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Omega
03-19-2007, 11:00 PM
For Inspiration and Recognization of Science and Technology -- FIRST.

US FIRST Robotics is pretty great. I'm a member of Technology High School Phantom Robotics, Team 675.

Essentially, what happens, is right after winter break, Dean Kamen and the other high-ups at FIRST robotics make a video and send out a KOP (Kit of Parts) to all the teams who signed up and payed the 5,000$ signup fee (That's the KOP, Registration, and one (1(not 2(or 0))) regional event). In the video, Dean Kamen talks about "Gracious Professionalism" (Something that FIRST displays quite well, you can knock the **** out of another team's robot then go offer to fix it within 15 minutes or less of each other) and some other stuff, then the year's challenge is introdouced.

Last year, the game was "Aim High", where teams took 198gram foam "Poof Balls" and scored them for points.

This year's game is called "Rack n' Roll", and involves much more teamwork and planning. The whole game is outlined somewhere on usfirst.org (it's hard to navigate), but essentially, you but tubes on pegs then get robots off the ground for more points.

Anywho, FIRST robotics is a blast. After the "kickoff", teams get 6 weeks to build, assemble, program, and test a robot that can perform any and/or all of the elements of the game presented to them. Armed with mills, lathes, drill presses, files, hacksaws, electronic components, some code, and an arsenal of engineers, some teams achieve truly great things with their robots.

The games are two minutes and 15 seconds long. In the first 15 seconds, there is the "Autonomous" period, where the robots perform tasks such as readying mechanisms, scoring, or silly things like spinning in place, all by themselves. After this period is the "Teleoperated" period, where the team members drive and operate the bots around the field and do the task given.

Robots must meet certain size and weight requirements, along with stuff like making sure status LED's are visible and sharp corners are filed off.

FIRST offers more than just a good time, though. It also offers tons and tons of education, something I've learned over the past two years. I've engineered about 3/4ths of the frame on my team's robot this year (Name: Gloria Machina, Latin for "Glory to the Machine"), and assembled almost everything on the bot aside from electronics.

People also gain a feeling of teamwork -- as you can't effectively build a complex robot in 6 weeks without it, nor can you hope to compete without it.


Anywho, I just felt like making this thread. If there are any other FRC Participants, feel free to speak up!

Silenced_Coyote
03-19-2007, 11:29 PM
Is it possible for you to post pictures of your build. Maybe create a worklog? Hopefully a video of the event? (No, I'm not a participant looking to steal your ideas);)

Omega
03-20-2007, 01:25 AM
Is it possible for you to post pictures of your build. Maybe create a worklog? Hopefully a video of the event? (No, I'm not a participant looking to steal your ideas);)

Build season is over, so yeah, I could post some pictures. We're only secretive for those 6 weeks.

I need to find the pictures, so it might be a while.

Omega
03-20-2007, 01:39 AM
Alright. I got some pictures, but not many from assembly. You're about to see all of the ones we have. (note: the high-res ones are on team675.com)

http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/8886DSC02755.jpg
Brian and Blake working on the robot in the second week of build season. The entire frame is built, the gearboxes and motors are mounted, and some of the electronics are being worked on. In this picture, however, two of the sides of the bot are missing as are a few wheels and supports.

http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/8491DSC03016.jpg
Again, with the sides missing. The yellow bar is what our arm was before we took it off. Most all the electronics are in place here.

http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/4573DSC03182.jpg
The bot, with everything on it but the bumpers. The "TH" and "675" on the ramp were plasmacutted out then covered with plexiglass.

http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/8350DSC03185.jpg
The ramp, deployed. It can hold two robots at just over 12" (allowing all the bonus points to be scored)

http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/5690DSC03193t.jpg
Angle grinder meets robot's ramp, sparks meet roboticist's face.

http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/1828P1010003t.jpg
One side of the crate that we shipped the robot in. The logo on the crate is modified from that of the shirt (the crate has a mace as opposed to a witchblade).

Omega
03-20-2007, 01:47 AM
Oh, and I'm not in any of those pictures. Either I was working somewhere else (like out of frame) or home sick (inhaling denatured alcohol fumes = not fun).

