024 - marble city qualifier results for 2024

12/07/2024 - marble city qualifier - hardin valley academy

• What a great day!

• I am so proud of this team.  They exceed my expectation, SO MUCH.  I am so happy for them.

• Thanks to all the parents for coming and cheering on the team.

• At the 3:30 closing ceremony...

  • Your Coach, Terry Carpenter, got the 2024 Marble City Qualifier, Coach/Mentor Award (see picture below)

  • *** !!! HOORAY !!! ***

• Coach Terry wants to thanks the following:

  • • Parents

    • South Knoxville Elementary School

    • Shay Smith - Our Administrator

    • Katie Devinney - Our 2nd Coach and Programming Expert - South Doyle High School

    • Our Team Sponsors

      • Arconic Foundation - $750

      • TN Valley Robotics - $265

      • BAE P&S - $250

    • And many others...

• Team Information Sheet - Link to Team Sheet (PDF)  (Handed to the judges from the team)

• Judging Session Feedback - Link to Sheet (PDF)

• Robot Design Feedback- Link to Sheet (PDF)

• Innovation Project Presentation - Link to Sheet (PDF)

• Robot Score Sheets

  • Practice Round - 105 Points - Link to Practice.pdf

  • First Round - 130 Points - Link to Round 1.pdf

  • Second Round - 115 Points - Link to Round 2.pdf

  • Third Round - 140 Points - Link to Round 3.pdf

• AGAIN - It was a wonderful day, I'm so proud of these guys!

• Don't forget to check out our Event Pictures: Link to Picture and videos

12/06/2024 - The CALm before the storm ( 23rd meeting )

• One extra meeting - Friday before the tournament on Saturday, Dec 7th.

• Katie and the boys - work on programming for the contest

• Terry and Shay - Planning

  • Planning (Lists)

    • Things to bring

      • Big Bin to hold Team Stuff - Big Black rolling bin (empty first)(clean-out)

      • Folding Chairs

      • Extension Cord(s)

      • Power Strip

      • Only one yellow bin with spare parts

    • Lunch

    • Games

    • Pit Area Stuff

      • Table cloth

      • Posters

      • Skulls

      • Jolly Roger and Pole

      • Floating Shark with tether to table

    • Hats and Eye Patches

    • Robots

      • Charge all five hubs tonight, bring all 5 hubs

      • Thumb Drive Storage - backup

      • My Chrome Book and Backpack

      • Plastic Bin(s) for competition robot

        • Don't forget any attachments

12/05/2024 - one and done ( 22 of 22 )

• *** LAST SCHEDULED MEETING ***

• Research Presentation - Dress Rehearsal - Pretend that it is Saturday

  • Show me how you are going to act on Saturday.

• Work on PIT TABLE

  • Timothy, Eli and others?

• LET'S SEE WHAT THIS SKULL TEAM CAN DO IN 2:30 MINUTES !

  • Really nice attachment:  Link to Attachment Example  (Video Length: 6:11) 

    • One attachment, needs only one motor, use to GRAB, LIFT and DROP... nice!

    • He shows you how it works and how to build it in the video.

  • Complete those challenges

  • Get robot programmed with all challenges

  • Use one number for one or two challenges

  • Make a list so we know what number goes with what challenge

  • On Saturday, you have to use Mr. Terry's Chromebook. (We can not use school Chromebooks)

  • Save those programs on the computer (or USB thumb drive)

• LAST MINUTE PLANNING

  • Meeting on Friday 3pm-5pm - To help Coach Terry with planning

    • NOT EVERYONE - IF YOU ARE NOT ON THIS LIST - DO NOT FEEL BAD, IT IS OK...

    • WITH ALL 10 MEMBERS IT IS TOO NOISY AND I NEED TO CONCENTRATE

    • Shay, Katie, Bentley, Garrett, Kaesyn, and Titus 

    • Everyone else be here at the school at 6:30 AM on SATURDAY MORNING- See email that I send out to your parents today.

