Competition days in Anaheim

The competition days in Anaheim, California was from 19th to 21st.

Since it was my first time in the Worlds Competition, I do not know what to expect but probably more intense and tiring than Asia Vex Competition in Taiwan last year since this time we will be competing against few hundred teams, a total of almost 20 different countries.

However, I was wrong. In fact, it was more fun and relaxing than Asia Vex Competition. I think Asians are just too tensed and competitive. So, there was quite a lot of animosity during the competition with our competitors and judges. However here in the Worlds, everyone just seem to be having so much fun! It was a more encouraging and fun environment! This is a picture of 2 of my students with Green Egg Team which is famous in the Robotics scene since last year's amazing robot which they built!

Take a look! Our school did well in the local and Asia competitions that we got 4 seatings in the World Competition. So we built 4 robots for the competition. The students named them FT2 (Fast Turtle Version 2), Atom (name from Real Steel Movie), Thor and Zeus.

I have to say my students have practiced so hard that they stand out among the rest of the few hundred teams. When I was viewing their competition, I heard the Americans commenting how good our robot is..how fast and efficient. I felt so proud of my students and just by being part of this whole experience.

Judges also came by our booth many times to view our robot.. and to see how it works...and to see if we deserve any awards for the design and creativity for building this robot.

The whole convention centre is a huge place and this whole place was used for the competition. There were booths set up for various exhibits like the mars rover and the future lab.

Anyway, after each team played for 10 matches in the qualifying rounds, all our 4 teams manage to get into the top 10 which gives us a chance to choose our alliance and have a chance in the finals. My role there was basically to run lots of errands! I was in charge of buying food for the students, making sure they are not hungry.

I also planned and make sure that their schedule for the day is running smoothly as they have to go and report for their matches and to rest their robots and to assign a "coach" with them. Each team basically has 3 people. We have 2 controllers who control the robot and for the third person, he would be the "coach" or I would say, "play maker" to direct the controllers and tell them where to go. Here's my working table where I plan the schedule..

And our results for the day..written in marker. Some matches we lost because our teams fought against each other. So one team had to lose.

I was also the coach for the team. So went into the matches to compete with them. This match that I was in was the semi-finals.

There was also the unveiling of our next game/challenge for the new season which we were all excited about. Every season, there is a new challenge to compete in..This year's game is called "Gateway" Next year's game is called, "Sack Attack".

I was a little disappointed by the announcement and introduction of the new game as it seems so juvenile since its all about sacks. (brings me back to my primary school days). However, it is very challenging as its not easy to build a robot to pick up the sacks as its quite thin and light. Moreover, de-scoring is back! It means after scoring your sacks in the goal, your opponents can swipe it away and de-score your sacks!

Anyway, on the final day of competition, our teams did outstanding. In the end, 2 of our teams fought against each other to get into the finals.

Besides the main fighting event, we also have skills challenge which was a side event competition which our school came in top 3. In the end, the top 2 teams displayed their robot skills in front of a crowd of thousands to see who is the ultimate winner and I was so scared they would fumble in their controlling but I was so proud of them as one of the team obtained a PERFECT score in it within a time limit of 1 min!

With the pressure from the time and crowd and the "mission impossible" music playing in the background (how 'apt' this music was chosen to play), team Atom emerged as the winner and manage to get all the balls and barrels into the goal within 1 min which no team in the world could achieve it! So it was a world record set! So proud of them!

In the end, we won a total of 9 awards. The best school with the most number of awards in the competition! -Robot Skills World Champion (1st, 2nd and 3rd) -Tournament Champion (Middle School Division-1st and 2nd) -Programming Skills (Middle School Division-2nd) -Build Award -Innovate Award -Create Award

All that hard work and sacrifice has finally been paid off and with this results, these guys sure have a great story to tell for the rest of their lives..

Here's the press release of the results

I leave you now with an exciting match by my students in the robot skills challenge with a perfect score in one minute! (video taken and posted by someone in the audience)

Finally..

Just days before leaving for US, me and my students still cant imagine we are about to leave for the World Championships. It's as if we have not accepted reality. But finally the morning has arrived. I set off for the airport early in the morning. CT dropped me off on his way to work so I was there quite early. Happened to meet my student with his mum, so joined them for breakfast at the airport.

I didnt use to like taking flights in aeroplane when I was young. I would vomit and not eat in the plane but I have overcome the fear..all thanks to my parents who believe in overcoming all difficulties by just facing up to it. So despite being a nuisance to them in the aeroplane by throwing up in the airbag or even along the aisle, they still continued to take me on holiday trips and probably going overseas for my swimming competitions also helped me overcome my hatred for flights...and the smell.

I appreciated and truly say I enjoy taking aeroplane flights when I stayed in US for a year with my hubby. Despite the long flight to US, I have to say, I enjoyed every bit of it because we took the straight flight (executive economy class) there from Singapore to Newark Airport which is in New York. It was probably about straight 16 hours flight. Despite a long flight which most would complain, I didnt as I got to watch so many movies and get to have a buffet spread of food to eat at the back of the plane. I always went for the instant noodles. Singapore Airlines has definitely made my flight more enjoyable.

Anyway, going back to the US this time round, brought back memories..memories of my swimming competition and camps in US, holiday trip with my parents and brother to 7 over states in US, as well as going to and fro US with my hubby during our stay in US. It was all fun and each time back to US, is a whole new experience as there's just so much to see.

The food in SQ was superb. I ordered the Japanese cuisine as I love Jap food and as usual, it comes with ice cream!

