2011 Season

Watch our FLL team, The Flying Millie Monkeys, featured on CBC 

Our 2011 FIRST Lego League teams, The Flying Millie Monkeys and the Millie Bacteria Busters, have done a phenomenal job this past season. From programing and building a robot that performed proficiently on the field to being experts on a research topic of their choice, they have truly inspired others with their enthusiasm and knowledge.

The season started with the release of the theme and game, Food Factor. The team try-outs in September gave the girls a feel for possible obstacles they would face during the season. Once they were placed into two teams of eight, their first task was to build the mission models. Some of the favourite models included the fish, the animals and the truck. 

Each student was able to alternate between building the robot and contributing to the research project for the beginning of the season. This gave all the students a chance to try their hand in both fields. The girls were also able to brainstorm and decide as a team the initial design of their robot. They were given the opportunity to learn how to program the robot using NXT Mindstorm. Finally both teams had chosen a research topic, one team deciding on chocolate and the other on bananas. Later once they got into the swing of things, each student decided on which aspect of the team they wished to focus on.

One of the milestones during the season is always the completion of the first mission. The first mission the Millie Bacteria Busters were able to accomplish was the blue ball mission. After persistence and hard work, they were able to achieve this mission every time.  By competition, they were probably able to do it blind folded. Both teams also faced many challenges. One of the problems the Flying Millie Monkeys team faced was that before competition their attachments had fallen apart. This was a difficult task because they not only had to rebuild their attachments but they also had to reprogram their robot in a very short time period.

When competition came around, both teams were ready and exhilarated. They both performed magnificently on both on the field and in the core values, design and research presentations. The day was full of excitement and energy, especially with the unplanned fire drill in the middle of the day. The Flying Millie Monkeys were also particularly excited to be the team that CBC chose to do a cover story on. 

Overall As mentors, we have been able to see the growth of every member on the team. Every girl has learned a lot during the past few months and has been able to improve their teamwork and problem solving skills. We are both so proud of what the girls have accomplished this year and want to congratulate all the girls.

-Laura Lee and Ankita Sharma,
FLL Student Mentors, 2009-