Stumbling Blocks

After so much success with prototypes and so many things working out with the team, it was inevitable some challenges would happen for the team soon. Unfortunately on Saturday, we ran into (literally) a big challenge: the bump in the middle of the field. We spent the past two days working on a wheel system that would get us over the bump and it didn't work. We also started working on vision processing (for finding the hoops) and an arm to push the bridge down so we can drive over it. Luckily, those went a little bit better.

First off, there are a couple visual changes to the blog. You probably noticed the new header visual (thanks Jenna). We will also be adding the Team Members page and a page describing our team and the mission of FIRST in the coming week or so. So look out for those.

In case you didn't know, the field for our competition is divided into two halves. Dividing these halves is a 4" tall by 6" wide bump and 3 bridges. Traversing these obstacles is essential to playing the game. Brandon, Ryan, and Tyler worked their butts off making a system to lower the bridge the past two days. It is really sweet! It's an arm with an angle piece coming down. It will rest on a platform with an L shaped plastic piece that is connected to a spring. At the beginning of the match, we will drop the arm and the spring loaded L shaped piece will keep the arm down during the match. I will upload some pictures on Monday which will make it easier to see. We haven't tested it yet (gulp) but we will do that on Monday. It looks awesome and it follows the big rule of KISS (keep it simple stupid).

The major project we worked on though was the wheel system. On Friday, we took the whole bot apart and started changing the wheels. We had to drop our wheels down so that the frame could fit over the bump. This is a much bigger task than it sounds. It requires cutting and drilling new axle holes in 12 pieces of extrusion. Then we had to put new chains on each gearbox and make new spacers for each wheel. This is a LONG process that we spent literally 9 hours on Saturday working on. Bryce's dad came and helped get the chains and spacers ready which was really nice. So we were feeling really good after getting the entire robot back together and the wheels on and working. Until... we tested it. There is a YouTube video up of the test. We were all so tired that you can't really tell how disappointing it was. However, the team is resilient and will think of another mechanism to go over the bump. No worries.

Colin and Megan worked on getting the image processing for the camera going. The LabView programming has the power to recognize shapes and colors including the metal rectangles behind the hoops. This will allow us to program the robot to find the hoops and aim for us. 





Our energy was still really low after working for so long during the week. Plus, the team members are still students and involved in many other things (including work and church and speech and homework). They're commitment is incredible and inspiring. We are half done! That's both awesome and scary. The challenges presented to us will be overcome though.We ended the night by playing some Rock Band to relieve stress.

The Wheels on the Robot Go Round and Round

Today was not the best day ever. After working really hard the past three days and having a ton of success picking up balls and shooting them, we finally started to tackle our other issues. Those being: bringing down the bridge (so we can drive over it) and changing the wheels (so we can drive over the bump). The problem is that these issues are not as easily fixed. We also fixed some programming issues, worked on the mascot some more, and finished up getting ready for the Ice Fishing Tournament fundraiser.

Before we started working on the robot again, the team got together and had a meeting. During the meeting, we discussed some important upcoming dates. The dates included the ice fishing tournament, a team movie showing (Real Steel), the last day of build season, the Duluth regional visit, and the U of M Regional. We also discussed a media release form and, in general, how the team is doing. Good times and lots of laughs also occurred.

After that, we moved down to the robot room to start working. Our first task was the completely take apart the bot. This was necessary to fix our wheel situation. Initially, we just threw the kit wheels on but they have a 3" radius. The bump in the middle of the field is 4". This will not work. Our plan is to put 4" radius wheels on stilts and then have two of the 3" radius wheels at the very front of the robot. The small wheels will help the big wheels get a little bit off the ground and then the big wheels will push the rest of the way (that's the plan anyway.........). The mental fatigue of build season definitely showed. Bydlon and Bryce took off and put on the big wheels about 6 times because they kept forgetting to do something or how something would change. For example, the wheels got put on but then they had to make a new hole for the smaller wheels. Then they put the frame pieces on backwards. Then the frame was too low so that had to fixed. We think we finally have a plan that will work which will get done tomorrow.

