2017-18 FIRST LEGO League Theme

When I went to referee training this week for the upcoming FIRST LEGO League season, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this years theme is HydroDynamics - Aqua Adventure. What an exciting topic for kids. It's been years since I studied civil engineering, but as I was reading through the Challenge Guide, I remembered all the fascinating topics we used to study relating to water quality - turbidity, salination, osmosis, etc.

Normally I prefer mentoring teams on the robot game portion of the contest, but this year's theme lends itself to so many interesting science investigations for the project portion of the contest that I thought I'd try out some of my new GoDirect sensors from Vernier Software & Technology. These handheld Bluetooth sensors are rugged, reliable, and safe (great for middle school classrooms). You can collect and analyze data with Vernier's Graphical Analysis app on any Android, iOS, or Chromebook mobile device. Vernier also publishes a book on Water Quality containing 18 different experiments, covering topics such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and stream flow. Some experiments, such as bacteria and water hardness, can be conducted without needing any sensors at all. You can find a description of these experiments and how to download the free app on the Vernier website if you don't already have an idea for your FLL project.

SmartGurlz Siggy Robot

I stumbled on a new robot geared toward girls. It's a programmable self-balancing scooter named, Siggy, that transports an 11-inch fashion doll. You can control Siggy via a Bluetooth LI connection on your smartphone or tablet using the SugarCoded app. Siggy comes with individually-controllable, dual-color LED headlights and 4 built-in sensors (ultrasonic distance, gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer). It's compatible with ioS 8 or Android 4.4, and is powered with a 9-volt battery.

Being someone who is always looking for ways to inspire girls to pursue engineering, I was really excited about this product. And after watching a YouTube review by DadDoes and receiving a discount code from SmartGurlz, I decided to buy one for myself. Unfortunately when it arrived, my first impressions were mixed.

Siggy is well-made and balances beautifully, but its power management is abysmal. I knew before purchasing that it tended to eat batteries (the published documentation estimates 3 hours of playing time - that's not even half a school day), so I also bought the rechargeable battery. I had a devil of a time getting it installed. The wire on the battery attachment is only an inch long and the tab at the top of the case prevents you from turning the battery sideways to connect it. Plus I had to hunt up a miniature Phillips screwdriver to take off the old battery cover and attach the new one.

Siggy comes with its own doll (there are 4 models to choose from). You must have a doll or some other 6 oz object resting on the base or Siggy won't balance. I chose Jen, mostly because I liked her "Smart Gurlz" shirt. Each doll comes with her own ebook (Jen is a blogger who is studying mechanical engineering).

With the SugarCoded app, you can drive Siggy in remote-control mode or program its movements with Blockley-based code. I've tried a few of the programming tutorials, but the app seems a bit buggy. And if I drive Siggy around at high-speed and it tips over (it can go pretty fast), I lose the Bluetooth connection (it takes a bit of fiddling to get it back). The app seems to have a lot of possibilities, but it's going to take some trial and error, since I couldn't find any tutorials on the SmartGurlz website.