Active Member Meeting Minutes – May 15, 2012

Lynbrook Robotics FIRST Team#846

Start Time: 7:00 PM This Agenda is closed to editing at 6:30pm.

Officer Reports

Notes: DRI = Directly Responsible Individual

Old Business

1. MR Lowds Talk (7:03)
   1. A Unicorn ate flowers!
2. Sweaters [DRI: Brian] (7:07)
   1. need to talk with Alric a bit more
   2. will get money or a sweater
3. Demos (7:10)
   1. Miller, Hyde [DRI: Miles]
      1. Miller – May 23rd
      2. TEDx this Thursday
   2. TEDx [DRI: Miles]
      1. practice run
   3. Intuitive Surgical [DRI: Brian]
      1. Robonanza – tour some facilities, parents are invited, over summer, friends may come
      2. going to go, bring robot
      3. June 28th
   4. team has worked pretty hard
4. Newsletter [DRI Jackie] (7:14)
   1. articles are ready to be reviewed by mentors, second edit, then final
   2. formatting starts today
   3. Interested in formatting: Matt, Eva
5. Picnic [DRI Nikunj] (7:15)
   1. who can help out the day before (setting up, buying stuff, etc.)
      1. Michael L, Akshat, Eric,
   2. Picnic is on June 16th
   3. People may personally incite others to come through the form
   4. Deadline has been shifted back to Friday (5-18-2012)
6. Team Photo [DRI: Brent] (7:19)
   1. sign ups sent out
   2. will get photos next week
   3. need to collect money
      1. hard date for payment = end of this week – email will be sent out
7. Banquet [DRI Aneesh] (7:20)
   1. Cost $40 per person and mentors eat free
   2. Money should be coming in this week/ as soon as possible
   3. Students will cover movie tickets after the banquet if they are interested.
   4. Abhiram will be sending out a sign up sheet (will go with the banquet sign up sheet)
      1. need to talk with Aneesh more
      2. if no sign up is not sent out tomorrow Abhiram will send one out
      3. Ms.Chu will help the team purchase special tickets from IBM
8. Photo-Journal [DRI Eric] (7:22)
   1. Ordered Photo Journal
   2. 13 by team, 13 by members
   3. total $1100
   4. should arrive next Tuesday
9. CalGames  – Registered, but unpaid. (7:23)
   1. Registered
10. The Manual [DRI: Diane] (724)
    1. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ftb5MzR-A_zip4UhG-425amWSg4kv7qmmRx6VAh9pYA/edit
    2. Michael L update on what he is up to …
       1. Michael made a website
          1. still in rough stages
          2. have too many websites
    3. Brian made a redmine account
       1. wants it to be public
       2. place for new members to get something
       3. would be nice to get information to put onto this (non-public)
          1. approval of accounts
       4. technical information may be added
       5. will be using this for CAD, software, etc.
       6. Want to use redmine for at least part of the manual
          1. techinical, etc.
    4. Miles is working on a technical Manual

