Science Rendezvous

bearse — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:56:26 +0000

After a long night with Relay For Life, a few of us brought our robot and gear to Queen’s University for the Science Rendezvous.Robot transportation is sometimes difficult, but today it was pretty simple. We are very glad that Queen’s is close by, and that the sun was shining! We were excited to be a part of the Science Rendezvous, an event that brings together many different community groups to show demonstrations of different kinds of science.We got our display set up…ready for the event to begin at 10AM.At the event, there were many different booths to explore. We had fun learning about different aspects of science…There were many different people presenting their work. There were professors, and grad students, high school students, and even elementary student science fair winners. These two girls made robots out of toothbrushes!

photo posted with permission

Here’s the robot in action.

The Human Mobility Research Center showed how computer assisted surgery works…programming and cameras seem to be everywhere!Our display was a big hit with all ages. From young drivers….…to parents, everyone was interested in our program and how we were able to create this robot in 6 weeks.We are glad of the opportunity to demonstrate our robot at this event. Many thanks to the organizers of the Science Rendezvous. We hope to participate for years to come.

Relay For Life 2012

bearse — Sat, 12 May 2012 21:49:44 +0000

We have made it a K-Botics tradition to participate as a team in the KCVI Relay For Life event held each spring. This year the KCVI event raised over $17000 for the Canadian Cancer Society! Our team, made up of students, teachers and mentors, had a campsite in one of the basement hallways, and we needed to mark our territory by making a banner.To pay tribute to our most recent all-night adventure we called our team K-Botics: LAMBeth 2.0 (For those of you regular blog readers, you’ll remember that it was in Lambeth that our bus broke down on the side of the road headed for St. Louis)All participants were given T-Shirts….but after a few moments it was evident that there was a sleeve monster on the loose! After the opening ceremonies, where we heard from cancer survivors and family and friends, we did a lap of the luminary track with our teams. The luminaries are all dedicated to family and friends who are fighting the battle with cancer, or in honour of those who have passed away. Some people lingered to walk around the luminary track, which was open as a quiet space all night long, while others participated in some more lively events.There was a dance competition! We did a pretty good job showing everyone our dance moves.There was a pizza party for dinner……followed by a coffee house, where musicians showed off their talents….…and there was a newspaper fashion show at 2:30AM! It has become a tradition for our team to put on a demonstration as well. This year it took a bit of preparation though. We needed to clean all the carpet which had been in the Transformix Warehouse since build season ended. We needed to vacuum the top AND bottom side of each roll. Thanks to the custodial staff for providing us an excellent vacuum!We also had to ensure that the electrical system and programming were working on our Logomotion robot. Our Rebound Rumble robot is currently in a crate in Toledo Ohio, headed to Kingston sometime this week.With the music pumping, our robot showed off for the crowds. It was great to see so many people line up to get their hands on the controls. We’re always looking for new members to join our team next year! Who knows, maybe some of these people will join our ranks.As the night wore on, some of us took time out for a nap.…or a quiet moment to read a book.When the morning came, we were feeling a bit exhausted, but happy. We are glad to do our part to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society.In fact, our team raised the 4th highest amount! For this, we got prizes.Thanks to Sam for being the team captain this year.

Augmented Reality Pool Demo

bearse — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:15:25 +0000

Today we revisited the A.R. Pool Demo at the Queen’s University Integrated Learning Center. It was neat to see the results of all that calibrating!When the cue was aimed, the cameras picked up the angle, and projected where the cue ball would travel, and where the other ball would go after impact.It was fun to try our hand at pool. We realized that some of us were pretty good! The tracer lines helped some of us a lot.Thanks to the Queen’s students for inviting us back again. Although watching calibration was interesting, playing the A.R. Pool was much more fun. Good luck as you take this demo on the road–we’re sure it will be a big hit!

Augmented Reality Pool Demo

bearse — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:51:52 +0000

Have you ever wanted to augment your reality? Today our team went to the Queen’s University Integrated Learning Center to see a demo of Augmented Reality Pool.This is a project being worked on by one of our mentors who helped with programming and vision code this past season. He wanted to show us that some of the same techniques that our team used are being used by researchers in computer vision in other areas too.We had a brief tour of the ILC, and learned about what goes on in the building. Many of us have been there before for Science Quest, or for our FLL practice tournament a few years ago. There is usually NOT a big tent set up in the computer area though. This is a special demo set up for A.R. Pool.It needs to be under a tent to control the lighting on the pool table. There are cameras and a projector involved in the game, so lighting is very important. The cameras are supposed to detect where the balls are, and where the cue is, and the projector will then trace lines showing where the balls will travel after they are hit at a specific angle.Unfortunately, when we arrived for our tour and demo, there were a few technical issues. The camera settings were off….…so those got changed….…and then the lengthy calibration process had to happen.We know all about calibration. It is such an important step in making any system function well. We had days of calibration in the warehouse before our robot was shooting well.

