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Day 5 – Work and Hamburgers (1.11.12)
Day 4 – CNC! (1.10.12)
Day 3 – First Tests, Meeting (1.9.12)
CalGames 2011 Update 10/21
Wednesday Workshop: Game Overview

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Day 5 – Work and Hamburgers (1.11.12)

Today, we did more work in Room 612. We tested a previous shooter, mounted the CNC, assembled the barrier, fixed up the 2010 robot to run tests on the barrier, and mounted the de-burring wheel. We also had our second design meeting later at night.

Shooter: One team took the 2009 robot to test its shooter’s accuracy and power. We also laid it on its back for a vertical test. The ball ended up flying just 38 inches in the air. The distance from the max robot height to the highest rim just happens to be 38 inches as well. If we decide on going for that top hoop, we will need to add some extra power. (Workers: Miles, Michael L, Pradeep, Annie, Eric)

CNC: A second group continued to work on the CNC. Yesterday, we managed to get the machine into the room. Today, we mounted it onto its base. Of course, we used a small crane. Just imagine having a group of students and mentors trying to to lift a 1300 pound device that costs thousands of dollars… (Workers: Michael L, Anurag, Mr. Peake, Mr. G, Mr. Haas, Mrs. Haas, Mr. Harrison, Mr. Lowd)

Barrier: With help from Mr. and Mrs. Haas, some of our students completed the task of making the barrier. Brian, one of our software guys, took our 2010 robot (yes, we reuse our past robots quite a bit) and fixed up the code so we would be able to run tests later. (Workers: Miles, Annie, Pradeep, Mr. Haas, Mrs. Haas, Brian)

De-burring Wheel: Akshat took our de-burring wheel and mounted it on a new black stand. Now, whenever we go to de-burr something, we will be able to admire the shiny new stand.

At night, we had our second Design Meeting. There wasn’t much time between 612 work and the meeting, so some people did not even have the opportunity to go home. Others ran home, grabbed dinner, and headed right back. (I watched Miles as he ate his hamburger. It looked pretty good.) The meeting started off with Ms. Zhang giving a presentation about project management. This focused on how to stay on schedule and finish with a working robot.

Mr. Xie then continued his presentation from Monday. We went over some ideas and design concepts. Originally, we were going to split up into different groups, but we ran out of time. Hopefully, we will be able to do so on Friday!

Day 4 – CNC! (1.10.12)

It’s finally arrived! Today, we moved our shiny new Tormach PCNC into room 612. The process, which all in all took around 5 hours, started with us going to Lynbrook’s boiler room to pick up the package. We moved the 1,300 pound beast in front of room 612, where we uncrated the machine. However, before moving the CNC through the door, we needed to figure out exactly how to orient it so that it would fit. We didn’t want to end up moving it up the door, only to realize that there is no way to make it fit. We modeled the shape of the CNC with a large piece of cardboard, and used that to experiment with the opening. In the end, we took off some of the motors and were able to find the right orientation so that the machine would just fit through.

Some of us were only able to go home for an hour for food, before we had our weekly Active Member’s Meeting. As usual, we went over the administrative tasks that needed to be taken care of. The highlights included talking about awards writing and planning of our upcoming New York City regional. For the complete meeting minutes, please refer here.

In the end, today was just a regular work day. There was not much talk about the robot design. We will leave that for another day.

Build Season Log / News — Add Comment
09
Jan 12

Day 3 – First Tests, Meeting (1.9.12)

Day 3

Today, our Treasurer, Miles Chan, brought the team’s 2006 robot turret with him to school. Thanks to some extra care throughout the years, the motors were still wired and operational. We hooked it onto a power supply to test and see how accurate the shooter is at hitting its target.

Later at night, the team gathered in room 608 for the first design meeting. First, one of our mentors, Mr. Wes Harrison, gave a presentation about approaching the task from a systems standpoint. He split up the design process into nine different systems: Location Detector, Guidance & Control, Payload, Target Locating, Payload Delivery, Power, Software & Controls, Communication, and Command & Guidance.