Ryan and Brandon worked hard on getting an arm mechanism working for pushing down the bridge. We have called them "tusks" in the past but the new mechanism looks remarkably like the minibot arm deployer from last year. It's an arm that swings down with an angle on the front to slide the bridge down. We will test it tomorrow.

Colin and Megan worked their tails off fixing programming issues. We are learning as we go and the new thing we learned today was how to program in a spike relay so we can make a motor got forward and backward. Awesome work by them. 

Jesse and Gabe worked on the mascot some more. They finally an upper body piece that seems to work. Jenna worked on sending out emails to the PMMC and arranging the Ice Fishing Tournament. She also started editing the video for student profiles on the website. Sertoma Club in Alexandria puts on an Ice Fishing Tournament every winter. This year, they asked us to sell pizzas during the tournament. We are working with Dominos on this fundraiser. We get some of the profit for selling the pizzas. It is a really good opportunity for us to make some money and to get some more community exposure.

Tomorrow will be better after a good nights sleep.

Material Shortage

The team did not meet for long today (only about 3 hours) but still got some more projects started. The main reason for the shortened day was that Bydlon had a meeting and he controls the material buying power. Some projects that were worked on were the ball path prototype, electrical board, bridge, and mascot. No pictures tonight because the camera was taken home by another team member. Photos will be uploaded tomorrow.

The electrical team finished the plywood electrical board. They put all of the data cables on and put plywood sides on. The final product will be made out of lexan and will be a fully enclosed case with a hinge door on the front. It will be vertical on the back of the gatherer. The plywood prototype only has two walls but it is obvious where we are going with it.

The build team worked on putting the ball path prototype together some more. They connected the shooter to the gatherer and started putting together the gatherer belts up to the shooter. Another section of the build team worked on the bridge. However, they came to a stand still when they needed longer screws (this is where Bydlon would have come in handy). The bridge will be completed tomorrow.

The PR team finished gathering the cardboard for the mascot. They too came to a stand still without materials. This project will be started officially tomorrow.

The programming team worked on the equations needed to program the robot to shoot the ball where we want it to. This is some intense math and will take some testing so it is imperative that the build gets the shooter done soon.

Tomorrow will be a more exciting day. Hopefully, the mascot head will be started on, the bridge will be finished, and the gatherer and shooter full concept should be alllllmost done. The materials needed for these projects have already been purchased by Bydlon after his meeting.

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

We can launch basketballs!

That's a quote from the A-Team but it might as well be the motto of our build season so far. Prototype week ended on a very high note! We finished both the gate prototype and the shooter prototype today! What an awesome end to a fantastic week. Be sure to check out our youtube page to see videos of both prototypes in action.

We started the day by having a leadership meeting where we discussed where the team's at and other policies we started this year. Overall, things have been going really well but once a week we are planning a leadership check in just to see where things are at and how the team can improve its performance.

Finishing Gate Prototype

The PR team worked more on the mascot costume they are going to make. It is going to be sooo cool!!! Claire worked on making a step by step instruction manual for them to use when they start making it on Monday.The PR team also worked on starting the process for awards. The team has to submit applications for Regional Awards by February 16.

The main excitement today was in shop. We finished the gate prototype that we started yesterday. We found a skateboard wheel that had been grooved out from last year and used that as our pulley system. That switch made the whole system work much better. Check out yesterday's post or youtube for an explanation for why we made the gate.

Our Mascot Design

Molly and Tyler brought the shooter mount over to Alex Tech to get the bearing and mount machined. Unfortunately, that took a while so everyone had left except Bydlon, Bryce, Brandon, and Jimmy when the part was finished. Luckily the part worked great. We threw the part on and started testing. IT WORKED!!! It's hard to explain how satisfying it is to see an idea start as just an idea and then somehow come to life and do EXACTLY what you wanted it to. Just amazing. Brandon worked his butt off making sure the shooter prototype was solid and well built so kudos to him.

