Livingston Robotics Club (LRC) is a robotics club in Livingston, New Jersey that provides community network to introduce Livingston area youth to robotics design and real-life science research, consistent with the vision of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). LRC is known for its member teams as winners at state, national, and international FIRST LEGO League (FLL) competitions.[1]
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The initiative to form a robotics club in Livingston was conceived in when a team called Landroids was formed in 2007 to compete in FIRST LEGO League. LRC was formed with one team during 2007-2008 seasons. With Landroids' success in that season, LRC gained wider recognition especially in the local community. It later became a member of Healthy Community Healthy Youth Initiative of Livingston – a non-profit community organization with a goal to enhance the lives of children in Livingston – in order to promote its expansion and to become eligible to receive corporate sponsorships.[2]
LRC encourages forming a new team in the community. It has provided guidance and resources for starting a new FLL team. There were four teams in LRC during 2008-2009 season. Two additional teams were formed in 2009-2010 season.[1][2]
Landroids was formed in August 2007 by six 6th and 5th grade students from Livingston New Jersey area, and their parents. Originally registered under the name of Lancer Robotics Club following Livingston’s tradition to name teams in the town as Lancer, it was later changed to "Livingston Robotics Club" in by the end of 2007. Landroids is led by John Yeh for robotics design and Pearl Hwang in project research and jugding. The teams has received many awards including two times NJ State FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Champion's Awards in 2007, 2008; 2nd and 3rd place awards in Robot Design and Robot Performance in the 2008 FLL World Festival; first place Championship's Award and Founder's Award of 2009 FIRST LEGO League U.S. Open Championship – the highest award for FLL open championship in the United States; 1st place National 8th grade award from the US Army sponsored eCYBERMISSION for the team's science research in 2010. Most recently, the 1st place award in the international Google X-PRIZE LEGO Mindstorms sponsored Moonbots competition in September 2010. The team was invited by LEGO Group to visit Denmark as their grand prize Moonbots award.
Landroids is considered the founding team of Livingston Robotics Club (LRC). The team was instrumental in promoting the FIRST to general public in New Jersey by hosting a FIRST LEGO League exhibition at Liberty Science Center with top-ten FLL teams of New Jersey in the 2007 season. The Liberty Science Center exhibition was expanded to include Jr. FIRST LEGO League in 2009 and added the FIRST Tech Challenge teams in 2010.
Landroids members had also compiled and conducted a 5-week long FLL orientation in a "kids teaching kids" format to mentor eight new FLL teams throughout NJ during the summer of 2009. [3]. This PowerPoint presentation was later translated to Thai in its entirety for Thailand to startup its FLL participation in its country during the 2009-2010 season.
In September 2010, still at age 14, the Landroids moved up to the FIRST Tech Challenge high school division, still remaining as a privately funded neighborhood team to explore various science and engineering projects. In the future, Landroids hopes to create robots that will change the world, improving technology for years to come.
SciBoTechs was competitive FLL team founded in 2008 by Dr. Po-Shing Lee, and led by Michelle Weis and Janice Pepper in 2009. The team consists of six team members from the age of 12 to 14 years of age. The team received intense training in project research, robot design and performance, and teamwork. In the 2008 season, SciBoTechs received the first place award in the Research Project at 2008 qualifying tournament in [Hamilton, NJ], and the second place for their research project in states (Mt. Olive). In 2009, the SciBoTechs won the Judge's Award at the Montclair qualifying tournament. The team is inactive in 2010 as the members entered high school.
Landrias is an all-girls team started in 2008 with some team members as siblings of team Landroids and SciBoTechs. Landrias was jointly trained by John Yeh (robot) and Dr. Po-Shing Lee (project) in 2008 and 2010; and Pearl Hwang as the project coach in 2009. Landrias has received the Robot Design Award at 2008 qualifying tournament in Montclair, a 2nd place Robot Design Award at the NJ state tournament in 2008, a Champion's Award at the 2009 qualifying tournament in Montclair, a Champion's Award and 2nd place Robot Performance Award at the 2010 Bergen qualifying tournament. Landrias' mission is to provide hands-on building and programming skills to young girls, while creating a bonding experience for the girls to learn about science and play together.