Next, our mentor Mr. Giandomenico went over some “Street Talk.” He showed us various videos about the new game and field (links enclosed at the end of post). He then went on to encourage us to look around different websites, such as ChiefDelphi and FIRST Forums, to see what other teams have accomplished.

After presenting the numbers that were gathered earlier today, Mr. Xie, another mentor, started on his presentation. He talked about strategies for hybrid, tele-operated, and the finale.

Today ended up to be more of an introduction to the season than an actual design meeting. However, a lot was still accomplished today, and we are now prepared to start formulating solid ideas for the robot!

Announcements / News — Add Comment
21
Oct 11

CalGames 2011 Update 10/21

We’re off to a great start for CalGames today. We packed the robot, headed to Mitty, set everything up and got robot communications with the field to work. Members were able to enjoy an early dinner chatting with Leland members. After dinner, however, there was a long waiting period as the matches were delayed because many robots weren’t connecting to the field. They later announced that all matches today were going to be practice rounds because teams were having robot communications issues. In our match, we were able to hang up 5 tubes and score our minibot. It was the first time the new drive team got some field practice, and we’re expecting even better results tomorrow. Come out to support our team tomorrow!

Announcements / News — Add Comment
28
Sep 11

Wednesday Workshop: Game Overview

Today, after school, we met in room 608 to go over some of the basics of this year’s game, Logomotion. There are some resources and videos at the bottom of this post.

Tournament Basics

In FIRST, there are two sections in a competition: qualification rounds and elimination rounds. During qualification rounds, teams are randomly selected into different alliances: the blue alliance and the red alliance. These alliances last only one match, so teams will either play with or against nearly every other team throughout the competition. The eight teams with the best record at the end of qualifications become alliance captains. The alliance captains choose teams and stay with those teams for the rest of the competition. During eliminations, there are three rounds of a “best two out of three” format. The alliance that wins all three rounds is the winner of the competition.

Point System

In this year’s game, the goal is to hang as many inner tubes onto the racks as possible to score points. There are four different types of tubes: the red triangle, the white circle, the yellow circle (Ubertube), and the blue square. There are two sets of 3×3 racks for each alliance. Hanging a tube on the top rack gives the alliance three points, the middle two points, and the bottom one point. If an alliance is able to recreate the FIRST Logo (triangle, circle, square) on one row, then the entire row’s point value is doubled. There is also an Ubertube, which will double a single peg’s point value. However, a robot can only attempt to hang this tube during the autonomous portion of the game. Near the end of the game, robots deploy minibots up four separate poles. The first team to reach the top receives 30 points, second receives 20, third 15, and fourth 10. However, during CalGames this year, the point values have been adjusted to 20, 16, 12, and 8.

Game Sections

Each match is split up into three sections: the Autonomous Period, the Teleoperated Period, and the Endgame. In the Autonomous Period (15 seconds), robots attempt to hang yellow Ubertubes onto racks. However, during this time, the human drivers are not allowed to operate the robots. Instead, the robots rely on preset code to hang the tubes. If a robot succeeds, the point value of anything on the peg is doubled. During the Teleoperated Period (2 minutes), the human drivers take control of their robots. During this time, the robots will try to hang as many tubes as they can. The last fifteen seconds of the Teleoperated Period is called the Endgame. Here, teams prepare to deploy minibots, which is designed to climb up a pole as quickly as possible.

Here are some resources that can further explain this year’s game:
NOTE: There are a lot of great videos of matches in this section. I encourage readers to view some of these videos to become more familiar with the game.

Game Animation:

Game Manual:
http://millerxbots.com/FRC/FRC_Game_Manual_2011.pdf

Matches:

Lynbrook Robotics:
Silicon Valley Regional 2011 Qual. Match 94
Just for a feel of the intensity during a match (explicit):
Team 846 Drive Team Sounds 2011

Other Teams:
A very close match. Only a 6 point difference:
2011 FRC Championship Curie Match 2
A very solid game from 148(Robowranglers), 1538(Holy Cows), and 1503(Spartonics):
2011 Newton Match 39
Three tube autonomous:
FRC 233 The Pink Team – 3 Tube Autonomous