• AT THE COMPETITION

  • BE courteous, friendly and kind to all other teams at the competition.

  • We are not competing against them, we are competing against ourselves.  (FLL - IS ONLY OFFENSE, NO DEFENSE)

  • Help out another teams if they need some help.

  • If someone offers you help, then take it graciously and thankfully.

  • Take turns at the practice table.

    • Only work on one challenge at a time, then give other teams the practice table.

12/03/2024 - two more and out the door ( 21 of 22 )

• *** ONLY TWO MORE MEETINGS UNTIL THE COMPETITION ***

• Research Presentation - Practice

  • Line Up

  • Walk in

  • Read your lines

  • Answer Judge's Questions

  • Sing the Song (Finn - play the song, use iPAD and Blue Tooth Speaker)

  • Hand in Team Sheet to the Judges (ELI)

  • Everyone Leave the room - Wave to the Judges!

• LET'S SEE WHAT THIS SKULL TEAM CAN DO IN 2:30 MINUTES !

  • Let's run thru a match with the timer, see what points we get.

  • Make adjustments, and try again.

  • Timmy, let us know what our score is.  Use iPad score sheet.

• Friday 3pm to 5pm (one extra meeting?)

  • Titus, Bentley, Kaesyn, Garrett... Can anybody else be here?

• Saturday, Dec 7th, be at the school at 6:30AM

• Great Coding Help Video Recommended by Katie - Link to Video (18 Minutes)

  • Link to Cheat Sheet: Link to Document

Items to bring - Dec 7th

1. Printed SKULL TEAM Roster (All 10 SKULL team members APPROVED !!!)

2. Table cloth, South Knoxville Elementary School Rocks - Red

3. Power Cord - Power Strip

4. The Black Beard's Pirate Ship Model - Mr. Terry built it.

5. Team Banner, Team Poster(s), Team Give-a-Ways and Large Pirate Flag on a pole.

6. A large bin or trash bags to store, coats and belongings under the table

7. Spare Hubs - charged up

8. Robot - Fully Charged  - with Flag and Captain Jack

9. Laptop, iPad and Black Back Pack

10. Bins with Robot and attachments, USB download cable(s)

11. Bin, with spare LEGO parts

12. Games, something to do when bored.  Terry's Floating Shark

13. Dress like a pirate, Coach Terry will hand out to take home on Thursday: (shirt, hat, eyepatch) you can add other stuff if you want.

14. Printed Scripts for research presentation, Song Words, Grog Bottles, One Team Sheet and Grabber

15. LUNCH? PIZZA? Bring money for snacks.

11/26/2024 - Three more and out the door ( 20 of 22 )

• *** ONLY THREE MORE MEETINGS UNTIL THE COMPETITION ***

• Run thru research project presentation.

  • Everyone read your part- LOUDLY.

  • Eli - Hand the Judges our Team Sheet.

  • Answer some questions from the judges.

  • Judges will ask? Do you have anything else? THEN...

  • Sing the Song, Use your mugs and Word sheets - Finn: Play the song using the iPAD.

• SNACKS - HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL TEAM COMPLETS A SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATION.

• LET'S SEE WHAT THIS SKULL TEAM CAN DO IN 2:30 MINUTES !

  • Remember our team strategy from last week.  (see picture below)

  • I want to see some practice runs.

    • One robot

    • From one side to the other (many times) with 2:30 minute timing

    • Doing challenges along the way.

    • Two teams of two boys, select the program, align the robot and press the button

    • GO... GO... GO...

    • AFTER 4:30PM Today - HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

11/21/2024 - four and no more ( 19 of 22 )

• *** ONLY FOUR MORE MEETINGS UNTIL THE COMPETITION ***

• Run thru research project presentation, with mugs and song at the end.   -- Finn: Play the song using the iPAD.

• LET'S SEE WHAT THIS SKULL TEAM CAN DO IN 2:30 MINUTES !

  • See diagram below...

  • If your 2 man group is not up, then keep score, on the big screen, iPad, or clip board (paper & pencil)

  • Need someone to work the timer.