New Business

1. Blue Hills Ice Cream Social [DRI: Diane] (7:35)
   1. 5pm-8pm, volunteer coordinator, want a free demonstration for all the kids. Looking at a demo where team bring robot and drive around
   2. Interest, Michael L, Miles, Michael C, Nikunj, Anurag, Tony, Eric, Joshua, Raphael,
   3. Tuesday 5-29-2012
2. TEDx Practice Run! [DRI: Miles] (7:38)
   1. Starts out with Mr. G giving the introduction
      1. We are Lynbrook Robotics Team the Funky Monkeys
      2. Competitive in FIRST
      3. Different from other science and technology programs
   2. Transition to Brian Axelrod
      1. Talk about Robots in general
      2. how he got involved
         1. father
         2. lego
         3. transition to videos of robots
            1. sand flea, robodog, kuka arm
      3. cool robots
         1. 2012 robot shows up
   3. Transition to Miles
      1. talk about FIRST
         1. Release a game
         2. 6 week to build a robot
         3. go to competition
         4. 2,000 FRC teams, win awards, and game
            1. come home with tangible objects
      2. Takes money, sponsors, tools, work, challange, etc.
         1. Kick off – at San Jose State University
            1. also held at members homes
            2. Team meeting, find out how to make the best robot
      3. Transition to Anurag
         1. Design progress
         2. have to plan it out and build it right the first time
            1. use Autodesk Inventor
      4. Transition to Eric
         1. Need to use machines, CNC, etc.
            1. CNC allows teams to cut out complex parts
            2. when have all parts time to assemble the robot
      5. Transition to Josh
         1. let team members get to know one another
            1. experience
            2. get involved
            3. amazing to see metal to robot
      6. Transition to Tony
         1. Software
            1. most of time is spent on making robot, only few days to code robot/test
            2. this year made robot tracker, very proud, etc.
      7. Transition to Diane
         1. Money
            1. basic logisticks ~15000 per year
         2. Fundraising and Sponsors
      8. Transition to Abhiram
         1. Talk about fleet week, and Concours
      9. Transition to Diane
         1. Grants
            1. writing grants were hard, learned how to write professionally, etc.
            2. Ex. help her land a position at Lockheed
      10. Transition to Eric
          1. Demo – Western Digital
             1. Saw the CEO, team photo given, how cool to meet the CEO etc.
      11. Transition to Michael for Competition
          1. Out of state, in state
             1. New York comp. description
          2. Trips all made possible by the student planning, etc.
          3. At end of day of comp.
             1. get to explore the city
      12. Transition to Diane
          1. Gigantic Ferris wheel in the Toys R Us
          2. Try food
      13. Transition back to Michael About compeitition
          1. hear music, loud screams from the other teams
          2. pits – lots of work going on the robot
          3. feel the intensity of the competition
      14. Transition to Matt
          1. Scouting
             1. talk with other teams about the robot
             2. learn more about how to build robot
             3. learn about the teams robots
          2. Comparisons
      15. Transition to Anurag
          1. Judging
             1. local industry members come around and see what you did on your robot to judge your robot
             2. get awards from the judges
             3. strategy – be prepare; papers
                1. write up about 1-2 page documentation about the feature you make
          2. Winning! – Engineering Excellence award
      16. Transition to Mr. G
          1. Conclusion
             1. pleasure to learn from everyone
             2. Friendships
             3. Sharing with each other how to make it better, faster, stronger
             4. Really helpful to the members later on in life
             5. need to have skills in many fields
                1. artistic, writing, lead, etc.
             6. Companies looking for these skills
          2. Participating in robotics is a pathway to success
      17. TIME – 16 minutes
   4. Criticism
      1. Good Job!
         
      2. try to sound less rehearsed
      3. Mention basketball -etc. NBA
      4. Wording – army, military, grant application, etc.
      5. Eye contact – face everywhere
      6. Slow down your speaking just a tad bit
      7. Picture need to be static when you are talking about the picture
         1. don’t want an animation on it
      8. short speech – 1 min, not to long, want more time added to this?
         1. 1 point/2points, how many words do you really need to use (can be to descriptive)
      9. Posture needs to be fixed
      10. if you are not talking do not move
      11. move forward when you are speaking
      12. pause after each slide
      13. Change some pics?
3. Mini-lecture [XY, 15 min] (8:10)
   1. For a more detailed version of the slide please refer to Mr. Xie to get his power point.
   2. Control system and terminology
      1. control system is a device or set of devices to manage command direct or regulate the behavior of other devices or system
         1. Feed forward (open loop) control
            1. shooter testers
         2. Feedback (close loop) control
            1. shooter with hall effect speed sensor
      2. Example = shooter system/robot
      3. Shooter control system diagram
   3. Homework
      1. please refer to Mr. Xie for this (email will be sent)
      2. test fixture
4. Work (8:09)
   1. One day when you come in and work on anything you want to with mentors, members, etc.
   2. Will set something up soon.

Active Member Meeting – May 1, 2012

Lynbrook Robotics FIRST Team#846

Start Time: 7:00 PM This Agenda is closed to editing at 6:30pm.

