Olympic Robot Challenge (OLY)
Discover how it feels to "Go for the Gold." as you and your teammates compete in a Robotic Olympic Triathlon. “SHoccer, Hoops, and Holes” is the challenge for our robotic athletes. Each event will test your endurance, strength and wit. You must master the skills of soccer/hockey, basketball, golf; and a “secret challenge” to stand at the top of the podium in this Robotic Olympic Triathlon. Are your creative and engineering skills ready for this challenge? Some basic engineering skills and a “love to build” attitude is all it takes to fire you up for this great event.
Apprentice Robotics (AP)
This Introductory Level Robotics course is designed for kids in grades K thru 3rd. Children explore and experience the mechanical use of gears, pulleys, axles, motors and much more. After completion of this program, students are able to visually follow and understand the step-by-step construction manual and basic mechanical properties of how things work and move. They work in teams of two or three and gain confidence through this hands-on learning experience. “Lost in Space” Mission: Several astronauts are stranded on a distant planet and your team’s remote controlled robot must bring them home safely.
Freshman Robotics (FR)
This Introductory Robotics course is designed for students in grades 4th thru 8th. Students explore the use of motors, gears, pulleys, pneumatics, remote control and operation of the RCX (microprocessor robot brain). As a favorite class, students work in teams of two’s or three’s, collaborating with one another to prepare their robotic invention for class competition. The Terrible Toxins” Mission: Your mission is to clear an area that’s loaded with dangerous toxic waste. Teamwork is necessary here to design a robot that can pick up the dangerous canisters and move them out. One member of the team will remotely control the robot, while another works the pneumatic claw to pick up and deposit the toxins into the “safe zone”.
Lego Miniature Golf (GOLF)
The LEGO mini-figs want a golf course of their own. It’s up to you and your team to make that happen. So, it only makes sense that the whole miniature golf course has to be built entirely out of Legos. (That’s really “miniature”). We really have to “Toy with Technology” here to create something unique. Each hole has to integrate moving parts and be triggered by the action of the golf ball or sensor, or a little human interaction. There is a lot of designing and problem solving in building a golf hole. Students learn a little bit about what engineering is and how engineers work.”
Crazy Action Contraptions (CAC)
Here’s your chance to be creative and a little wacky, too. We’ll be making some very “crazy and bizarre” contraptions that will truly amaze you. Your imagination can go “wild” with ideas on how to combine them together to create even more complicated mechanical wonders. This class will introduce you to LEGO mechanics that you have never realized were possible. With motors, gears, pulleys, wheels and tons of other cool LEGO stuff at your disposal, this class will show you what “craziness” is all about!!!
Crazy Action Contraptions ll (CAC II)
Here’s your chance to be even more creative and even wackier, too. In this session, we’ll be making some very “crazy and bizarre” contraptions that will truly amaze you. Your imagination can go “Wild” with ideas on how to combine them together to create even more complicated mechanical wonders. If you’ve taken this class before, we’ll be doing lots of new projects and repeating some of your favorite ones so you can add more “stuff” to them for an even more animated effect. This class will introduce you to LEGO mechanics that you have never realized were possible. With motors, gears, pulleys, wheels and tons of other cool LEGO stuff at your disposal, this class will show you what “craziness” is all about!!!
Robots on the Rampage (ROR)
Let’s build some robot’s that are really on the “edge of technology”. We’ll push Lego mechanics to an all time high as we build some of the strangest robotic contraptions ever designed. Here’s where you’ll be able to test some of your really “creative” engineering skills. Then, let’s see how they fair up against each other in the “Battle of the Bots”.
Lego Robotic Trebuchets (TREB)
Let’s bring current day robotics into the medieval world. Trebuchets (pronounced Tray-Boo-Shay) are like catapults that were used in the 14th century to break down castle walls. Can a little modern technology help the crusaders break into the castle of the evil Baron and destroy his army of barbaric soldiers? It’s up to you and your team to make that happen. (Helmet, armor, swords and chainmail: optional!)