  • PLEASE BE QUIET, MUST HELP THE TEAM ANYWAY THAT YOU CAN. 

  • If you see a way that we can score ANY more points, TELL SOMEONE, THEN START WORKING ON IT!

    • We have to get the challenge programs loaded onto one robot.

    • Study the Scoring Rubrics

    • Study the Robot Game Rule Book

    • Add some code to complete another challenge, Assign it to another number.  

    • We need to remember which program number is for which challenge.

    • We can't use a computer at the MAIN TABLES.

11/19/2024 - five, no jive ( 18 of 22 )

• *** ONLY FIVE MORE MEETINGS UNTIL THE COMPETITION ***

• Run thru research project presentation, with mugs and song at the end.

• Eli - Hand this to the judges at the end of the song. - LINK -

• We need a new team picture, with pirate hats and eye pieces.

• Get busy with challenges.

• Alex, Julian and Braylon - Need to get you signed up.

• Snacks next week, if you work hard today, quietly!

11/14/2024 - SIxth Sense ( 17 of 22 )

• *** ONLY SIX MORE MEETINGS UNTIL THE COMPETITION ***

• You guys have been working hard.

  •  You are doing GREAT and I am proud of what you have accomplished so far.

  • I believe in you guys, don't let me down. We'll have a great time at the competition.

  • DON"T WORRY, LET'S HAVE FUN.

• You guy have to trust Shay, Katie and myself to get you ready for this competition.

  • We are doing the best we can.  THIS IS OUR FIRST YEAR TOO.

• The Competition - 1. Challenges working and a 2. Presentation

  • You must get serious now, not much time left.

  • Help the team! DO NOT HURT THE TEAM. Do what you can to help us.

  • Commitment: Will you all do this, for the team?

• THE ISSUES

  • 1. Presentation:

    • Read Script Cards LINK

    • Everyone, first run thru of our presentation to Shay and I.

  • 2. Challenges

    • Inspirational Videos

    • Challenge Completions (3:08)

    • Second Video (2:06)

    • Third Video (1:31)

    • Forth Video (1:34)

  • For Shay for parents - LINK

11/12/2024 - SEVENTH heaven ( 16 of 22 )

• *** ONLY SEVEN MORE MEETINGS UNTIL THE COMPETITION ***

• Pirates Role Call: 

• SKULL FLAGS - CONGRATULATIONS !!!

  • Team Titus/Bentley

  • Team Eli/Garrett

  • Team Kaesysn - Got a SKULL Flag - (With a modified Robot - This is OK, we are out of some parts needed)

  • Go for Victory Markers NOW!

• Work on Challenges - Eli, Garret, Titus, Bentley, Kaesyn, Finn

• Work on Research Presentation - Timothy, Alex, Julian, Braylon 

  • Work on Pit Table Decorations (Pirate Ship) (Pirate Stuff) (Pirate Music) 

  • Work on Pit Table Hand Outs (Pirate Give Aways)

• Read "Terry's" Research Project Script - LINK - Fix it (or use it) "Terry's" Script - Make it better!

  • Judging Rubrics THREE (1. Feedback, 2. Innovation Project, 3. Robot Design) - LINK

  • Judging Session Flowchart - Time Limits - LINK

• Challenges - Rule Book - LINK 

• Challenge Updates - LINK

• Marble City Qualifier - Information Sheet from Last Years - LINK   (Parents should review this, good info about tournament)

• Transportation

• T-Shirts

• Schedule and Teams

11/7/2024 - Pieces of eight ( 15 of 22 )

• Pirates Role Call: Terry, Shay, Bentley, Eli, Alex, Finn, Garrett, Braylon, Julian, Titus, Timothy, Kaesyn

• Snacks and Capri-Sun

• We only have EIGHT more scheduled meetings left before the competition !!!

  • Pirate History Lesson - Pieces of Eight

• Shirts - Updates?