Officer Reports

Notes: DRI = Directly Responsible Individual

Old Business

1. Mr. Lowd interesting talk (7:04)
   1. Jabberwocky poem – presented by Mr. Lowd, Brian, Miles
2. Mr. Harrison brainteaser/puzzle (7:11)
3. Sweaters [DRI: Alric] (7:12)
   1. sweaters are supposed to be here, Alric will bring the sweaters into the room (608 or 612) when they do arrive.
4. The Manual [DRI: ] (7:16)
   1. Website is being worked on by Brian
      1. interested: Brian, Michael L, Diane, Nikunj, Anurag, Eric, Michael C, Matt, Alric, Annie, Jackie, etc.
5. Demos (7:19)
   1. still practicing, will practice until presentation day
   2. goal: finalized presentation by thursday
   3. Miller, Hyde
      1. Sent email to a contact with details
   4. TEDx
6. Newsletter [DRI Jackie] (7:19)
   1. all articles are sent in, except for one
   2. started to have edits
   3. Senior photo! – arrange a time so we may get a picture of the seniors to put on the photo.
   4. Alric help Matt to pick pictures
7. Team Photo [DRI: Brent] (7:22)
   1. made some small adjustments during meeting
   2. have one more adjustment to make until reach final
8. Botball [DRI Eric] (7:28)
   1. Competition on Saturday at Independence (Mr.G)
      1. seeded at 5th, only 6 students show up, Andrew came back to help
      2. Interested people: Miles, Eric, Michael L, Tony, Diane, Michael C., Brent, Eva, Raphael
9. Banquet [DRI Aneesh] (7:30)
   1. no reservations, have requests to change the date from May 26th to May 27th (memorial day weekend)
   2. Change: May 27th, 2012
10. Movie after banquet [DRI Abhiram] (7:37)
    1. going to go to a movie after the banquet
    2. Location: Cupertino, Saratoga
       1. will choose a location when the day is closer
    3. sign ups will go with the banquet sign up
11. Picnic [DRI Nikunj] (7:39)
    1. invite sent out
    2. will try to have the forms/sign ups in by next wednesday
12. CD bots (7:41)
    1. people have not gotten the parts [will wait for Robert]

New Business

1. Fundraising opportunity: Golden Gate 75th Anniversary festival on Sunday May 27th.
   9 cart locations: Marina Green (five locations)  Chrissy Field (4 locations). [DRI: Mr.Xie] (7:32)
   1. ~10am – ~10pm
   2. 9 carts = 9 locations (choose between Marina Green or Chrissy Field)
      1. 3 people per cart — 27 people (maybe 15 members or 12 members)
      2. 9 adults for supervision
   3. fireworks in the evening
   4. Interest: Anurag, Nikunj, Eric, Raphael , Joshua, Abhiram, etc.
   5. Vote: 5 favor 6 against
   6. Not going to this event to hard to organize a group this large in this small amount of time.
2. CalGames (7:44)
   1. At Woodside this year (20 miles north of Lynbrook) it is ~25 minutes of driving
      1. want to be there at 3pm
   2. Register as Tier 1 [DRI:dg]
      select volunteer assignment from: https://sites.google.com/site/wrrffilesandpages/
      1. October 12; 3:30pm-6:00pm
         1. won’t know until week before
   3. needed volunteers
      1. (recommend student volunteers for field reset) [-dg]
      2. scoring, event manager, etc
         1. head judge – anyone who is interested in taking the position (ideally not related to any teams)
         2. scoring – anyone who wants to try and push a project like this
3. Control System and Others [Mr. Xie 15 min] (7:55)
   1. few weeks ago, went partially through the overview of the year
      1. talked about major problems and issues of the teams that should be addressed
      2. how can we operate with more people so we have maximum
   2. want to have a manual – thank you Michael L, Diane, Brian for starting this
   3. new issues  are beginning to show up
   4. try to design/organize an archive of designs (drive trains, elevators, arms, grants, etc) [DRI: Miles]
      1. have a book on specific items (incorporate in manual?)
      2. begin to collect the write ups that are already made on specific features of the robot
   5. Review of active member meeting (5 min discussion)
   6. control system
      1. interest: Michael L, Eva, Raphael, Joshua, Jackie, Tony, Brian
   7. experiments to prove theories that we generate from our experience
      1. EX. Robot wobbles, CG high, experiment, conclude that we need to counteract the high CG somehow
4. 360 Photography [DRI Alric] (7:41)
   1. want to document the robot
   2. learn how to make a stop action animation
      1. planning it out
   3. will happen over the summer
   4. interest: Michael L, Abhiram,  Joshua, Raphael, Anurag
5. Thank You cards [DRI: Alric] (7:43)
   1. write thank yous to mentors, sponsors, etc.
   2. Friday afternoon in room 612 or 608 where everyone will be able to write a thank you card for those who have helped them throughout the year.
   3. Bring your own pens or markers
6. Video made by Raphael [DRI Raphael] (8:15)
   1. thank you for taking the time out of your busy life to make this, looks very nice and shows off what the robot can do perfectly.