Slug Toy
03-20-2007, 02:26 AM
denatured alcohol? haha, oh thats good. thats ethanol. you, my friend, were getting drunk off that. if that was the cure, im sure it worked. if thats why you were feeling sick... thats understandable.

moojoe
03-20-2007, 09:14 AM
www.chiefdelphi.com has a good resource. also just search on youtube and you'll find anything.

yea, I helped start team 1712 last year at my highschool, plus I was build team leader for Aim High. I was a senior though, so only got to participate last year. though my winter break lapped over kickoff, and the first 3 weeks, so I assisted as an alum there.

http://dawgma.tollmedia.com/
thats the link for our team site.

jdbnsn
03-20-2007, 09:09 PM
That's pretty cool Omega, nice work!

Omega
03-21-2007, 01:31 AM
Thanks Jon.

Moo: I already know about CD. I've got about 40 posts on there (but two negative rep boxes... /cry).

DaveW
03-21-2007, 11:43 AM
I'm liking it Omega! Any thoughts on giving the little beggar some AI?

-Dave

Omega
03-21-2007, 02:01 PM
I'm liking it Omega! Any thoughts on giving the little beggar some AI?

-Dave

I'm noot sure if the control board (robotside) can make any use of interactive AI, but we can make it perform tasts autonomously. the electronics needed for FIRST robotics are much simpler than that of animatronics, but it's still pretty cool.

Omega
04-01-2007, 03:08 AM
Dear TBCS...


Team 675 (My team) is going to Atlanta. We won the Regional Engineering award, and that's the second highest award for a regional event. In two weeks, I hope to be in Atlanta, GA, competing and socializing with teams from all around the world (But mainly America).

Team 675 has never gone to Atlanta before. This is our 7th year together as a team, and I tell you what, I don't think that our team has deserved anything more than to go to Atlanta.

I'll keep you all posted. :)

DaveW
04-01-2007, 08:55 AM
Go man! Rootin' for ya!

-Dave

chaksq
04-01-2007, 11:34 AM
Sweet I'm on Team 1099. We don't have the budget to go to Atlanta. Good luck though.

Omega
04-01-2007, 02:48 PM
Sweet I'm on Team 1099. We don't have the budget to go to Atlanta. Good luck though.

Well, as of this moment, neither does 675. However, we have some very supporting sponsors, and after winning an Engineering award, plenty more options. Starting monday, we're going to be sending out crews to present to companies and ask for sponsorships.

In the words of Dylan Field:

"Our school doesn't build robots... Robots build our school."

And it's true, too. Our school is pretty small and about 1/4th of it is on the Robotics team, and those who aren't on it, know about it. I mean, after we won the award, we called our principal, our front-desk lady, and two of our teachers, all of whom were extremely proud of us and almost in tears. Robotics really does play a huge part at our school.

chaksq
04-01-2007, 04:05 PM
My school does not even host our team it is in a neighboring town's high school. Even there it is not that popular. At any rate we don't have much in the way of sponsors. Most of our money this year was leftover from last year. (Some of the teachers at the school who are team mentors are overzealous and try to do much and end up making us look bad, they mean well but they can be a bit ridiculous)

At any rate my team's site is http://www.team1099.org. I will probably upload new pictures to the site from our recent events at the regional. Somehow I ended up in charge of updating the site, which is a pain (due to bad site design and limitations of the host sever) and never works out quite right.

Omega
04-01-2007, 04:20 PM
Heh. What you (and your team) should do is show presentations about the robotics team to the schools involved to try and build support, and maybe even present to other schools. If you can get two or three high schools working under one team number, that'd be really cool (Team 100, for instance, is both Woodside and Carlmont high schools, and they're kickass this year).

I think that 675 is probably going to (in the off-season) present to some schools near us to raise FIRST awareness and maybe try to influence a new team to start. We are, after all, the only Robotics team in California's North Bay Area.

Omega
04-11-2007, 09:01 PM
I'm in Atlanta right now. Going to the competition tomorrow. Can't wait!

jdbnsn
04-11-2007, 10:04 PM
Good luck dude!

DaveW
04-13-2007, 08:18 AM
Come back with your Robo, or on it! :p

-Dave

Omega
04-15-2007, 10:46 AM
Our robot won't be home for about a week.

We didn't win, but that's not suprising. The winning alliance was Team 190 (Gompei and the HERD), 987 (The High Rollers) and 177 (i forget their team name... D=).

