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Iowa State University Extension and Outreach programs are available to all without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, or disability.

Fremont County Extension and Outreach

Special Report to the RAP SHEET December 2013

With high expectations from 2nd year members Bryan and Justin Pope, and the enthusiasm of first year

members Amy Pope, Matthew Beard, Nathan Benedict, Dyson Bredberg, Dane Moyer and Samson Rogers,

the FREMONT ROBOTOS FLL team surged into competition at the Lewis Central Middle School on Saturday,

December 14 in Council Bluffs. Their NXT robot, “Bob the Titan” followed in his predecessors footsteps

“Jose Robert Robotos,” with simplicity. Bob and the Fremont Robotos received Honorable Mention honors

in the Robot Challenge Performance for a second year in a row!

The 2013 Nature’s Fury Challenge regional competition was one of fourteen Iowa Regional Qualifier FIRST LEGO League Robotics events be-ing hosted across the state and hosted teams from as far away as Carroll. The 26 FLL teams who participated in the Council Bluffs Regional Qualifier were made up of up to 10 youth, aged 9 -14 years-old and the event was hosted by Iowa State University Exten-sion and Outreach,. Major Partners in sponsor-ing the Council Bluffs Regional FLL event were Ellison Technologies Automation Division, Coun-cil Bluffs, Iowa State University College of Engi-neering, Rockwell Collins and John Deere.

Over 100 youth and adult volunteers served as interview judges, room timers, room hosts and Robot Match referees, and team buddies including over 40 youth from Lewis Central High School. FREMONT ROBOTOS had the privilege of being paired with Amanda Kephardt as their “buddy” for the day! The volunteer judges represented ar-ea schools, ISU Extension and Outreach, technology and engineering businesses, and youth organizations. Amanda has chosen engineering as her career of choice.

The Fremont ROBOTOS FLL second season

was sponsored by Rockwell Collins. Rockwell Collins agreed to cover the cost for

the 2013 FLL Team Registration and 2013 Field Setup. Members were

able to use last year’s NXT kit and a second NXT kit donated by Wellmark Inc.

volunteer, Deb Webb.

Parent volunteers included Chris Moyer and Tim Pope.

FREMONT ROBOTOS were very fortunate to receive additional support from Alan and Ruth Deines.

Buddy Amanda!

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Iowa State University Extension and Outreach programs are available to all without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, or disability.

O U R P R O F E S S I O N A L E M A I L PA L S :

Heather McCullough Katherine MacBeth NOAA Global Flood Defense Systems National Geophysical Data Center Twin Wing Barrier

CORE VALUES We had 2 returning members from last year's rookie team. They taught us the FREMONT ROBOTOS Core Value Chant. It helped us to remember them better. We are a team with 7 very different kids and the core values were very good ground rules to be reminded of by our coach. We can get more done by a team than by just a one person team, but everyone need to work on their own sometimes. We think that at the tour-nament we will understand gracious professionalism better.

PROJECT INFORMATION After our coach talked to us about the choices in Nature's Fury, we chose tsunami as our topic. We focused on the "Prepare" part of the project. We researched online and shared information and Amy read a book. We talked to each other and watched videos about tsunamis and especially the one in 2011 in Japan. We talked more about sensors and wave breakers/barriers. The cost is very high for

these things, and most countries do not have the money. We finally decid-ed that education was the best way to prepare. We really liked the idea of storytelling to pass from generation to generation, because that is some-thing that does not cost anything!

ROBOT DESIGN Our robot design is a tri-bot. We chose it because it would move better than the other ones we tried. We use one attachment. We started with three. (One of them had hooks and a straight bar, but the hooks did not pick up the objects.) We chose not to use a sensor. Instead, we used another motor to move the attach-ment up and down. We named our robot "Bob the Titan." He is doing

very well. He does exactly what we program, but we don't always program right. We think programming is the most difficult thing to do. Building Bob was easier.

FUN FACTS ABOUT OUR TEAM Our first year, last year, we only had 5 members. This year we have eight and one is a girl. This is different, but she like to do things the rest of us do not like to do and that is a big help. One of our members lived on the island of Okinawa, Japan. We are always hungry and wanting to snack during our meetings. We have lots of builders and jokesters on our team. We all have ideas and learning to listen to everyone was not al-ways easy. WE have FUN!

FREMONT ROBOTOS

#5448

Never Ever Forget

PREPARE for

Nature’s Fury

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Iowa State University Extension and Outreach programs are available to all without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, or disability.

Never ever forget . . . 決して忘れないでください

1. The natural disaster or “Nature’s Fury,” our team wanted to learn about was the tsunami. “Tsunami” is Japanese for “The Harbour Wave.” When I was little, I lived on the island of Japan called Okinawa. We chose the Okuma beach area to use as our focus community.