End: 8:21

Active Member Meeting – April 24, 2012

Lynbrook Robotics FIRST Team#846

Start Time: 6:30 PM This Agenda is closed to editing at 5:30pm.

Officer Reports

Notes: DRI = Directly Responsible Individual

Old Business

1. Mr. Lowd’s interesting introduction [DRI Mr. Lowd] (6:35pm)
2. Because Robots! [DRI: Diane] (6:43pm)
   1. Team Shirt tomorrow and will be able to take a picture for the website
      1. Repeats are fine.
   2. Michael L and Akshat expand on what they did at Taiwan
      1. Show video/ presentation used (quick run through so have idea)
      2. Michael L has pictures (w/ principal + director, host family) to give to Diane/store on hard-drive
3. Photo Journal [DRI: Eric] (6:50pm)
   1. Do not have final yet
   2. Alric will need to send something to Eric again
   3. almost done!
   4. Order Next week ~May 1, 2012
   5. gets cheaper with more people
4. Participation Pins [DRI:Annie] (Tabled)
5. The Manual [DRI: Brian] (6:53pm)
   
   1. Word Press [DRI Brian]  (document permissions?  -dg)
      
      1. sent out to officers soon: have a google doc
      2. Outline: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ftb5MzR-A_zip4UhG-425amWSg4kv7qmmRx6VAh9pYA/edit
6. Articles for Summer Newsletter [DRI Jackie] (6:54)
   1. Need Articles from Seniors by Saturday
      1. Email out Due dates later
   2. Meet the robot –
   3. Crab feed – Anurag
   4. SVR – Miles
   5. Because Robots – Michael L, Akshat
   6. Working with Teachers – Anurag, Miles, Brian
   7. Seniors’ Good Bye – All Seniors
   8. Superlatives – not sure right now
7. Team Photos [DRI: Brent] (6:59)
   1. Compile list of people to distribute to
   2. Reveal of the Team photo
      1. going to photo shop the top of the team photo
      2. stretch photo, bottom needs to be smaller, font is a little big, cut off feet of people
      3. Working with Alric and Diane
      4. take seeding number out and add all the information in one line
      5. Add CalGames
      6. looking at last years photo format
8. Year End Report [DRI Diane] (7:03)
   1. pretty much finalized, need to find out when the due date is
   2. thank you all those members for helping!
9. Activities (7:03)
   1. Botball [DRI Eric]
      1. May 5 all day; Independence High School Gymnasium
         
      2. School
      3. Physics: Turntable [DRI Alric]
      4. Physiology/Biology: CAD Bone Stress Analysis [DRI Brian & Miles]
   2. Team Banquet [DRI Aneesh]
      
      1. combine it with social [DRI Abhiram]
      2. called restaurants (Bombay Garden [move fast, okay with 50 people], BJs [call back], Palace Korean BBQ [would like to do it ~6pm, reserved areas?], waiting on 2 options)
         1. Brian sent out a possible place
         2. visited 2 out of the 4 places, heard many things though
      3. Want a screen or projector
      4. go to movie after this?
   3. Summer Picnic/social [DRI Nikunj]
      1. will have sign up and invite by today night or tomorrow afternoon
         1. allocate about $3
         2. June 16th
      2. organize separate social for the alumni
   4. Middle School Demo [DRI: Brian]
      
      1. working on presentations
   5. Company Demos [DRI: Diane]
      1. no updates
10. Sweatshirt distribution [DRI Alric] (7:16pm)
    
    1. who still needs a sweater?
    2. tomorrow will have: lunch meeting
    3. will have email sent out
11. Second workstation [DRI Brian] (tabled)
12. Tedx talk (7:16pm)
    1. Bio’s needed for speakers. about 1-3 lines. Due Thursday.  Include small photo.
    2. having a meeting tomorrow after school in room 608
       

New Business

1. Epic (7:16pm)
   1. Reo and Michael L contacts
2. Basketball hoop (7:17)
   1. make it or have a weight
3. Lost items (7:17)
   1. hard-drive with raphael
   2. Camera is unknown
   3. Physics table where is it?
   4. find item send presidents emails

End: 7:pm