State Competition Details: January 21, 2006: Important Details
-
 SAMPLE
SCORING SHEET: If you want to practice your runs we've
prepared a sample scoring sheet for your teams.
Click here for a PDF.
- NEW! ON THE NEWS: Look
for 2 features on the Maryland FLL program to appear on FOX5
morning news the morning before the tournament, January 20,
2006. The pieces will run from 7:40 - 7:44 am and 8:40 - 8:44 am
and will be shot live at the Boys & Girls Club in Bel Air. You
will see some of the great kids from Maryland teams as well as
some of the people who make this possible. I need to know who
can join us.
- NEW! ASSISTING THE JUDGING
PROCESS:
Please read below: The question is: "Do we want to get there at
7:30 instead of 8:45" to participated in the trial judging?
One of the major tasks involved in scoring this type of
competition is to normalize the scores coming out of the
different judging rooms. For this tournament, we will have 7
rooms for each of the judging areas. In an effort to best
prepare the judges and give them a frame a reference from which
to score teams, we have decided to allow them an opportunity to
see 1 team as a group. With this in mind, we have decided that
each group of judges will see 1 team in the morning as a
baseline. The team that they see will be selected from any team
that would be interested. The procedure will be as follows: At
8:00, one volunteer team will meet with the entire group of
judges for one of the judging areas. The team that volunteers
for each area will go through a normal judging session with the
judges for that area, presenting their research project or going
through the 10 minute Q&A. The judges will then score those
teams as a group. The scores that are generated through this
process will not count for the tournament scoring. The
participating teams will still attend their scheduled judging
sessions and be scored for tournament purposes at that time. In
effect, this will give 3 teams (one for each judging area) an
extra practice session. Any team that would like to participate
can volunteer to do so. We will choose 1 team for each judging
area from those who volunteer at random. If you would like to
volunteer your team, please e-mail me and specify which judging
area you would like to volunteer for.
- NEW! PARKING:
Parking at UMBC should not be a problem. All
meters and student parking lots will be open without payment. In
effect, you can park in any space at UMBC unless it is marked
handicapped or for employee parking.
- NEW! PIT ACCESS:
Pit access is limited to team members, coaches and tournament
staff only. Parents, guests, spectators, etc. will not be
allowed access into the pit areas.
- NEW! GRACE REQUIRED:
Many, many people have contributed to the Maryland FLL
program this year. All of the volunteers you will see on the
21st, all of the companies who have provided the money, the
folks at UMBC, and any number of other people have made this
program possible. 99% of them have done it for a t-shirt and a
hand-shake. Please keep this in mind when things go wrong (and
when they go right) on tournament day. A thank you from one of
your kids or yourself to a sponsor or volunteer would be greatly
appreciated, and will go a long way in securing the future of
this program in our state.
- IMPORTANT!
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: We are still in need of some
volunteers for the event. One available position is that of
runners. These people will be responsible for getting the score
sheets from the refs and judges to the scorekeepers.
Runners should be at least 13 years old. Please let me know if
anyone associated with your teams would like to help.
- ONLY ONE PERFECT SCORE: FYI, there has been exactly 1
perfect 400 score run in competition this year that I know of.
This occurred at the Virginia event last month. Of the scores
that have been reported, there are 18 times as many scores in
the 100-200 point range as there are scores of 300+. So far, the
most completed mission is the reef. The most commonly
uncompleted mission is the artifacts. The fastest time to
release the dolphin that has been reported is 1.85 seconds. This
happened at the New Hampshire tournament in December.
- IMPORTANT FOR GUESTS: Please make sure all team
members, advisors, coaches, and spectators who come to the event
understand that there is no flash photography or auto-focus for
still or video cameras allowed at the event. Flash photography
can affect robots using light sensors and auto-focus uses
infra-red detection which can trash the program on an RCX.
Please let everyone associated with your team know of this
restriction ahead of time. Flash photography will be allowed at
the closing ceremony only. It is not to be used at any other
time during the day.
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