  • Competition Outfits - You'll get a shirt, a pirate hat, and one eyepiece.  You can add more, if you want.

• Transportation for the competition on Dec 7th?

• Our research presentation, (See Research Project page)

  • Finn - Great Report, plus I have reported feedback from Titus, Garrett and Alex

  • Others Boys - Do your internet research assignments and turn in your findings.

  • Julian - I studied his input more. I found something that we might can use, not sure?

• SKULL Flags are here.  Get a challenge completed, get a flag.

  • Victory Markers for additional challenges completed.  Red and Black Dots

• On the Team "Officially" - Finn, Timothy, Garrett, Titus, Bentley, Kaesyn

• Not on the Team "Officially" - Julian, Braylon, Alex, and Eli 

  • Your parents need to send an email to terry@terrytech.biz.  

    • Tell me to put you on the team roster.  I'll send a request to FIRST ROBOTICS.

    • Your parents are to follow the instructions from the email received from FIRST to get you signed up.

• GET BUSY - Let's try to get some of those challenges done, TODAY.

10/31/2024 - Beware of the pirate ( 14 of 22 )

• Pirates Role Call: Timothy, Braylon, Titus, Julian, Eli, Bentley, Kaesyn, Alex, Finn, Garrett

• Snacks and Water

• Coach's Corner - 

  • I AM A COACH, not a class teacher

    • My football coach did not teach me the rules of football

      • I expect you to learn how to program a robot ON YOUR OWN

      • I will not be teaching a programming class

      • You have to learn together as teammates, helping each other

    • Coach taught me how to play my position on the team

    • Coach provided our team with what we needed

    • How I practiced, determine my position on the team

  • Reflection - WE ARE A TEAM, not a class

    • We have come a long way so far, but we have a long way to go

    • I love working with you guys, keep working hard, don't give up on the team (or yourself)

    • Our team goal is to score as many points as we can

    • In FLL there is only offence. There is no defense

  • What this team needs right now - FOCUS

10/24/2024 - one for all, all for one ( 12 of 22 )

10/17/2024 - FIRE IN THE HOLE ( 10 of 22 )

Spearfishing with scuba gear is illegal and the use of power heads as well. Penalties are severe and include fines, confiscation of gear and even imprisonment. United States has different spearfishing regulations for each state.

10/15/2024 - Feed the shark ( 9 of 22 )

• Pirates Role Call: Alex, Bentley, Kaesyn, Braylon, Titus, Garrett, Julian

• Snacks and Water

• Pirate Game - Feed the Shark

• Research Project Presentation

  • Prepare for the Event - Dec 7th:  Prepare for the Event

  • FLL Example Videos

    • Your Team Project Video: Project Help

    • Team1

    • Team2

• Talk about our project as a group.

  • • OceanX Team - Meet the OceanX Crew Members

  • Ask the two guys from last week what they came up with.

  • Maybe role play, think about presentation, how about a skit

  • Review judges rubric.

  • Yo Ho, Song - Explain why we are pirates - Team Sing Yo! Ho! Song: Song Link Here

• Break up into teams of two

  • Use mat on the floor and add one challenge set. (Change Shipping Lanes Challenge)

    • Challenge Games Video   

    • Set the counter to 5:33 - Mission 13

  • All teams build and solve this challenge.  Let's see what you can do.

  • Build it, program it, run it, improve it.

  • Keep trying, innovate and iterate.

10/3/2024 - Swab the deck ( 8 of 22 )

• Pirates Role Call: Eli, Alex, Bentley, Kaesyn, Julian, Braylon, Garrett, Titus, Finn, Shay, and Terry

• Snacks and Gator Aide - All stores are out of water due to Hurricane

• Pirate Game - Swab the deck - The crew had trouble gathering three ping pong balls with two brushes.

• Research Project - Reduced the number of ideas down to one or two.

  • Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Z5dfC8eKo

  • Ask two people to keep working on the Research Project today.  Titus and Alex (I can't rember?) worked on this.

• Break up into teams of two - Boys were crazy today because of fall break, hopefully more on task next meeting.