Although we didn’t see any A.R. Pool today, we have been invited to come back tomorrow to try again. We definitely got a better appreciation of the calibration process though!

St. Louis championships day 3

bearse — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 13:38:49 +0000

Our morning started bright and early once more, as we packed up our gear and set off for the dome to stake out seats in the “Canadian section” that we’ve created over the past days. Teams 1114 and 2056 and 781 are great teams to sit and cheer with!Qualification matches were played in the morning. We played some excellent defense!By 10:30 AM we were awaiting alliance selection. We were not selected, which was not a big surprise since we were sitting in 75th place. What was very exciting was to see 2 Canadian alliance captains, and to see one entirely Canadian alliance created amongst teams 2056, 1114, and the rookies from Alberta, team 4334.We watched and cheered through the Archimedes finals, and as the games progressed our cheering section expanded to include the families of team 4334, and SWAT (team 771), and after their final matches we we joined by team 610 as well.Flags waved and fans cheered as the Canadian alliance won the finals on Archimedes and continued onward to the championships on Einstein.We took our team picture, and packed up our pit equipment then crated our robot before heading to get seats for the final matches.Between matches awards were presented. We are excited that team 1114 won the championship chairman’s award, and are now in the hall of fame.As the Einstein matches were played, there was a bit of an event going on outside of the dome as well. There was a tornado warning in effect, and we were not allowed to be near windows in the foyer or hallways. Rain poured down with hail the size of ice cubes, the sky was a greenish gray, and the winds whipped the dome area.Some people with Internet access told us that a tornado was spotted 30 miles from the dome.The weather impeded our plans for a speedy departure. Once we got the all clear from the security officials, we loaded up the bus which was now 2 blocks away, and then we set off for the border.

A quick bus rave was followed by a long sleep.

When we awoke, we crossed into Canada… …then switched back to the McCoy bus that had been repaired.Thanks to everyone who has been following along and cheering from home. We appreciate the support of our friends and family, our mentors, and our sponsors. We look forward to another fun season next year!

St. Louis Qualification Day 2

bearse — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 10:57:30 +0000

We set off with bagels in hand this morning, determined to get to the dome by 6:15AM to line up at the doors, waiting for our chance to rush in and claim the best scouting seats in the house.We were, yet again, among great Canadian friends–team 1114, team 2056, and team 610 were there. We’re not sure what time they wake up to ALWAYS be first in line.We’re glad to see one of our Cyberfalcon friends in the crowd.
Our strategy succeeded, the early morning was worth it. We got our great seats again in the stands. In the pits, the robot was all ready to go. We tested out a few things, including our shooter. Safety is important, and we don’t want to shoot the balls all over the pit area, so this time we brought a fishing net to keep everything under control.Our scouts worked really hard to keep each match documented on sheets which are filed in a binder after being transferred to a database. Electrical outlets can become quite difficult to find. Lucky for us we’ve got friends on 610 who had a great big powerbar for us to plug into. Thanks guys!Matches were exciting today, there’s a very high level of competition here. The robots are doing great things. It’s been a bit rocky for us, and at one point we were very low in the standings (95th). We then played a really spectacular match. It was one of those matches where everything goes right. We shot in autonomous and scored. We did what we needed to do on our alliance, and then we balanced the bridge too! This led to a dramatic increase–we were in 48th after that game!
We wrote postcards to our sponsors today to thank them for all they do for our team. We hope that they get safely to their destinations.
People have been commenting on our hats, and in particular the many hat pins that our friends and family have been knitting for the last few months. It was nice to meet a few fellow knitters in the crowd today.At the conclusion of the day we had dinner and then had our scouting meeting. We’re excited to see what will happen tomorrow with our last match, and to see who ends up in the elimination rounds, and who will eventually play in the finals on Einstein.

