Although most of the items to bring to a tournament are obvious, you might not think of some other things that can come in handy, including the following:

Due to the sensitivity of robots, make sure your robot is stored safely during the trip and at the tournament. Get a box to store the robot in whenever the team isn’t using it. Just to be safe, you might want to put padding in the box to protect the robot during transportation. If you use an RIS robot, it’s a good idea to cover the box with aluminum foil. This prevents nearby teams’ programs from being inadvertently downloaded to your robot when it’s on because the foil will deflect IR beams (beams of light that are used by the RIS to upload programs to the RCX). If you use attachments, store them in another designated box (or with the robot).

To make sure you take everything you need, you might use a checklist like the one that Figure 16-1 shows. A checklist can help you keep track of which items you still need to pack and make sure you don’t forget anything. You may want to have the Equipment Manager (discussed in Chapter 6) take care of making and using a checklist.

Figure 16-1. A sample checklist

It’s important to make a good impression on the judges in each session. The best way to do this is probably to be friendly. Smile at the judges, make eye contact with them, and speak enthusiastically! After each session ends, be sure to thank the judges; they volunteered their time to make the tournament a reality and give you this great experience!

During the interview periods, try to have all the members answer questions to demonstrate how each member contributes to your team’s efforts. If one member has already answered one or two questions, try to give other members a chance. You don’t need an awkward silence to accomplish this; a member could simply ask another member if they’d like to answer a particular question. Younger members should especially try to answer any questions they can. Thinking of something important to add to someone’s answer can be another way to contribute.

In all the sessions, coaches, mentors, or other adults should make sure not to participate in any way. Although adults are usually allowed to watch and film sessions, they aren’t allowed to communicate with the team members or answer judges’ questions. Any adult participation could result in a penalty to the team’s score.

Be sure to check the Project, Robot Design, and Teamwork rubrics to get an idea of what the judges will look for in each session. You can find the rubrics at the back of the FIRST LEGO League Coaches’ Handbook.

You will probably have the Project judging session first. Your performance in this session, together with possible follow-up interviews at your pit, will determine your score for the Project component.

Your score for the Robot Design category is based mainly on your technical interview. Judges may also come by your pit area and ask you more questions if they think you’re a candidate for a Robot Design award.

Similar to the Robot Design category, your score for the Teamwork category is determined mostly from the teamwork session. Judges may also watch your team during the rest of the tournament to see how the members interact with each other and with other teams.

Tournaments choose the winners of the Robot Game in different ways. Each team has a minimum of three matches during the competition, with time in between each for recharging the robot and making any needed repairs and modifications. After these first matches, some tournaments may hold elimination rounds to determine the winners. Others determine the winners from the highest single scores in the first three matches. If the highest scores are tied, the second highest scores are used for a tie breaker, and so on.

Only two drivers are allowed at your table during a match. Depending on the tournament, you may be able to switch drivers during the match, but only two can be there at any given time. The rest of your team may be allowed to stand near the table to cheer and film, or they may not be allowed.

When you finish the match, a referee will review the missions with the team and determine your score. It’s important to observe this process to make sure everything is scored correctly. Once the referee finishes and you check the score, you may need to sign the score sheet to signify your approval.

Depending on the size of the tournament, you can have as much as one to two hours between matches during the other teams’ turns. Although this seems like a lot of time, you’ll be surprised at how fast it goes by! This time is useful for recharging or replacing the robot’s batteries and fixing any robot problems from the previous match. If the robot didn’t perform correctly during a mission, hold a quick brainstorming session to determine the cause, and try to fix the problem before the next match.

If your robot uses a rechargeable battery pack or rechargeable batteries, bring backup batteries in case you don’t have enough time to fully recharge the primary set before the next match.

Practicing is a great way to improve when the team doesn’t have much time before the tournament. Have the members regularly run through the presentation to help stay “in shape” and perhaps get better. The team might also find ways to improve the presentation during practice.

Have the two robot drivers continue using the robot in practice matches. If the robot returns to Base several times for modifications, it’s important for the drivers to handle the robot quickly and accurately, as this can increase the robot’s consistency and decrease the time needed to attempt missions.

One of the best ways to prepare for another tournament is to look at your performance in the last tournament! Review the notes from your judging sessions (discussed in Awards Ceremony in OPENING CEREMONY) to identify weaknesses, and then work on improving them. If a coach, mentor, or parent took videos of your judging sessions, carefully watch them to see ways you can improve things such as speaking style, posture, and so on.

If the robot encountered problems during the tournament, look for ways to keep those problems from happening in the next tournament. For example, the Robot Tables at the last tournament might have had bumpy field mats that gave your robot trouble. Try to find ways to make your robot less vulnerable to this problem in case it happens at the next tournament.

If you have enough time, you might want to design and program the robot to attempt more missions or modify it to perform current missions more consistently. You might think of completely new ways to attempt current missions that result in success more often or that reduce the time needed to attempt them.

If you make any modifications or additions to the robot’s design or programs, be careful not to lose your previous work. It will be useful if you want to go back to it for some reason. Make sure the Program and Data Manager has documentation of the current robot and programs before beginning any modifications.

If you think it will help the Project, you might want to consider taking more community action. Although you might not have enough time or energy to take on any really ambitious projects, such as proposing legislation, you might do something simpler, such as giving another presentation to a group in your community. You could also try getting a newspaper or TV show to do a story on your team, especially if you did well at your previous tournament(s).

Teaching the basics of building and programming LEGO robots is one of the most common subjects. Figure 16-3 shows an example of a syllabus for a week-long workshop that teaches the basics of LEGO robots.

Figure 16-3. A sample syllabus for a workshop on LEGO robot basics

Since your team just went through the experience of competing in FLL, you might want to give a workshop to help others start their own teams. If new teams begin because of the workshop, you might offer further assistance by mentoring them or allowing them to watch how you run a couple of your meetings. Figure 16-4 shows an example syllabus for a four-day workshop on FLL.

Figure 16-4. A sample syllabus for a workshop about competing in FLL

Workshops can also be great ways to recruit new team members. Even in the first two kinds of workshops, you might meet other students who would be good additions to your team. Some teams give workshops specifically to find new members. In these workshops, you’d want to be able to see which participants would provide a useful contribution to your team. At the same time, you’d teach potential new members skills that would be helpful on your FLL team. Figure 16-5 shows an example syllabus for a two day-long workshop for team recruitment.

Figure 16-5. A sample syllabus for a team recruitment workshop

Holding small-scale competitions is a fun way to increase members’ skills in building and programming robot as well as research and presentation. Split the team into two or three groups, and give them a challenge with a deadline for completing it. The group that does the challenge best (in other words, the fastest, most efficiently, most creatively, etc.) is declared the winner. You could even give the winning members some small prize (such as candy).

The following is a sample robot challenge:

You can similarly organize Project competitions, except with a challenge related to research and/or presentation on the appropriate theme. Long before a season begins, its name is released along with a short description of the general theme. This information enables you to research the general area of the Project so the team will be more prepared when the details are released. The following is an example of a Project challenge that could have been held in preparation for the Nano Quest season:

In Chapter 11, we talked about building a robot in three components: a chassis, bay, and attachments. Now we can see another advantage to using this method; the chassis and bay don’t usually depend heavily on the specific details of each season’s Robot Game. Therefore, you might be able to construct the entire chassis and bay before the season even begins! Of course, you might end up modifying both later, depending on the specifics of the challenge.