  • Use mat on the floor and add a few challenge sets.

  • Pick a challenge set, come up with a robot design for that challenge.

  • Build it and program it.

  • Keep trying, innovate and iterate.

10/1/2024 - Blackbeard the pirate ( 7 of 22 )

• Pirates Role Call: Alex, Bentley, Kaesyn, Julian, Braylon, Garrett, Titus, Finn, Shay, Katie, and Terry.

• Snacks and water - Rule #1 - Tell Mr. Terry where you are going. Get permission to leave the library.

• Read the history of Blackbeard and revealed the Queen Anne's Revenge (Model made by Mr. Terry, see below).

• Pirate Game - Play the game, "Keep Blackbeard and his Men Out of Charleston SC"

  • Great cannon shots by all, Titus and Finn saved the day from the pirate invasion.  (Four hits, but I can't remember all four that hit)

• We reviewed our 2024 meeting schedule. This was number 7 of 22 possible meetings before competition day.

  • Video 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JV7x014U0I&t=4s

  • Video 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5u-2q_K3O0

• Reviewing Scoring Pie Chart, Review our Core Values

• Research Project - Reduced the number of ideas down to eight.

• Build Attachments Lesson - Talked about different types of robot attachments.

• Broke up into teams of two, continue to learn how to use the Lego programming application web site.

• SPECIAL THANKS: to Katie for bringing the "treasure" chest for storing our robot parts.  

  • I was getting tire of lugging all that stuff around.

• Alex and Finn: Worked on a two wheel robot with a front skid ball.

• Kaesyn and Julian: Built a combo robot.

• Titus, Bentley and Garrett built and programmed a robot that spins in a circle.

• Braylon, made special modifications to the Monster Truck robot and worked on programming.

9/26/2024 - PIRATE ShipS Battle ( 6 of 22 )

• Pirates Role Call: Alex, Bentley, Julian, Braylon, Garrett, Titus, Terry and our newest crew member Finn.  Welcome Finn!

• Pirate Game - We had a pirate ship battle with cardboard ships and paper cannon balls. Titus made the winning shot!

• We talked a little bit about the Qualifier Event on Dec 7th.  The weeks are counting down.  We have to stay focused.

• Broke up into teams of two and continued with Lego Spike Prime Software training.

• Alex and Finn, worked thru some programming problems and used the direct wire connection method.

• Braylon and Julian concentrated on building robots but not so much on programming them.  Maybe next time.

• Garrett worked alone but made some great progress.  He also had a hub unit that needed charging, so he used the USB cable.

• Titus and Bentley stole the show by building and programming a six motor MONSTER TRUCK. (see videos below).  I'm proud of these guys!

• Great meeting, but a little bit out of control.  We did have lots of FUN!

9/24/2024 - POP-UP PIRATE ( 5 of 22 )

• Pirates Role Call: Alex, Eli, Garrett, Kaesyn, Titus, Bentley, Braylon, Shay, Katie, Terry and new crew member Julian

• We played Pop-Up Pirate game, losers had to read us the following:

  • Engineering Design Process - Communicate, Identify, Design, Create, Iterate, (Repeat)

  • FIRST Core Values - Teamwork, Inclusion, Impact, Innovation, Discovery, Fun

  • Four Parts of Lego League Challenge - Core Values, Robot Design, Robot Game, Innovation Project 

• Innovation Project - "Dive into  a problem  faced by  people who explore the oceans."

  • • Discuss Team Project

    • Brain Storming Ideas

• Team Roles - Crew members got to pick their job titles.

• Shay and principal Nicely are working on our crew T-Shirts.

• Practice Programming Robots - 5 robots all going at once, a little crazy!  Special thanks to Katie for helping us out with this!

• We need to finish all Challenge Sets (I think we have two more to complete).

• Used Engineering Notebooks.

• All crew members got tattoos, this made my pirates go a little bit crazy!

• *** Great News ***, Katie said the goal was to have the table topper finished this weekend,  The crew is ready for it!

