​Earlier this week we attended Brick Can, which is an amazing exhibition of LEGO creations by people from around the world, to present our FIRST LEGO League robot game to the public. 
 
For the majority of the day we worked on our robot game, although at some points we went around to look at some of the other amazing exhibits. I can remember vividly a LEGO ship built to come up out of water mechanically. It was titled the ‘Durmstrang Ship’ from Harry Potter. Some of the builds there, including this one, were amazing. I would definitely recommend it to any LEGO enthusiast.
 
Our team would like to thank the Brick Can organizers for allowing our team to participate. It was a great opportunity to get work done while spreading the word about FIRST LEGO League. It allowed us to demonstrate part of what the competitions are about and to interact with LEGO fans from all around the world.
 
We would also like to thank the generous people who attended this event and donated to our team to help us reach our goal to go to Estonia.
 
 
 

For the FLL tournament there is more than just robot games.  There is also a project component that we are privileged enough to wok on. This year the FLL project topic is Hydrodynamics: we were expected to find a problem with the water consumption cycle in urbanized areas and propose a solution.
 
So for our project we decided to solve the problem of wasting water when you turn on the tap and the wrong temperature of water comes out.  Normally, one must wait until the desired temperature is ready, and this wastes water. We found out that there are some solutions already, including custom water conservation systems in houses and instantaneous water heaters.  Unfortunately, custom systems are hard to come by, people have to design their own.  Instant water heaters can be quite expensive, costing as much as $6,000. Besides the high expense, it can also be faulty and do not have a very long life cycle. So a new solution to the problem is necessary.
 
We decided that we wanted to build a system that would conserve water by making sure that the exact desired temperature of water (dictated by the tap) comes out. We went about doing this by creating a circulation system that sends water that had already been in the pipes (prior to you turning on the tap) through the heater to be reused (as shown in the diagram below).  In our system, when you turn on the tap looking for hot water, no water comes out initially. The cold water in the pipes gets recycled back into the water heater until the desired water temperature is reached. At this point the temperature sensor sends an electrical signal to the diverter valve diverting the now hot water up through the pipe and out the faucet.
 
To be clear, the point of this system is not to get water fast, but to conserve water. It is not recommended to implement into old buildings because to rip off walls and existing pipes would be a costly operation. This is suitable to new building constructions of single detached homes or decentralized water heater systems. The pump system is at the heater, while the temperature system is right at the valves under the sinks.
 
We will be working this month on the prototype of our solution, small enough to bring to Estonia. 
 
 

Today, Lulu and I started on the modifications for our Mindstorms EV3 robot suit. Previously, it kept falling apart when transported and took up too much space, so Lulu and I began making major changes on it. Elijah had many ideas to contribute and he sketched right away a building plan. At the same time, Kevin and Iokasti, began perfecting one of their previous missions by making a new attachment for it.
 
To give the team “energy” after the long, hard school day, my Dad brought everyone cinnamon buns and cookies! Even though we worked very hard today and did not get distracted, we still have a lot of work left to do.