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THE Competition itself
2017 FIRST GLOBAL CHALLENGE – GAME DESIGN
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the official game of the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge, H2O FLOW! In H2O FLOW, teams learn about real-world water scarcity and contamination issues. In the game, two villages exist on either side of a contaminated river. The villagers compete to create and store purified water in their respective reserves. In a laboratory up stream, the villagers come together to research the contaminants and ultimately create a purification system so contaminants are removed before they reach the villages, thus providing clean water for all. In the end, each village prepares for the coming flood by searching for higher ground.
Learn more:
How does it work?
Match is 2:30 minutes long and six (6) teams are competing where one team (3 countries) is called “Aqua Team” and the other one (3 countries) is called “Hydro Team“.
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Best is to watch the video below, who explains in detail:
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Check the FAQ for more, please:
Winners of the FIRST Global Grand Challenge Award Teams #Armenia #Poland #Europe
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Team Luxembourg finished 61 out of 163 teams (157 nations)!
[Ronny OSWEILER] After plenty hours of hard work, Team Luxembourg has been awarded the “Certificate of Excellence” that recognizes professional achievement, advanced education, commitment to STEM, time management and superior performance during the competition.
Congratulations to all students!
Team Luxembourg could have been 48th, if in game 5, we would have done the climbing, but due to technical reasons the robot was stuck. Those 20 points would have been important.
[Gust MEES] We will discuss this in the section “Incident in round five for Team Luxembourg“, below!
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Check out the complete ranking here:
And watch some videos from the competition here:
Team Luxembourg’s Robot
Please find below some photos of “Team Luxembourg’s Robot“: Click on the photos to enlarge them.
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Interview from RTL in Luxembourgish
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Please click the image to access the article AND the video
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How did OUR neighbors and OTHER countries in Europe rank, just for curiosity?
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Germany made place 5, Finland made place 9, Italy made place 11, Estonia made place 31, Ireland made place 42, Romania made place 46, Austria made place 54, Portugal made place 63, Denmark made place 91, Latvia made place 98, Greece made place 108, Sweden made place 110, Bulgaria made place 111, Spain made place 112, UK made place 137, France made place 149, Belgium made place 156.
United States made place 141.
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The NEXT “First Global Challenge” will be in Mexico-City in 2018 . The “Team Luxembourg” will participate probably…
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Incident in round five for Team Luxembourg
[Ronny OSWEILER] In round five, the robot of Team Canada touched our robot and disconnected our battery cable. We were unable to move for the rest of the match and lost a lot of potential points in that way. As one can see in the video, we had collected a lot of blue balls which could have been scored. Also it was impossible to climb the bar at the end of the match.
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[Gust MEES] How did Team Canada react after WHAT happend!??
[Ronny OSWEILER] They apologized for what happened. It was not their intention, as they were allied to us during that match.
Video from LAM-Code Club where one can see exactly WHAT happend, check below please (at approximately 1 min 11):
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The preparation before the tournament
[Gust MEES] 1) How did it start; did YOU get an invitation to participate?
[Ronny OSWEILER] The teachers at the LAM got offered the project of forming a team to represent Luxembourg by SCRIPT. We only got to know about the project very late, so time was of the essence. We had to gather a group of students within two days.
As Annabel is currently studying science of education and is also interested in technology, I asked her to join me in mentoring the team.
[Gust MEES] 2) WHEN did YOU start the preparations?
[Annabel SCHOELLEN] The preparations started at the end of march, when we had to gather all necessary information about the students, as well as ensure everyone has got a passport to travel to the United States. Then we had to wait for the robot, which arrived after the Easter holidays. From that moment onward, we started brainstorming on the robot to build, and prototype our ideas.
[Gust MEES] 3) WHO were the responsible persons for the “Team Luxembourg”?
[Ronny OSWEILER] The main people that mentored the students while building the robot were Ronny Osweiler (teacher at LAM) , Micael Leal (teacher at LAM) and Annabel Schoellen (student in Science of Education). But the project could only be realized with the organizational help of Christian Boudot and Fabrice Roth, both teachers at LAM, as well as the direction of the LAM.
[Gust MEES] 4) From WHICH schools did the students come from?
[Ronny OSWEILER] As the time for the prepartions was very limited, it was not possible to organize a national qualification contest. We took some of our most talented students, as well as some students from other schools. The students were: Laura Märker (LAM), Yannick Martins Dos Santos (LAM), Pit Baum (LAM), Kimon Leners (LAM), Lina Chen (LAM), Atreyam Sharma (École Européenne), Shawn Teusch (LGL). Pit Baum was the captain of the team.
[Gust MEES] 5) Did the students travel and participate for FREE, OR did THEY have to pay a participation!?
[Annabel SCHOELLEN] The students had to pay no money for the participation at the project, otherwise I think that this could have been a barrier for potentially brilliant minds. Education and the development of technological and social skills should always be accessible for everyone. This was only possible because of our generous sponsors.
