Science Day

Today, we took a trip to Pittsford Mendon Center Elementary School and presented as a part of their event they call Science Day. Science Day gives the kids an opportunity to see exhibitions of different science fields, such as rocketry, zoology, and robotics. We packed up our robot and its control center and brought it over to the elementary school.

Once the kids were all settled in their seats, we showed them a brief PowerPoint presentation and explained what it is that FIRST teams do. Plenty of hands shot up throughout the presentation, asking us questions such as “How much did the robot cost to build?”, “What’s the best sub-team?”, and “Is that a guy in a panther costume or is it a real robot panther?”

After the presentation, we brought the robot into the main entrance’s open hallway and started it up. The kids stood in a semicircle around the atrium and watched excitedly as the robot moved sideways and spun in circles with its spiffy mechanum wheels. Liam Middlebrook, who was driving the robot during our demonstration, then invited the kids to catch the foam basketballs as the robot threw them. Liam spun the robot in circles as he readied the shooter, then “had the robot choose” a place in the eager audience to throw the ball. The kids caught the balls to wild cheers. After all three balls had been passed to the kids, Liam turned on the ball-retrieval system and asked the kids to roll the balls back to the robot, which picked them up. Lather, rinse, repeat – or perhaps we should say ‘Catch, bowl, repeat.’ This interactive game between the children and the robot captivated the kids until it was time for them to go to their next demonstration.

After three rotations and plenty of ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s, the last group of kids left for their normal classrooms and Science Day finished - a complete success.

February 20

Monday’s meeting was full of fixing little things that had not worked at the Rochester Rally.  The ball intake system needed the most fixing up; they had adjusted the rollers, mounted the brackets inside the intake system, and put spacers between the rollers and the sides.  The electrical team worked out a few of the bugs.  They also documented all of the components on the robot.  The programmers made a controller configuration class.  Some people did things other than working on the robot.  A few people early on in the meeting completed the bridge.  Also the group of people who had been practicing scouting at the rally typed up their notes.

Rochester Rally

Sunday was the Rochester Rally where multiple teams from the area came to test their robots in near competition settings.  Our team though was in the pits for most of the time trying to get the robot to work.  Once our robot was on the field we did really well.  After a little practice our drivers were able to balance the robot on the bridge.

While part of our team was in the pit area working on the robot, other team members went out to the field and practiced scouting.  This consisted of watching the other robots and finding qualities that we would and would not want on a team.  This was very interesting.   Though few robots were on the field at the start of the day, more teams came out to the field as time went by.  It was exciting to see all of the different designs for all the robots.

Although many people were doing important things everyone found time to have some fun.  There were groups of people dancing the “YMCA” and the “Cotton Eye Joe” when those songs came on.  Also, some air guitar players showed their talents when songs with a guitar solo came on.

All in all the Rochester Rally was a blast and we are looking forward to going next year and maybe being able to have more practice time.

Meeting February 16

During the meeting on Thursday quite a few things were accomplished.  The programmers checked over the tipping code to see if – at least in theory – it would work, and another widget was added to the SmartDashboard.  The arm-group was still creating the drawings for fabrication.  The ball intake system group started assembling the roller box.  The electrical team finished mounting all of the electrical components and began wiring and labeling everything in the box.  The shooter group worked on the shooter some more.

Meeting February 15

During our meeting on Wednesday we accomplished some things.  The programmers worked out a formula to judge distance from the size of the reflective rectangle on the backboard.  The electrical team finished fixing up their electrical box and began putting in some of the parts into the box.  The group working on the arm was making the fabrication drawings for the parts needed for the arm.  The ball intake system group was drilling and tapping holes into the rollers.

Meeting February 13

Not many people showed up for this meeting, and since there were few people, few things were actually done.  However, we did get the bumpers put together: all that we need to do now is to put covers on them. A couple people worked on the shooter.  The electrical team put a space for a light in the electrical box.  Lastly, the programmers were able to detect the reflective tape on our makeshift backboard basketball hoop.

Meeting February 11

Saturday, we had a long meeting, from seven to six.  It was quite productive.

The people who were thinking of being drivers and were good at it were asked to take a test to see how much of the rules they knew.  The test was not too hard, stating everyone did well and someone actually got a one hundred.  The girl who created and administered the test also started putting together the Scouting books.

The CAD team figured out how to make wires in Autodesk Inventor, but found out that they were doing it wrong and had to go back to fix all of the wires that had already been put in.

The programmers did quite a few things.  Firstly, one person added sensors to the tipper’s code.  Two of the programmers worked on color detection, motor ramping, and changed a lot of the drive system.  The last programmer toyed with the SmartDashboard.

The electrical team drilled all the holes in into the electrical box and began filling it.

The people who had been working on the arm brought their CAD drawing into the robot assembly, and found out that some of the space they were planning on using was already being used.  So, they had to change their designs.

Another group worked on the shooter and took apart the bumpers.

The last group of people cut the rollers while they were waiting for the side panels for the ball intake system to come in.

Meeting February 9

During our Thursday meeting a number of things were accomplished.

One, we cleaned up our electrical box so next meeting we could hopefully begin putting the electrical parts in.

Some of the people who were really good at driving read over the rules to begin familiarizing themselves with them.

The programmers had split into three groups.  One person added another widget to the SmartDashboard.  The rest of them, with the help of the electrical team, put a camera on the robot and got it to work, though it was lagging.  The last person worked on the code for the arm and gave updates to the people who CAD’d the arm.

The CAD team figured out how to put wires in Autodesk Inventor and added wires to the CAD design of the electrical box.

The group of mechanical members that worked on the ball intake system built some of the rollers.

The web team had a professional website designer come in and critique the website.

Meeting February 7

During the meeting we had on the seventh, we began to plan some of the things that we would need for the competition.

Everyone tested driving the robot so that we could find our “natural” drivers for the drive team.  A number of people worked on a scouting application that we could use to judge other robots and teams.  Others made a list of all of the jobs that would need to be done at the competition.

We also did some things that did not have to do with the competition.  One group of people worked on the ball intake system so that it would not interfere with the driving.  Another group continued work on the CAD design for the arm.

Meeting February 6

On Monday’s meeting we finally managed to get our robot to drive!  Everyone was thrilled to be able to see the robot actually moving.  Besides being able to drive the robot, we did a few other things.  One group changed the number of rollers that we’re going to put on our ball intake system and designed the hopper.  The electrical team made a list of parts for the electrical board and also finished the final CAD design for the electrical board.  The programmers began fixing the drive code and tested driving the robot while they were at it.  Last but not least, the final group continued organizing the parts closet.