Category LEGO

YRDSB Elementary Robotic competition 2025 February 26

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On February 26, my team and I represented Randall Public School at the YRDSB Elementary Robotics Competition in the Junior Division. Our team consisted of four members, including myself, and I was the team leader. The competition required us to program a robot to complete various challenges, such as picking up blocks, shooting caps into a box, and pushing blocks. Participants were allowed to use either VEX or EV3, and one of my teammates chose VEX. However, I personally preferred EV3, as I had years of experience with it and had won championships in competitions like Roborave and the Botball Asia Division using EV3. Despite my preference, the biggest challenge was not the platform but the strict time limit. Every team member needed to be in the right position and fully focused on the robot’s movements. Additionally, our coding had to be extremely precise, as the course contained negative caps knocking them over would result in point deductions.

After a few days of working together, I assigned roles based on everyone’s strengths. Another teammate and I took charge of coding I had extensive coding experience, while he had his own laptop, making programming more efficient. One of the boys, who was highly skilled in math, was responsible for analyzing the robot’s movements and calculating the angles needed for precise turns. This helped reduce the time spent adjusting the code repeatedly. The fourth member, a shy girl who was great at following instructions, was responsible for assembling the robot and placing cones in the correct positions. However, during the competition, we encountered an issue—having only one person handling the cones was too slow. To improve efficiency, I adjusted our strategy by assigning the movement analyst to assist with cone placement. Additionally, I noticed that my co coder was struggling with speed and accuracy, so I took over the coding myself. This doubled our efficiency, and after seeing my coding and building skills in action, my teammates acknowledged me as their leader.

I carefully studied the competition rules and designed our robot based on the required tasks. Since many challenges involved pushing and grabbing blocks, I created two key attachments: a grabber, built using a small motor, shafts, gears, and two J-shaped beams with rubber bands for extra grip, and a pusher, a large wall with a baffle at the edge to keep blocks contained, which we could swap in when needed. I also ensured our robot was as compact as possible while incorporating all necessary functions. Surprisingly, I found that positioning two small motors correctly created a perfect gap for the large motor, which held the grabber securely. One unexpected challenge was the competition venue itself. The floor at Victoria Square had lower friction than the one at Randall, reducing the robot’s traction. Since we didn’t have enough time to adjust the code, I quickly added a counterweight at the back of the robot to increase traction and stabilize its movement. This solution worked perfectly the robot performed just as it had during practice. Additionally, my grabber functioned flawlessly and proved to be a reliable and steady mechanism. While observing other teams, I discovered alternative approaches, such as simply scooping up the caps, which I found impressive.

After building our robot, my team and I began coding. I could have incorporated advanced techniques, including variables, functions, and loops. But since my teammate had already written part of the code, I had to continue from where he left off. The first major task was cap collection, which required extreme precision due to the small size of the caps if the robot wasn’t perfectly aligned, the caps will fall out. Since we had only started on February 1st, I was only able to code the cap grabbing and block pushing tasks. We frequently knocked over negative caps, forcing us to revise our code multiple times. If the competition had allowed color sensors, I could have programmed the robot to follow a white line surrounded by caps, making navigation much easier. Despite the time constraints, everything worked out well. We scored 258 points, surpassing our school’s Grade 8 division, which had started 10 days earlier but scored 20 points less than us. I found this achievement remarkable. Additionally, I implemented a self returning function, allowing the robot to navigate back on its own while earning an extra 20 points, further boosting our score.

One major challenge during the competition was time management. When we arrived at Victoria Square, we wasted valuable time locating our designated spot. Once settled, we lost even more time troubleshooting the robot’s gripping mechanism. Another issue was our slow start in the early days of preparation my teammates spent too much time debating the robot’s base design rather than focusing on execution. While teamwork and planning are important, this delay significantly impacted our progress. Moving forward, I plan to streamline the design phase and allocate more time to coding, as it is the most critical and time-consuming part of the competition.

Lanqiaobei-Blue Bridge Cup

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In this weekend I attend the Lanqiaobei competition and Sunday is the day of the national competition. This competition is an online one and it faces at all the Chinese people.You have to go through three rounds to know your prize:first you need to fight against the kid living in the same District as you,then only the children who have got the first prize can participate the next round.And ,here I will tell you a two amazing thing first is if the first round you didn’t pass than you have another chance to do it again,second is if you do it very well and you are the one who is top 10% in your district than you can directly advance to the national competition.If you pass the first round than congratulations you are in the second round every one who come here are all elite,and the test is more complicated than in the first round and you have to compete with the kid in the same province,and if you win then you have to face the children who come from every place in China and they are more difficult to deal with than during the provincial competition.But in my opinion if you carefully review the question and do it with the fastest thinking, I believe you can succeed.

