2008 FIRST LEGO League Challenge:

MAINE HAS 53 TEAMS THIS YEAR!!
20 have signed up to compete at Castine and
32 have signed up to compete at Standish!

We need volunteers to judge, referee, and help out in general.  Please email
us if you can spend a day with our youth at one of these events.  
bickford@mainerobotics.org

The CLIMATE CONNECTIONS!
FIRST participant release form (required for all team members and coaches)
Visit the www.firstlegoleague.org website for Mission and Project information (online as of 9/5/08)

We've put together a resource for people who are asking Climate? But note that we are engineers
and not particularly skilled in Climatology or Earth Science, so go out there and get your own stuff!
Climate Comments (Word) or (PDF)

Volunteers always needed.  Call us at 866-4340 if you would like to volunteer either on December
7th or 13th.

February 7th, 2009: Southern Maine FLL Tournament
Bonny Eagle High School, Standish, Maine.
<<rescheduled for February 7th!!>>
Doors open to teams at 8:30 am on the day of the tournament.  
Registration and competition in the Gym, Team pit area in the cafeteria.
Opening Ceremonies will begin at 9:30 am.
Lunch is being sold by the Bonny Eagle Boosters Club
We should be done with everything by around 3:30 pm.

December 7th: Northern Maine FLL Tournament <<complete>>
<<change in date>>revised 11/14/2008
Field House, Maine Maritime Academy
Doors open to teams at 8:30 am on the day of the tournament.  
Registration, Team pit area, and competition is in the field house.
Opening Ceremonies will begin at 9:30 am.
Lunch and concessions will be sold by the MMA Dining Services at very reasonable prices.
We should be done with everything by around 3:30 pm.

Due to a grant that Maine Robotics received this year the registration fee ($150) is
being completely covered for up to 60 teams!  That's right no Maine registration fee
this year.

The Climate Connections season officially kicks off on September 5th by FIRST!  On
September 5th the Robot Game (Missions) and the Project will be announced.  You
can go to the www.firstlegoleague.org website to see both.  Just select "United States"
and then select "2008 Challenge" and you will be looking at the main screen.

ALL TEAMS will have space at the tournaments, as long as you don't ALL go to the
same one.  We reserve the right to make team allocations for the tournaments if
registration is lopsided (hasn't been in the past).

Going to the Nationals:
Maine will NOT be berthed at the World Festival this year.  They have taken the
approach of doing a rotating schedule and we've been lucky to have sent teams for
the last 5 or so years.  Too many teams, not enough space.  I'll keep people posted.  
There is also a chance to be nominated for a FIRST Values slot (I believe they select
10 that are nominated from around the world based only on how well you exhibit the
core values of FIRST).

Some useful links:

If you know of good websites for teams, relating to global and local climate issues, let
me know and I'll post them for everyone.
Tom Bickford
Maine Robotics