Livingston Alpha Force is the last team that was formed in 2008 with three members range in age from 8 to 12 years with Janea and Jojo Agbayani as coaches. The team's focus is for recreation and training about science, building with LEGOs, and to start to focus on programming.
Four additional teams were formed at the start of 2009-2010 season. The first team is r2d2 which comprises six 4th grade boys. Soon followed were Thunderclan, Technophiles, Alpha Force and Supreme Machines. The Spongebots, the only Jr.FLL team in 2009, kicked started the LRC Jr. FLL divisions with a total of 6 LRC Jr. FLL teams in 2010.
Exit 5 Robotics is an all-girls FLL team originally formed in 2010 with four 4th graders and one 3rd grader, all from Harrison Elementary School in Livingston, NJ. The team is now in their second season (2011-2012) with six girls (three 5th and three 7th graders). For the 2010 FLL Body Forward season, Exit 5 Robotics received the 1st Place Robot Performance Award at the Bergen qualifying tournament, a 3rd place Robot Performance Award as well as the Judge's Award at the 2010 NJ state tournament. For the 2011 FLL Food Factor season, the team won the Champion's Award and the 1st Place Robot Performance Award at the Liberty Science Center qualifying tournament and a 2nd Place Champion's Award at the 2011 NJ state tournament. The team has a common interest in Math, Engineering, Technology & Science and is led by coaches Bill Lam, Li Zhu and Huale Huang.
Below is the list of state, national, and global level awards received by LRC teams.
| Season / Theme | Team | Competition | Event Location | Award name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-2012 / Food Factor | Exit 5 Robotics | NJ FLL State Championship | Flanders, NJ | Champion's Award Winner - 2nd place |
| 2010-2011 / Body Forward | Exit 5 Robotics | NJ FLL State Championship | Flanders, NJ | Robot Performance Award Winner - 3rd place |
| 2010-2011 / Body Forward | Exit 5 Robotics | NJ FLL State Championship | Flanders, NJ | Judge's Award Winner |
| 2009-2010 / Smart Move | Landroids | NJ FLL State Championship[4] | Flanders, NJ | Robot Design Award Winner - 1st place |
| 2009-2010 / Smart Move | Thunderclan | NJ FLL State Championship | Flanders, NJ | Robot Design Award Winner - 2nd place |
| 2008-2009 / Climate Connections | Landroids | FLL U.S. Open Championship[5] | Dayton, OH | Champion’s Award Winner - 1st place |
| 2008-2009 / Climate Connections | Landroids | FLL U.S. Open Championship | Dayton, OH | Robot Alliance - 1st place |
| 2008-2009 / Climate Connections | Landroids | FLL U.S. Open Championship | Dayton, OH | Founder's Award |
| 2008-2009 / Climate Connections | Landroids | FLL New Jersey State Tournament[6] | Flanders, NJ | Champion’s Award Winner - 1st place |
| 2008-2009 / Climate Connections | Landroids | FLL New Jersey State Tournament | Flanders, NJ | Robot Performance Award Winner - 2nd place |
| 2008-2009/Climate Connections | Landrias | FLL New Jersey State Tournament | Flanders, NJ | Technical Award Winner - 2nd place |
| 2008-2009/Climate Connections | SciBoTechs | FLL New Jersey State Tournament | Flanders, NJ | Research Award Winner - 2nd place |
| 2007-2008 / Power Puzzle | Landroids | FIRST LEGO League World Festival[7] | Atlanta, GA | Quality Design Award 2nd Place |
| 2007-2008 / Power Puzzle | Landroids | FIRST LEGO League World Festival | Atlanta, GA | Robot Performance Award - 3rd Place |
| 2007-2008 / Power Puzzle | Landroids | FLL New Jersey State Tournament[8] | Flanders, NJ | Champion’s Award Winner |
| 2007-2008 / Power Puzzle | Landroids | FLL New Jersey State Tournament | Flanders, NJ | Performance Award Winner - 2nd place |