It was fun, though. I got tons of buttons, and other swag, too. Other swag:

375 (The Robotic Plague) Bandana (It's urban grey/black camo)
67 (Heroes of Tomorrow "HOT") Bandana (Flame design)
111 (WildStang) Bandana (Tie-dye design)
100 (WildHats) hat (it's an orange and black vertically striped felt hat)
138 (Entropy) glowy-pen thing
2228 (Cougar Tech) Pen (it's freakin' awesome, video later)
238 pen (also awesome, but less so)

Non-team-specific stuff:
2 US FIRST Robotics Iron-on Patches
US FIRST Robotics pin



675 seeded 40th out of 86 in Galileo Division (There was Galileo, Newton, Curie, and Archimedes) and didn't get into the elimination rounds.

The winning alliance came from Newton.

jdbnsn
04-15-2007, 11:36 AM
Come back with your Robo, or on it! Haaa! Nice one, how many people got that?

Omega,

Sorry you didn't win dude, but we'd still like to hear about the competition. What did your robot do, what was the show like, was it fun? Got any pictures? That sorta stuff.
Jon

DaveW
04-15-2007, 12:33 PM
Hell yeah man, let's hear it!

-Dave

intergalacticman
04-16-2007, 12:45 AM
nice dude my team got 40th out of 52 (not bad)
but it was 6000$ to register not 5000$ did you get a discount

intergalacticman
04-16-2007, 12:50 AM
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o147/intergalacticman/warrioredit.jpg
representing team 1047-Woodbridge High School

Omega
04-16-2007, 01:07 AM
More details later. After flying from ATL to SFO today, I'm quite tired (and it's 10pm local time).

Don't worry, it'll come soon. ;)

xRyokenx
04-16-2007, 01:33 AM
Even if you didn't win, that still kicks ass. If anything, it shows the competition is good, and worth the time, eh? I've wanted to build some sort of robot too, but haven't had a real chance... sounds like something to look into when I go to college...

Omega
04-16-2007, 09:23 PM
Here's a CNN Web Article about US FIRST. Click the first video link, too.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/04/14/robot.compete/index.html


You'll notice the dude who's talking to the camera fieldside.... he was about 10 feet in front of my team in the stands. We got a picture of him wearing one of our MV Transportation hats, too. =D

Omega
04-16-2007, 09:31 PM
Haaa! Nice one, how many people got that?

Omega,

Sorry you didn't win dude, but we'd still like to hear about the competition. What did your robot do, what was the show like, was it fun? Got any pictures? That sorta stuff.
Jon

Our robot was a Defensive/Bonus point robot that kicked some serious ass. Only one or two teams could actually push us, too (I know 1662 did at the UC Davis Regional). The show was amazing. From the winning alliance of 190, 987, and 177, two of those teams (190 & 987) participated at Silicon Valley and put on a good show, too. Pictures? Yeah. Not a lot of them from the competition, but I'll post what I have after I find my flash drive.



nice dude my team got 40th out of 52 (not bad)
but it was 6000$ to register not 5000$ did you get a discount

It's only 5k$ to register. Trust me, I keep in very good contact with the people managing my team's finances (even though I'm on the build team, I want to ensure our team's financial prosperity).





Even if you didn't win, that still kicks ass. If anything, it shows the competition is good, and worth the time, eh? I've wanted to build some sort of robot too, but haven't had a real chance... sounds like something to look into when I go to college...


Check to see if any of the high schools in your area has a US FIRST Robotics team. It's tons of fun, a great learning experience, and can even be life-changing. Not to mention, there is upwards of 2400 FRC teams (with more than twice that for FVC teams) all over the world. You shouldn't have a problem finding one. =]

intergalacticman
04-17-2007, 01:42 PM
wow we are only a 20 man team and we all knew how much everything cost. Im sure it was 6000$ to register. we got ripped or something. or maybe its just our division ( LA area)

Omega
04-17-2007, 09:37 PM
wow we are only a 20 man team and we all knew how much everything cost. Im sure it was 6000$ to register. we got ripped or something. or maybe its just our division ( LA area)

Well, whether it's 5k or 6k, that's still not a lot. I mean hell, it cost 22k to go to Atlanta and back, plus our team does two regionals (lets say they're 6k each), that makes 34k, plus the 3.5k budget, making it 37.5k total this year... add in the 1k for tools (with about 500$ for shipping for our mill -- damn that thing is heavy), and you end up with about 39k. And we have some money left over, too.

xRyokenx
04-17-2007, 09:48 PM
Yep, that's definitely something they wouldn't have around here... they wouldn't even appreciate it anyway, nor have enough intelligent kids to do it, they'd rather watch their precious, crappy high school football. The team isn't even that great and they spend so much money on them... why not work on remodeling the classrooms so I don't have to learn Calc in a hot, musty room that smells like the toilet backed up, lol.