• KCS tech support (Art O'Brien) came through and got us web access to the Lego Prime software site for our school Chrome books.

  • Lego Prime Software Online Website

• Pirate Crew pictures posted.  Parents: If you do not want photos posted,  please request removal. terry@terrytech.biz

9/19/2024 - The two towers ( 4 of 22 )

• Pirates on board today: Alex, Garrett, Kaesyn, Titus, Braylon, Bentley, Shay and Terry.

• We played "Two Towers " Game and learned that 2:30 seconds is not very long.  Our team's robot will have to complete as many of the fifteen missions as we can program it to do in two minutes and 30 seconds.  This is not very much time.  We have to be good robot builders and great programmers.  

• Today was Pirate Day at the school.  Braylon and Terry put together our team flag - THE JOLLEY ROGER -

• We watch the video again that explains the missions and how many points that each mission will give us.

• Each team member is to review the 15 missions and pick the ones that they want to work on.  They will have to decide how to build a robot that can complete the mission(s) and program it to perform the mission tasks.

• We continued to learn basic programming skills.

• We handed out our Engineering Notebooks.  The team can use them for review and for note taking of their engineering progress.

• I think we are down to only one LEGO challenge set left to complete.

• Hopefully, we can get our table topper in the next week or two.

• Terry is going to call the school to get internet access rights to run the Lego software on our school Chrome books.

9/12/2024 - great progress ( 2 of 22 )

• There was some confusion about this meeting.  School staff thought all clubs started next week, but FLL needed to get going.

• Attendance: Garrett, Bentley, Titus, Kaesyn, Shay, Alex and Coach Terry

• Started out watching a simple robot demo call "Wall".  The robot would go foward, hit a wall and turn around.

• Everyone got to see what the programming environment looks like on the Chromebook.

• Alex came in a little late but made some great progress on making code changes.

• Shay, help out a lot with the challenge set builds.  The team got four challenge sets built in one night. *** Great Progress Team SKULL ***

• Only have 3 team members "officially" signed up on our FIRST LEGO LEAGUE web site.

  • Parents complete the sign up process online.  I sent out invites to everyone.  If you didn't get an invite email me: terry@terrytech.biz

  • Signed up Team Members are : 1. Titus, 2. Bentley, and 3. Kaesyn 

• All for now, see you on Tuesday.

9/10/2024 - first SKULL TEAM meeting ( 1 of 22 )

• We had a good turn out today. Seven possible team members. I want to limit the team to eight members, so this is great!

• Invites have been sent out to parents. Please follow the instructions in the email to get your child officially signed up.

• Shay, has volunteered to be our Team Administrator.

• Coach Terry introduced Katie at the meeting.  She ran the video. She said she could be our second coach.  

• Note: I'm only going to use first names on this web site for security reasons.

• The cookies were good.

• We watched this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5u-2q_K3O0  

  • The video explains all 15 missions and how many points are possible for each challenge.

• Tentative team meeting schedule below:  Sorry might be hard to read... I might work on a better format later.

• If you see any errors below, please let me know.   email: terry@terrytech.biz

• All for now, See you on Thursday.

8/18/2024 - additional Grant money gets approved

More Grant Money 

8/19/2024 - BAE P&S - $250.00

7/11/2024 - TN VALLEY ROBOTICS - $265.00

7/102024 - ARCONIC FOUNDATION - $750.00

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Total Team Grant Money = $1,265.00

With additional funds and support provided by the following:

1. Terry Technologies

2. So-Kno Robo - South Doyle High School Robotics Team - Katie Devinney & students

3. South Knoxville Elementary School - Principal Tana Nicely

4. Shay Smith - Team Administrator

5. Parents

THANK YOU ALL!

7/31/2024 - Lego Supplies Arrived Today

We just got our field and challenge kits!  What fun awaits our team!  Our first challenge is building all these kits for us to practice on.

7/11/2024 - OUR team Grant money gets approved

Who to thank...