Right before we all left, we put the other chain on the KitBot so that is all finished. Colin is taking it home for the weekend to fix the cRio so we should (keyword: should) be able to drive it on Monday. 

KitBot is all ready to go

This was mentioned yesterday but it is unbelievable that only a week ago we did not even know what the game was going to be. There has been so much collaboration and hard work already. We cannot wait to get back to work. Speaking of which, the blog is taking a two day break until work begins again on Monday. We need to "recharge our batteries". As always, thanks for reading.

As the team always says, "Don't worry. It's just a prototype."

Preparing For the Onslaught

The major theme of this past week was preparing for the Kick-Off event along with preparing ourselves and the robot room for the most awesome, crazy, stressful, rewarding 6 weeks of the school year (the build season).

On Wednesday, the team split up into sub teams. Everyone went to the media center and watched videos pertaining to their area (Publicity, Electrical, Mechanical, and Programming). The videos are Webinars from the MN FIRST Robotics Splash event. The event is put on by some of the more veteran teams in MN. Those teams presented extremely valuable information on all aspects of the FIRST experience and then posted the videos of their presentations on the MN FIRST website. Each of the sub-teams learned a lot and had some really good discussions. The collaboration within the sub teams was surprising (and awesome) since they had just formed. While that was going on, Jenna emailed all of the PMMC suppliers to try and get more funding.

Thursday and Friday were spent working on a bunch of different areas.

• The mechanical and electrical teams spent it working on disassembling the drive train and electrical board. We did not have any information on what this season's game was going to be so we wanted a fresh start. Also, we are going to make major changes to both systems. The electrical board is going to be completely redone. We ordered Victor motor controllers to replace our more unreliable Jaguar controllers.The Robot Room was also organized (for the umpteenth time) in preparation for Kick-Off.
• While that was going on, the programming team started working on taking apart the drive station so we can accommodate more joy sticks and switches. They also discussed ideas on how each person was going to work on the programming during the season.
• The publicity/public relations team worked on two big projects. They got the ball running on creating t-shirts. They went to Cowing Robards and presented our designs (THEY ARE GOING TO BE SO SWEET). We will know the final designs and order the shirts next week. When we get the final designs, they will be posted. Their other big project was organizing our trip down for the Kick-Off on Saturday. We had some travel arrangement snafus. Also, every team member had to bring paperwork so that is always a hassle to get together. The team did a great job adjusting on the fly.

KICK-OFF IS TOMORROW!!!! This is the equivalent to Christmas Eve for FIRST Robotics Teams.

Team Forming

Yesterday the team met for the first time after Holiday Break. The main reason for meeting was to establish a organized team structure. We broke into four idea-based mini teams: Programming, Electrical/Pneumatics, Mechanical/Build & Advertising/Public Relations. We have many more members than previous years which required us to distribute our man (and woman) power. Pre-season planning is in full swing and we are excited for the season kick-off on Saturday down at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

Team meeting review 10/26/11

So, after the team meeting today, here are the updates.
T-shirt and wristband designs have been chosen. (subject to approval, of course.)
Plans were made for the competition on the 19th. Transportation still seems to be a little bit of an issue. If anyone has any solutions, feel free to contact Mr. Bydlon, Jenna or Megan. If you are interested in going, sign up in Mr. Bydlon's room, no later Friday, November 11th.
We are still looking for fundraising ideas! Talk to any of the three mentioned above with any ideas of something fun, creative, and profitable!
Plans to work on the cart were made for Tuesday and Thursday of next week. If you are able to and are interested in helping, feel free to stop in the ag room afterschool.
Finally, there are a few more technological pieces of our team currently in development. More updates on those will be released when ever possible, so stay tuned!

Thank you to all, and check back often!
M0der@tor