They do have this at some colleges, right?

Aero
04-17-2007, 09:54 PM
wow, I wish my school could afford this. Thats crazy. ONLY 5K to register? My school doesn't even pay for any of my club's pizza, much less have 5K to register for an event like this. But I wish they did, this thing is awesome.

moojoe
04-18-2007, 12:23 AM
a lot of schools dont pay for it.
its $6K to register per regional event, then you have to account for tool costs, materials, unseen costs, and travel to competition. it gets really expensive really fast.
While I shouldn't say how much my team spends per year, its way up in the $20K+ range, even higher.

our team is lucky, and gets about half of the funding or so from the school. the rest we get from sponsorships.
most teams are sponsored, and this is how they can afford everything.

moojoe
04-18-2007, 12:28 AM
btw, to clear up costs:
$6000 for initial registration and Kit of Parts
$4000 for each additional regional
$5000 for Championships

as quoted by http://www.usfirst.org/what/frc/content.aspx?id=368

Omega
04-18-2007, 12:31 AM
Yeah, Aero, if nothing else, NASA is willing to sponsor almost any team for registration costs (they're getting potential future engineers out of this, after all).

Some teams are sponsored by local companies (such as Tech High & MV Transportation/Tellabs), and some by large, well-known companies or organizations (Such as SRVHS and Starbucks, Gatorbotics and Google, 254 and the NASA Ames Research Center, etc).

There's tons of money out there for FIRST robotics. You just have to find it, is all. =]

Omega
04-18-2007, 01:00 AM
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/thumbs/5664WidescreenChassis.jpg (http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/5664WidescreenChassis.jpg)

Doodeelaadoo...

Click it. It's a thumbnail.


I'm still working on it, but I suggest that if you're going to want to maniuplate it and view it, you'll want Google sketchup. It's free (well, the free version is).

This is just a teaser, btw. I'll upload the .sku (or whatever the filetype is) when I finish.

DaveW
04-18-2007, 06:10 AM
Twin monitors are the bomb for stuff like this. :)

-Dave

xRyokenx
04-18-2007, 11:53 AM
Are there any limitations on what the robot can be like? I'm assuming that they don't allow projectile weapons for safety reasons...

moojoe
04-18-2007, 01:41 PM
yea, there are hundreds of rules you need to follow.
if you want read them,
http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/content.aspx?id=452
they pretty much cover every aspect of the bot. it needs to be safe, wired properly, within a weight and size class, can only use certain gear, certain amount of money can go in it...all kinds of stuff.

on another note, did everyone see the winning animation? damn that was good.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NtzHZsaKiA8

intergalacticman
04-18-2007, 01:47 PM
you used sketchup for the schematic?, we used solidworks for ours, its a pain in the ass, we had a brilliant plan to get sponsored by Blizzard and Sun microsystems (both irvine based), but i didnt want to go there alone and no one else wanted to go w/ me, so it failed.

Omega
04-18-2007, 05:42 PM
Used? We never had a CAD design before. This chassis is the one that we used this year, and I'm making it for my own purposes.

Our team still uses paper blueprints.

moojoe
04-18-2007, 07:00 PM
I dont really pay attention to the CAD department, since my specialty in CAD is architectural, but didnt Autodesk distribute student versions of Inventor to the students?
I know we use Inventor and 3Ds Max for our animation/3d design of the bot.

Omega
04-18-2007, 07:55 PM
I guess I should be more specific.

I'm not making the CAD model as a function of our team. I'm making it for my own purposes, so I decided to use SketchUp.

Besides, using Inventor would mean I do the CADding at school.

moojoe
04-19-2007, 12:19 AM
ahh...
not sure if you know about this or not, but if you hvae a .edu email address, you can get inventor and other programs for free.
http://students4.autodesk.com/?nd=m_home&lbon=1