MS Robotics Bodo

Our Adventures in BODO, Norway!


Day 7 (page 6)

After many hours of hard work, long nights and early mornings, fourteen trophies went to 11 teams. We were not one of the 11, but as a “rookie” team at an international tournament we did well and learned a great deal. The students are to be congratulated on the hard work they put in before the tournament, their presentation was smooth and the technical and other interviews with judges went well. While we could do every task on the practice table, we were not able to accomplish all of them on a single run in the competition court to get a near perfect score and qualify for the quarterfinals. They did however improve their qualifying score, the score they accomplished in Lima, by about 100 points. They tried their best but faced stiff, experienced competition. Most teams had to compete in several tournaments to get to Bodo and thus had the competitive edge. The Kondortech team was a champion in our eyes!>


HOW TO HELP OUR TEAM


One thing we realized was that our team only had the basic pieces, which was a great disadvantage. If you want to support this team or any future FDR team please bring any lego pieces you might not use anymore; Bionicles are great,
Exo-force, Knights (fantasy robotic characters), Lego Thecnic pieces are priceless (vehicles, space ships and other machinery), loose Lego pieces (the older children sets, smaller pieces), Lego train set pieces, especially magnets, we can use them! Let’s give these teams a better chance to achieve the robotic missions!

Bring your donations to the MS TECH LAB!




Day 6 (pages 5-6)

Today we managed to get ready early and arrive to the pit in good time. After spending the entire morning preparing and practicing, it was time for the opening ceremony. We cheered for Peru, and for Kondortech. A very funny man gave a speech and invited representatives of each team to dance along to the Macarena and the Cha-Cha. Immediately after that it was time for our first run, earning us 291 points and placing us first. As time went on, however, we were moved farther and farther down. We gave our Technical Presentation then, after which we went for a second round, which was not as good as our first one. Then came the Theoretical Presentation, which went really well, and back to the hotel. The main problem for us was that the tables weren’t right, some of the parts didn’t fit the way they should, so in some cases we were forced to guess the placement of the parts on the table we would be competing on.




Day 5 (pages 4-5)

We are all so tired today I will only write a few lines. All morning was about getting our robot ready; Yago, Mariano and Pierre worked at the table making sure everything worked. The rest focused on other chores like taking pictures for our digital camera task, setting up our pit table. We brought our Peruvian flag and a Roosevelt banner to decorate our table, we where surprised when we saw other teams had entire productions! Finally Alvaro, John, Luis and Maria Jose also practiced the presentation. In the afternoon, we were told we had a surprise event. It was a real surprise to know we had to hike for about 30 minutes up a hill to enjoy a magnificent view. We were very tired but did it, and the view was indeed magnificent.


Day 4 (pages 3-4)

Norwegian National Day. All of the visiting Lego teams marched in the parade. At first it seemed like no one was watching the parade, they all seemed to be in it. Every pre-school/kindergarten in the area was in the parade with kids in strollers and their parents. Then there were the other schools. The Lego teams were split up and followed different schools. It took us about an hour to do the parade route, up and down hills and winding around. As we got farther along, there were big crowds lining the streets. This was followed by speeches (in English and Norwegian) and music. Our kids were exhausted from the walking (and staying up late the night before) and relaxed on the grass which was followed by a full afternoon of napping! We had dinner overlooking the fjord and met more new friends. Then it was another trip to the carnival rides after practicing our presentation.



Day 3 (pages 2-3)


At first, we were a bit disappointed to hear we wouldn’t be able to go on the boat ride on account of the weather; we would be going on a bus tour instead. Later we were delighted to find we would be headed to Saltstraumen, the world’s strongest maelstrom or whirlpool, because the tides rise twice a day and fall twice a day. It was an amazing experience, despite the cold. Later we got to meet some of the other teams, including those of Taiwan, USA and Czech Republic. We went around marked locations around Bodo with them, taking creative photos of each other for our first Robotics task.



Day2 (pages 1-2)


Well, our luggage finally arrived! Our first task in the morning was to find adaptors for our computer and camera battery charger plugs; none of them matched the ones here in the hotel! We then visited some of the sites here in Bodo, including the docks and an indoor water park. This included slides, a wave pool and a 4-5 meter diving board, and it was a lot of fun. Later we stopped by a carnival, going on rides until we were all dizzy both from going on and watching the rides. After a quick dinner, before which we discovered pizza parlors seem to be the majority of the food places here in Bodo, and a race back to the hotel through the cold wind, we were ready to go to sleep. Tomorrow we will join with teams from Korea and the U.S. in a photo shoot/get to know each other activity. There will also be a social at night for all of the teams. It was great to have today to get over the jetlag, tomorrow everyone should be able to get up at a normal time and be full of energy.


Day1 (page 1)



We are finally in Bodo after 3 airplanes and a total of 20 hours in flight. Our luggage, however, has not yet arrived.