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Saving Galveston Island (GALV)
The hurricane season is over and Galveston Island has taken a big hit. The Islanders need clean water, food, and other supplies so they can rebuild and go on with their lives. The residents of the nearby village of Houstonia want to help them out by bringing all the supplies to them. But they need your help loading the supplies onto the relief ship. They need you to build the right kind of robot that can move the supplies safely from their village, across the river, and onto the dock and ship. Please help Galveston!
“Robots in the Rough” Adventure Quest (RUFF)
A newly discovered chemical element, “Jeridanium” (similar to uranium but with very unstable magnetic qualities) has fallen off a mine train in a very treacherous part of southwest Colorado. The “Last Dollar” Mining Co. needs a team of roboticists to build a variety of very unique robots that can cross the rough mountainous terrain and retrieve the “hermetically sealed” capsules. Then, they must be passed to another robot and placed back on the train. The high altitude and the chemical’s strange magnetic properties will cause havoc in this attempt. Can you help us in this difficult mission?
Robot Power Quest (RPQ)
The “Balance of Power” is at stake. Can a “slow and powerful” robot be a match for the “fast and wacky” robot? You and your team have to build, modify and redesign your robot to help survive the inevitable confrontation that will ensue. You won’t want to miss the action in this challenge!!!! This class deals with the mechanical use of gears, axles, pulleys and motors. Which "Robot" do you think will "RULE"?
First Lego League (FLL)
LEGO hosts an international competition every year for students aged 9-12. The American Robotics Academy has hosted and been a major part of the Houston area competition for the last seven years. This class will help bring students up to speed on how the competition is handled and will completely go over last years challenges using all the materials that were used. If we can re-master previous challenges, we will have a great start to conquer the 2011 mission, which we will not know about till September of 2011. Come join us in getting a head start in assembly some great teams together this year to compete in the challenge. Open to grades 4 – 8.
NXT Programming (NXT)
This class will introduce students to the new NXT programming system recently put out by LEGO. Students will build the most awesome new programmable robots ever. Let’s see what the “Alfa Rex” (a humanoid walker), the “Tribot” (a three wheeled driving robot), and the “Spike” (an animal-like scorpion robot) can do under pressure. We’ll also build a robot that will challenge you to a “paper, scissors, rock” game as we step into the next generation of robotics technology with your teams robot. Open to grades 4 – 12.
Leonardo DaVinci Machines (LDV)
Using LEGO's, students will be introduced to Leonardo DaVinci's inventive machines and his principles of mechanical engineering. They will be challenged with projects designed around creativity, design, and engineering activities. Leonardo created and improved the greatest mechanical wonders of the world, and was one of our greatest artists, who brought us such wonders as the "Mona Lisa" and the "Last Supper".Now, you too, can relive the excitement of what Leonardo DaVinci had in mind as he pondered the possibility of what mechanical and artistic wonders lie ahead.
Blackbeard’s Pirate Treasure (BPT)
Ahoy, mates! Nearly three centuries ago, the notorious pirate, Blackbeard, was sailing off the shores of North Carolina when his ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, sank in 25 feet of water. We need a well seasoned crew to design robots to go down and excavate her remains. But there’s other’s in the vicinity that want to get to it first. There’s clues we have to solve, and maps to find before we can get to the treasure that’s still aboard. Some say a curse has left the canons intact and our real enemy might still be the ship itself. If the mood strikes and the tide is low, come and join us on this daring robotic mission.
Xtreme Critter Invasion (XCi)
Archeologists working in the frozen tundra of the Arctic Circle have uncovered the remains of prehistoric creatures in a melting glacier, unlike any found before. Frozen in time, but now back to life, they have lost their instinct to walk, climb, run and crawl. It’s our job to help them, through robotics technology, to functionally mobilize them for today’s world. These "Extreme Critters" need your help. |