And now I will talk about what knowledge you need to succeed the test:If you are preparing to visit round one than at least you need to how to draw an circle on the screen,you open the action and find the display then set up shape and circle,and there is lot of value you need to change and now lets make the circle move we’ll let it move around in x axis.First we need to make variable called x,and we write in a number zero.Second we use a loop and we let the increment the x variable by one every time and give it to the x variable which is the circle one,and now we give it back to the x variable this to refresh the x variable if we don’t do that than the circle will stall in the same place forever .

But if you want to succeed, these are not enough. You need to know what type of questions he will solve for each question. If you’re both in the creative programming intermediate group like me, then these will definitely be helpful for you when preparing for the competition:For the choice question they will always test you for some basic knowledge first.But here is not also easy they will test you for binary and they will write a lot of program involved using variable and math or range module.And next is the Programming questions,the first one they will maybe just let you use you motor to run.The second one is about sound or about the brick status light.These two are very easy right but when come to the third one it change,in the third question you need to use loop and switch and maybe you need to use some sensor like the color sensor.The forth one is about the x variable and y variable they Basically will require you to use many small cubes to assemble large cubes and in the 14th edition they ask you to right 14 in the matrix,here you need to think about whether to write hard or logically using loops and variables to write it.The fifth question is testing you about the variable using and your logic,without too much explanation here, you can check the original questions from previous years to practiceThe sixth one is the same.

Roborave Asia Championship

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In the last month I participated in the Roborave competition.I was part of primary line patrol group.My team was the winner.there were four rounds and take the best two times.There were customary and elimination game I will tell the elimination games now.

Our team has two types of program: the general patrol and the gyroscope patrol.In the regular game we use the general patrol and utilize my block builder when the left color sensor detect the black stripe it will turn left the opposite is true on the right.Our car use middle motor to run because with the same power middle motor is faster than other motor

For the gyroscope patrol you need gyroscope sensor the best place to install is to put in the middle of the car ensure you don’t put it upsidedown and this program needs the color senser too the theory is that when the left color senser seen the stripe and we’ll use the gyroscope senser to turn.And it will be faster than the regular patrol

Even though our program was perfect but that also posed problem. When we’re training we find out just having a good program is not enough. You still need a car that suits the program we went through three generations to finally create the right car

At first we use the general big motor but it’s to slow it 100 power is not half as fast as the next generation So then the next one come,this time we use four motor acceleration consequently when first test it crash.the third general is the final one which is the most suitable for our program this time it’s not to fast and not to slow we use just two middle motor.

Or teamwork was very great one of us started the program and I took the car back to the promoter region and the third boy would place the ball in the car after I took it back.This tactic has saved us a lot of time which is an important part of helping us become the winner.Know you may say why don’t other team do that?they do it too but not faster as we did or they has only two people

We also have two little skill we will took a long a timer and when the race isn’t start we would go to every site to test and see where the fastest run is using the same program.Every one knows when you buy a EV3 host it will bring his own EV3 dedicated battery but do you know the one that manufacturer gives you isn’t the one can let the motor run fastest In fact, the household battery at home runs the fastest, but you need to be careful of its battery level at all times because it won’t display the battery level like traditional ones. However, if you fully charge it in the morning, you don’t have to worry about running out of battery

When we first arrive to the site we were excited and a little worried about strong opponents but after about half an hour we took a look around and then we surprised to find that we were the best actually we were five points higher than the second place.

Botball

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During the winter vacation,I attend the botball race as part of the mast master group,there seven project you need to success four on the morning and three on the afternoon and there’s a mystery project,in each pm and am you need to build a robot first and let the robot to clamp the can.

It start at half past nine in the morning,there only two hour and thirteen minute so I highly recommend you to division of labor if you are three person a teem you could let the most capable person to do program of average difficulty,at the same time the other two will done the most difficult project I did that it was very useful if you do that you could finish the project.

In the afternoon you could make the two project together and if you have time you could start doing the mystery project,now someone will ask why don’t do the mystery project at the first place because that one is the most difficult one if you waste the time on it you wouldn’t have time to do the other.

Now I want to talk about my build idea,first I build a simple car and if you want to clamp the can a mechanical grip might help,and if the project let you to lift up the can then you should have a elevator.

And if you need to line patrol then you can and two color sensor.

For the program a use the gyroscope program that I made myself you can see my last subject and the line patrol program was in it too.

The lasting thing I want to say is about to choose the teammate,if you are very capable then that not really matter but if you are of average ability then you need to think hard,I strongly recommend you to have three person a team because it’s better to division of labor especially you are the master group.

For all I want to say that “Not until the last minute,Don’t give up”