We took about 7 hours flight to Narita airport where we transited for about an hour or so. Within that short time, we had to eat Jap food there. So we ordered ramen, and curry pork cutlet rice to share.

I also ordered an interesting drink- sparkling soy water which tasted like bubble gum. I just wanted to try something different. Yep, that adventurous spirit is always inside me.

Well, one of my students also bought octopus to eat. I tried one..didnt really like it though as it was a little sour. strange. Texture was normal- chewy which I didnt mind.

During our flight, I went with my students who were awake at that time, to go touring the world's largest aircraft, the Airbus A380. So happy to be flying in it. So we decided to check it out by walking up to the upper deck.

The upper deck is slightly smaller..

The wings of the plane also looked special.

While arriving in LAX airport at about 4pm, our bus took us to our hotel where we checked in. All of us were hungry. So we bought something light to eat first. I bought a slice of pepperoni pizza. I told my students that we left Singapore on 17 April at 9am while we arrived in US on 17 Apr 4pm. Its as if we took a short trip to US.

Anyway after our tea time at the food court in our hotel, we went to the hotel room to maintain the robots

Then I brought the students out for dinner at Ramada Plaza while my IC, Mr Teo and the trainer, Mr Chee met up for dinner.

We took away our food. I ordered a Korean Beef Bulgogi Burger which was so delicious! The burger place I ordered from was run by a Korean. So that explains.

Anyway, this first day in US have been tiring but fun as I didn't sleep in the aeroplane at all. Maybe at most 20-30 mins of the total 19 hours flight. It was fun as time spent with the students has always been enjoyable as they amuse me each time and I guess, it works both ways as they probably enjoy my company as well. Nevertheless, I am sure I will have a blast here in US as wherever I am, I make sure I am having the time of my life as I will never get to rewind this moment again!

A message of love and hope

Almost a week back, we celebrated Good Friday and then Easter Sunday. I had an enjoyable weekend as I went for the youth service with my friend, Lydia on Saturday evening for the Watoto Children's Choir Concert which brought a message of hope as these orphans shared their stories with us.

Enjoyed the service tremendously as I met my ex-students as well as present students. They also invited me to join them for dinner but I decided to go home for dinner instead. Enjoyed the sermon and the fact that I felt young again to be among the youths. Haha.

On Sunday, went church with my family for the adult service and I remembered very vividly what the pastor said which touched me.

Pastor Chye Aik shared about how Christians don't need to earn love or strive for it as we are already loved by God. God loves each and every one of us. We should not have the feeling of insecurity or to strive to earn his love.

He also shared an analogy on the Mona Lisa painting. Would you take the real painting and add a few more strokes to it? The work is finished. We can't do anything more to a finished work. So its the same for what Christ has done for us on the cross. It is finished and we are made righteous by the blood paid by Christ.

So basically, this whole Good Friday and Easter weekend, reminded me of the love God has for me and I just feel that I do not have to go searching for love..I am already loved.

There's this song by Tim Hughes, entitled "Here I am to worship" and there's this part in his song, the bridge, when it says " I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross". Whenever I sing this part, I am reminded of what Christ did and because of how much He suffered, I do not want that suffering to go in vain.

Christ was stripped of his clothing, and the Romans used a whip called a flagrum, which consisted of small pieces of bone and metal attached to a number of leather strands. During the scourging, the skin was ripped from the back, exposing a bloody mass of tissue and bone. In addition to the flogging, Jesus faced severe beating and torment by the Roman soldiers, including the plucking of His beard and the piercing of His scalp with a crown of thorns.

Would you want all that suffering to go to waste as you disown the one who created you? or to make it go to waste as we continue sinning and do our own things, living a life separated from God?

I had a wonderful weekend rediscovering my love for God and His amazing love for me and I sincerely wish everyone of you to experience His love that is more than enough for us and the hope we can all look forward to!

Leave you all with a wonderful song which reminds of the hope we have in Christ Jesus as we look to the day we meet Him face to face in heaven!

Gearing up for Worlds..

Ever since joining Robotics last year in June, I have always been inspired by my Vex Robotic Students for their hard work and dedication. I have learnt a great deal from them and to prepare them for the World Championship in April, we have already started right after our Asia Vex Competition last year in Nov 2011. They hardly took a break.

Anyway, for the past 2 months, the guys have been training everyday from Monday to Sunday, including public holidays. Their only rest days is on Saturday as most of them have tuition on that day. However, some of them still came down on Saturday to build their robots or do programming. On Fridays, we have also been going to ACS(I) or they have been coming to our school for trainings. We train together so that we can exchange pointers.

On weekdays, the students train from 3pm to 7pm, right after school. On Tues and Fri, they end at 9pm. As for weekends or public holidays, training is from 9am to 6pm.

I can dare say absolutely NO robotics team trains as hard as us, including those from other countries. From what I know, the teams in US train twice a week only.

So seriously, win or lose, at least I know that my students have put in their best and we have no regrets.

And in my eyes, they are all winners already.

There's my darling daughter, Danielle on the playfield in my robotics room on a Sunday afternoon. She hit if off quite well with the students.

On the final Friday before we were to depart for the World Championship, we got all the Singapore schools (5 in total) to come to our school for a combined practice and friendly match.

My robotics IC, Mr Teo also prepared ginseng, chrysanthemum tea, chicken essence for the students during our last couple of weeks of training.

There's the students struggling to drink all that down..they absolutely hate drinking all this!

With so much preparation, hard work and sacrifice, I really do wish the students will do very well in the World Championships so that they can be rewarded and recognised for their effort!

"Rather the pain of discipline than the pain of regret"

(Bob Andrews)