FLL Day One

Well, I'll start out by saying that we (me and Tommy Armstrong) arrived late. Traffic is bad going to Atlanta during rush hour. And this time there was a wreck. No fun, and a long drive.

And at the last intersection, we witnessed a car wreck when a car tried to run a red light...it was not a high speed wreck, but both cars were torn up.

But once we got to the event at the World Congress Center and Georgia Dome, things just got busy...at the LEGO NXT booth, Bryan Bonahoom of BrickWorld was one fo the volunteers showing off robots. From LEGO, Steven Canvin and Vince Rubino were present as well as other staff from Education.

All the teams were settling into their spaces, so decorations were coming up as the day went on. And one of teams was gnome-based:



so naturally, one of their sponsors was Travelocity:-)

By the LEGo Booth, LEGO Education had a table with Jim Kelly from the NXT Step blog showing off some stuff, like:



and NXT Segway or Legway - designed by Steve Hassenplug and built by Jim! It uses a HiTechnic gyro sensor to keep it in balance.

Speaking of Technic stuff, one of the FLL teams had a Great Ball Contraption at their space:



At the Georgia Dome,there was practice heats going on, and teams waiting...



and teams playing...



And after all this, there was an ice cream social with entertainment bythe teams... so one team did a rap



another team did a rubik's cube-off, with Scott Evans, one of teh challenge designers of FLL helping out



Another team from Denmark gave out lyrics to a song that they sang



EDIT: I have the lyrics to the song from the Danes:

Dear
Ladies and Gentlemen
Young and Old
Girls and Boys

Hope you will sing with us

Hold your hands above your head
And clap along

And now we sing

Hey NXT - Nano
We are a teaaam - Who likes the FLL
Hey U.S.A. - Nano
We are many here, right here - Who likes the FLL

Our team is NXT
Generation is part of it
What we love is to make
Make this day oh so great

Hey NXT - Nano
We are a teaaaam - Who like the FLL
Hey USA - Nano
We are many, right here - Who likes the FLL

Our robot is looking so great
Program it is very very straight
Driving left and right and back again
Oh we hope its working working well

Yes we are the greatest team
We are sweet and we are cool
Nobody can drive us off
We are NXT GENERATION yes

Hey NXT - Nano
We are a teaaaam - Who likes the FLL
Hey USA - Nano
We are many here, right here - Who likes the FLL

Hey NXT - Nano
We are a teaaaam - Who likes the FLL
Hey Hey Atlanta - Nano
We are many here,
right here - Who likes the FLL

Hey Everybody - Nano
We are the teaaaam who wish you all a good day



The Haitian team did a nativ dance, and there were many more...but a nice performance was done by a team that did a sonng that was based on theBrady Bunch theme - that wished all the other teams good luck...


and at the end they all held signs that said good luck in all the languages that were at the World Festival...that was really nice!

And teh best way to sum up the day?



Just bubbly:-)!