Our Inspiring Journey in the First Lego League Challenge

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Welcome to the blog of Okanagan AI and Robotics Academy! Today, we’re sharing an extraordinary journey – our team’s experience in the FIRST Lego League Challenge qualifier held at UBC Okanagan on February 10th, 2024. As a robotics and coding academy our mission has always been to bring top-tier STEM education to our small towns. This story is about teamwork, innovation, and resilience. Learn more about FIRST Lego League here https://www.firstlegoleague.org/ .

Media Coverage

The support from the Vernon community was overwhelming. We will start by mentioning a few of them.

  • Support and encouragement from the School District
    • Thanks to the support and encouragement from Dr. Christine Perkins, Josh Vance and Luke Friesen.
  • Tobias Blaskovits
    • For supporting and guiding us throughout
  • Okanagan Science Center, Vernon
    • Thank you Dione Chambers and Samantha Primmer for supporting us from the beginning.
  • The Vernon Innovation & Entrepreneur Workspace (The VIEW)
    • Thank You Jessica Wicks and Amrita Dhami
  • Vernon Library ( Okanagan Regional Library )
    • Thank you for all the support and encouragement
  • Justin Jackson ( Co-founder of Transistor.fm podcast hosting  )
    • Thank you for the spark and words of wisdom! 
  • Todd Embley ( Entrepreneur and parent)
    • Thank you for your valuable session on effective presentation skills and supporting our mission throughout. The team greatly benefited from your insights and experience, applying many of your suggestions.
  • Parents and/or guardians
    • Thank you for the support from all the parents and trusting us in this journey.
    • Thank you to all our students, and parents of our vacation camps and after-school classes, without that we cannot sustain this program with this level of quality
  • Friends and well wishers
    • To all our friends and well wishers we thank you very much!

To begin with we formed a diverse and talented team comprising students from schools in district 22.

Our final team roster had six dedicated members:

  • Kesler Embley ( Hillview Elementary School )
  • Declan Frank (Silverstar Elementary School )
  • Sidharth Pillai (Silverstar Elementary School )
  • Roan Moore ( Silverstar Elementary School )
  • Sony Nguyen  (Harwood Elementary School )
  • Tony Nguyen ( Harwood Elementary School )

complemented by our expert coaches. Typically, teams invest around 7 months in preparation for such challenges. However, our team, driven by commitment and enthusiasm, managed to pull together an impressive effort in just about 3 months.

The major challenges we had were

  • Getting the group together, because of conflicting schedules
  • Unlike our after school programs and camps, competition ready programs can quickly get intense and making it fun is sometimes challenging
  • Limited budget as competing in the program for this team size meant spending close to $ 850 per team member

The FLL Challenge includes four core elements:

  • CORE VALUES Demonstrate FIRST Core Values in everything the team does. Team will be evaluated during the robot game and the judging session.
  • The ROBOT DESIGN Team will prepare a short explanation on robot design, programs, and strategy.
  • The ROBOT GAME Team will have three 2.5-minute matches to complete as many missions as possible.
  • The INNOVATION PROJECT Team will prepare a live, engaging presentation to explain the work done on your innovation project.

For more details and videos, visit our FLL Challenge Page at https://okanaganaiandrobotics.com/first-lego-league-challenge-updates-2023-2024/

Our Innovation Project

The team worked together to research on creating an augmented reality ski goggle, a project that combined technology with practical application. The team dived into researching existing products, and brainstorming ideas led to some beautiful hand-drawn sketches of our AR ski goggle prototype.

Robotics and Strategy

Our challenge also involved solving around 15 missions for the FLL Challenge robot run. The team met at least twice a week, dedicating 90 minutes or more each session to perfect our robot’s design and strategy. (Link to a video of the robot in action)

Arriving early at UBC Okanagan, we were filled with excitement and a bit of nerves. Our team did a fantastic effort in the Innovation Project presentation and the robot design presentations. Although the robot runs didn’t go as well as in the Lake Country scrimmage, the learning experience was invaluable. At the end the team was excited beyond words when our team name was announced for the First Lego League Challenge Core Values Award.

The event was not just about competition; it was a learning fiesta. Presentations by industry leaders and the UBC engineering department were enlightening, broadening our understanding of various career paths in robotics and engineering.

Winning the First LEGO League Challenge Core Values Award was a moment of pure joy for Team Mountain Shredders. It was a testament to our hard work, team spirit, and innovation. 

We extend our heartfelt thanks to all the parents and everyone who believed in us. This experience has only fueled our passion for STEM, and we’re excited to come back even stronger next season!

This journey was more than a competition; it was about building a community, sharing knowledge, and inspiring young minds in STEM. We invite you to share our story and join us in our mission to make a difference in STEM education.

For more info about our programs write to us at okanaganaiandrobotics@gmail.com

To register for our upcoming Summer Break Camps visit here https://okanaganaiandrobotics.com/2024-summer-break-programs/

To register for our after school program at Heritage Hall, Science Center https://okanaganaiandrobotics.com/after-school-program/

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