end of weekend 4

This has been a very successful weekend. We have the robots base up and we have put all the electronics on the robot. After working on the program the programmers switched over to the new robot for the first time with out any problems. Which is amazing. The guys building the lifter finished the first one yesterday afternoon and tested it and it worked. they then decided to build a second lift which when you put the grabber on looks sorta like a t-Rex. Its amazing. We also now have a mini bot that is working. Though our co-captian Brownbear keeps hurting himself while working with the mini bot stuff, they have been very successful. Everyone is excited to start testing the robot at St.Pauls. Hopefully we will be at St. Pauls next weekend testing everything. The line following program that the programmers have come up with are working, which is pretty amazing. More next weekend.

January 22, 2011

Its the start of the third weekend of the season. the base is almost done being built. The prototype of the lift is built. The guys have the gripper prototype up and running. It can grab the game pieces and will hopefully be able to rotate very soon. Everyone is working hard to get things done for the robot. It has been a very productive day so far. Animation team has finished the storyboard. It is amazing. They are now working on making models of the different things needed for the animation. It is going to be really adorable! The programmers have a line following program up and running for our robot. They also have the encoders working. And they also have gotten the camera up and running.Which is awesome.They hope to have an autonomous and operator working by the end of the night. who knows how long of night it shall be. Nick is getting ready to work on the Chairman's award.

From our little reporter: Mentor Casey Burr says "The team is working together considerably well since the time we've had together has been short. About half the team is new. We are all getting along fabulously!"

We will update more tomorrow. there will be videos first thing tomorrow.

Jena

End of Weekend 2

We are coming to the end of the second weekend of the 2011 season. We have a prototype for our mini-bot up and running. We have it on and moving around. The programmers are still having some issues with getting last years robot up and running. We also have a name for this years robot. The name is "lowrider". We have the lift for our robot about half way done. Between being downstairs working and getting something from the kitchen most of the guys on the team are drifting in and out of the living room to watch the football games. The animation team is still working on a storyboard. They had some inspiration yesterday afternoon when someone on the team put the soundtrack for TRON on. everyone is busy working on different projects down stairs. Update on the programmers: They have gotten the robot from last year up and working. They found out what the problem was. It had to do with the radio. So things are looking up from here for them. The guys are still working really hard to get things up and running. Things are continuing to look up from here.
Here is a pic of our safety dog:

Saturday January 15, 2011

We are on to the second weekend of build season. This year the game is called logomotion. Here is a link to see what this years game is about http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYBUKZ6r5Hc.
Everyone is working hard and staying safe. Our build team is working on prototypes for our mini-bots. Our animation team is working hard on a story board for the autodesk excellence in design award. Tim and Sam have been using the milling machine to drill holes in the aluminum for a tower. Programing team is working hard to get things up and running for the robot. And they are trying to get last years robot up and working and installing the updates. Leah is working on autodesk inventor to prototype the mini-bot. We are all enjoying the season so far. It is going to be a great season this year.

Updates

A few updates since the last post:

1) We have officially decided to stick with the tread-drive bot.

2) We have a kicker all set up.

3) The programming for driving, kicking, and the camera are all set.

4) We are working on driving practice at St. Paul's to get ready for the competition.

5) We are still working on the lifter for the endgame.

We will keep you all posted. Thanks for reading and wish us luck.

-Sterling, Programming Team

Building robots

Here the videos of us testing our 2 robots.

A word from the mechanical side

hey everyone just throwin up an update from over here on the mechanical side. we now have two count em two operational robots for the 2010 FRC challenge!!!!!! we have one base custom made by jonny that i am pumped about. this robot runs on treads and is lookin good. it can climb the ramp forwards and backwards. it can turn on a dime and will beat anyone in a pushing match. the other robot is a modified kit bot on mechanum wheels. both robots also have a kicker mounted on em and by the saturday will each have an electronics board on them. dr slocum and i have been working on a lifting mechanism for the end of the game. we have three designs and one that is operational and will work. we have a double stage piston, a piston and motor combo, and a custom three stage telescoping piston. get ready for a fun weekend st pauls here we come!!!

Tom Sweeney
Mechanical