2. After much research, including actual pictures from Okuma, video footage of the March 2011 tsunami, discussion about sensors and wave breakers, and reviewing the October 2013 update of the Japanese Meteorological Association tsunami warning system - - we decided to concentrate on “PREPARE” for our project presentation.

3. Our story is about the Nakamuras, a family of seven. They lived along the coast of Okuma on the island of Okinawa Japan. There was Grandpa Haruto, Grandma Yu, mom Ryu, dad Yuto, their son and daughter, Sota and Yuna, and also their Aunt Koharu.

4. Every March Grandma would always say softly to her grandkids, “You need to learn the signs and warnings of a tsunami. To raise a family in Japan, you must know and teach these things.”

5. She liked to teach them the natural ways to tell if a tsunami was headed towards their coast. She would recall what hap-pened to her and their Grandpa in March 2011 and why they had to move in with their son Yuto and the rest of his family.

6. Every year, from the time the kids were 3 and 4 years old, Grandpa and Grandma would tell the story of the 2011 tsunami that destroyed their town and left nearly 20,000 dead or missing; a sadness that can never be forgotten.

7. By the time Sota was 30, in 2037, there had not been a major destructive tsunami since 2011. At this time, he asked his mother if he should ask his girlfriend to marry him. “It is hard to say no,” his mother said, “So yes! Go find her. She will be and has been, waiting for this moment.” So they got married and lived near the rest of the family.

8. Meanwhile, his sister, Yu had stayed in the United States after being a Foreign Exchange student with a nice family in Thur-man, Iowa. She became a geophysicist and worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in California.

9. Sota did remember one important thing. He taught his new wife the signs and natural warnings of a tsunami, knowing one day their family may experience nature’s fury. Every March, he would share the stories from his grandparents. Four years later, in 2041, Sota had a son, and named him Koki.

10. During the first 20 years of Koki’s life, Sota would tell the story of the March 2011 tsunami and what happened to the vil-lage of his grandparents and others in Japan. Sota told his son “a tsunami can strike at any time. Beware!”

11. Later in life, Koki had a family of his own. He DID NOT tell the story of his great grandparents. He could have listened to his father’s advice and wise words; but instead, he chose to rely on technology and his “OYNX Synaptic Clearpad.” He forgot about all the natural signs of tsunamis.

12. One day in April of 2068, Koki and his family were at the family’s favorite spot on Okuma beach. They had their picnic lunch and a blanket, and were looking forward to no interruptions. Koki even left his OYNX Synaptic Clearpad in the car.

13. While he and his wife were talking, he looked out toward the ocean and saw his children wondering further away, but the ocean water had receded from its normal spot. Further out he could see the ocean moving in a weird way.

14. Koki shook his head. There is no way this could be happening, he thought. He was wrong. “Run, Run, I will get the chil-dren!” he yelled. His wife grabbed the blanket and picnic basket. They ran and ran, without stopping, until they reached the Okuma MWR. In fact it was faster to travel by foot, because there were traffic jams on the roads.

15. Once there, they were taken to a steel and cement constructed building for safety. Koki was in shock. He could hear his father’s words, “a tsunami can strike at any time. Beware!”

16. The tsunami waters destroyed Koki’s home and all his family owned. This reminded him of his great grandparents’ story from 2011. Now 57 years later, he was in the same situation. The family moved in with his wife’s parents and her Aunt Hina - once again making a family of seven.

17. Koki had learned a big lesson. Now, for centuries the family will always be prepared for”nature’s fury,” because of the re-telling of the stories of the tsunami’s of 2011 and 2068.

18. Tsunami’s are a result of by sudden movements and changes to the sea floor – mainly caused by earthquakes, landslides and even under seas volcanoes.

19. “The Great Habour Waves” have been recorded throughout history, from 1410 B.C. to the present day. However, not all tsunamis are destructive, not all of them reach coastal communities or island countries.

20. In fact, major tsunamis or tsunamis of mass destruction only occur on the average of 6 times every 100 years. 21. That is why we believe that the best way to be prepared is to retell the stories, generation after generation to know the signs and warning of tsunamis. Storytelling requires no money or technology. Only the ability to share the experiences of oth-ers and to NEVER EVER FORGET!

Tell the STORY to SAVE LIVES! Script based on a short story by Amy Pope

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Iowa State University Extension and Outreach programs are available to all without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, or disability.

This FLL season was the largest to date, with an estimated 230,000

children, ages 9-16, in more than 80 countries participating.

Fremont County Extension and Outreach is proud to be a part of this

program. Thank you to all our volunteers that make this possible!

Fremont Robotos Statistics

7 boys : including one set of twins!

1 girl: younger sister of the twins—made for sibling fun! Ha

Ages 9-13: lots of brain power behind ages—this meant

“head to head” discussions! Lol

Grades 4-8: Can you say varied attention spans?

Tournament: Southwest Iowa Region 17 at Lewis Central

Middle School in Council Bluffs, IA

From the beginning of the season, at the Fremont County Fairgrounds , to . . . .