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[Gust MEES] 6) What was the motto of the team?
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[Ronny OSWEILER] For us, the team was a representation of the diversity of Luxembourg. We had 7 students with 5 different nationalities (Luxembourgish, French, German, Portuguese and Indian) . This was the reason that we took the slogan “A team as diverse as its country“. We wanted to show the other nations in Washington the acceptance and diversity that Luxembourg has to offer.
[Gust MEES] To understand the above, one must know that in Luxembourg the part of the population without Luxembourg nationality is close to 48%.
Learn more:
[Gust MEES] Update (25-07-2017): MarcTEUSCH and Madhumalti were supporting during their Washington stay! Marc was present because his son is in “TeamLuxembourg” and I made already an interview with him here:
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Visit in the Luxembourg Embassy
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The team got contacted by the Luxembourgish Embassy in Washington, and even got a visit from the Consul Stan Myck at their booth in the DAR Constitution Hall and by Franz Schilling during the opening ceremony. The team was also invited to visit the Embassy and was welcomed by the H.E. Ambassador Sylvie Lucas, who showed them the whole embassy and gave them historical background information about the presence of Luxembourg in Washington..
Strange things were happening, “Team BURUNDI” disappeared!
After taking part in an international robotics competition in Washington DC, six Burundi teenagers have been reported missing. Two of the students were seen leaving the US for Canada.
A police spokesperson said authorities “do not have any indication of foul play” as the investigation continues into what happened after the group attended the FIRST Global Challenge robotics competition with students from 157 nations.
Four of the teenagers seem to be in a safe place, but police are not reporting any details as yet, according to the Washington Post.
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Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:
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Teenage robotics team from Burundi goes missing after taking part in US competition
- What Happened To Burundi Robotics Team? 6 Teens Missing After Competition In Washington
- Police: 2 Burundian teens reported missing crossed into Canada
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Sponsors of Team Luxembourg
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[Ronny OSWEILER] Thank you again to all of our sponsors! The project would not have been possible without you! Exigo s.a. Luxinnovation Technoport SA electronic-shop Paul Wurth
Websites of the companies:
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WHAT Luxembourg EDUcation is doing for creativity by using Maker-Spaces in MakerED
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Luxembourg is investing in the future by using ModernEDU with and about ICT, as well based on CREATIVITY, since the launch of <===> Digital Lëtzebuerg <===> Check links below, please (my interviews included):
- Luxembourg EDUcation-Interviews | 1) The Luxembourg EDU-System
- Luxembourg EDUcation-Interviews | 5) Creativity and Maker-Spaces | BEECREATIVE
- Luxembourg EDUcation-Interviews | Creativity and Maker-Spaces | maach3 LTEttelbruck
- Digital Luxembourg Interviews-Hackerspaces-SYN2CAT-LEVEL2
- My curation about “Digital Lëtzebuerg”
- My curation about “Digital4EDUcation”
- FabLabs
- Future Hubs
- Code Club
Check ALSO NON-PROFIT organizations in Luxembourg WHO were pioneers, visionaries, AND present on the field before EVEN the Government decided to act:
From the above mentioned NON-PROFIT organizations emerged people WHO NOW are the main leaders in the field of MakerED in Luxembourg 😉
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The author Gust MEES is ICT Course Instructor, ”Member of the Advisory Board” from “Luxembourg Safer Internet” (LuSI), BEESECURE, Official Partner (Consultant) from the Ministry of Education in Luxembourg, project “MySecureIT“, Official Partner from the Ministry of Commerce in Luxembourg, project “CASES” (Cyberworld Awareness and Security Enhancement Structure). The author was also a winner of an electronics contest (Germanic countries) in 1979 and got his project published in the “Electronics Magazine ELO”). |
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. The author Annabel SCHOELLEN (22) is currently student in Science of Education at the University of Luxembourg. She is passionately interested in education, art and science. She aims to make the world a better place by sensitizing already young people for problems and to motivate them to find solutions by using STEM. |
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The author Ronny OSWEILER (29) is informatics teacher at the Lycée des Arts et Métiers, one of the few Future Hubs in Luxembourg. He made his Master in Computer Science in 2013 and then carried on to become a computer science teacher, as both interest in technology and education have always been his main interests. He is also one of the teachers working at the Code Club of the Lycée des Arts et Métiers. |
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Keywords necessary for me to create this blog post: Creativity, Life-Long Learning, Learning To Learn, Learning By doing, BASE ONE, BEECREATIVE, Maker Spaces, Coding, MakerED, robots, robotics, Engagement, Coaching, Mentoring, costs, sponsoring, fairness, competition, travel, United States, US, privacy, border controls,
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Stay tuned for next blog post(s) 😉
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EDU: Digital CitiZENship, CyberSecurity, eSkills, Modern EDU by Gust MEES 