St. Louis Competition Day 1

bearse — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 04:00:52 +0000

We were up bright and early eating breakfast at 5:30AM.Dawn was breaking as we walked to the Edward Jones dome, and the streets were very quiet. We arrived at 6:15AM and found ourselves among familiar company….our good friends team 1114 and 2056! We are in the same division as they are, so we stuck close by them as the crowds grew larger.We saw many familiar teams as we waited. Some of these teams we remember from regional competitions, and others we see only at the championships.We followed our buddies to the Archimedes area of the dome, and settled down in the stands behind them. Close behind us followed our friends team 781 from Kincardine.It was a reunion of sorts….we’ve seen each other play so frequently at the Ontario competitions.This year, unlike last, we have all 4 fields in the dome! While scouts were scoping out the competition during practice matches, our pit crew readied our robot for competition. Part of the task included attaching our freshly constructed bumpers. Last night our bumpers transformed from this…..…to this….…and finally this!They are much more sturdy this time, and the reversible flaps work much better. Practice matches were played in the morning. During this time our pit scouts and photographers gathered information behind the scenes, and our drive team got to experience the excitement of competing on the world stage.In the afternoon we started the qualification matches, and were scouting in full force!As a break from scouting, we split into two groups and toured the St. Louis arch. Here’s one of the touring groups. We have Captain Canada with us, and it’s causing quite a stir as we walk around the streets of St. Louis with a mascot!From the top of the arch there are commanding views of the city and the river. We can see our hotel and Busch stadium!When not otherwise involved in team events, we have some time to explore the pit areas and see other teams, and see many exhibits.We saw SWAT (team 771) and Sabre Bytes (team 772). We’ve got mentors from both of these teams working with us this year!Part of the activities available in the pit area is the bedazzling of safety glasses. There’s never too much bling!When we need a break from FRC robotics, there’s always FTC (First Tech Challenge) robotics to enjoy. Some of these robots had very tall scissor lifts!You never know who you’ll find when you’re walking in the pit area. Several of our students saw Woodie Flowers….…and got his autograph.All in all it was a very exciting and exhausting day. Our poor blue bear got a little bit sweaty with all of the dancing!Matches continued until just after 8PM. K-Bots were all in bed by 10PM, ready for another early wake up call tomorrow!We would like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors for making it possible for us to build our robot and attend such fantastic competitions. We are inspired by the creative designs and interesting features presented by other teams. Thank you sponsors!

Webcast

bearse — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:22:09 +0000

Check out the webcast. We’re in Archimedes.
webcast

Click here to see results and standings.

St. Louis or Bust!

bearse — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:07:59 +0000

We left on Tuesday night at 8PM after a long day of school and work. It takes a lot of teamwork to load up the bus! Thanks to all who came to see us off. We’re glad of the support of our family, friends, and mentors who were not able to join us.The bus ride was pretty fun, until ….…there was a problem. The bus was making a strange noise, and the drivers were sure that they could not continue.We had to get a new bus. Luckily we were near Lambeth, which is apparently just outside of London, and a new bus could be arranged quickly.We unpacked all of our gear at the side of the road, and transferred it to the new bus.This bus had fewer seats for us. It’s ok….JNo and Henry are good friends….they were excited to share seats.We stopped for breakfast at McDonalds before the sun came up. It was there that we discovered that size large is really big here in the states!Here’s our new bus in the daylight! It’s pretty nice.We stopped for lunch, but we weren’t sure where we were–somewhere in Illinois.On the bus we played lots of video games…….and had quality time with our friends.We slept for a lot of the trip too! It was a thrilling moment to see the arch and know that we were really close to St. Louis.Five of our team members went directly to the Edward Jones Dome to set up our pit area and get our robot inspected. The rest of us checked into the hotel, which took a bit of figuring to get the rooms sorted out. We’re thankful that our team is so patient!The rooms we got have some fantastic views! Some see the arch. Others see right into Busch Stadium. We had a few moments to relax before meeting our groups for dinner. Some of us enjoyed a quick swim.At dinner time, we were pretty excited to eat. Some of us enjoyed the “burger buffet” at the hotel.We ate very fancy hamburgers…with pinkies up! FYI: Russell is feeling better now, after a bit of a rough patch on the bus.After dinner we split into groups to explore the downtown area. In St. Louis the fountains are pretty colours. We got up close and personal with the Gateway Arch.It is a very large structure!We counted about 190 paces between both ends of the arch….…and we noticed that it looks almost on fire when the sun sets.We also had a close enounter with a “crocogator” which may or may not exist in that pond.As the sun set, we returned to the hotel to do some homework and then have a meeting.After the meeting we had a game of “guess the ref signals” for identification of cards and fouls. Do you know what these mean?

It’s an early night tonight. We’re waking up at 5:15AM tomorrow!

Bye Bye Warehouse!

bearse — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:29:41 +0000

Today marked a milestone in our season. This is the last day that we’re testing and practicing in the Transformix warehouse!

We practiced shooting A LOT!

The good thing is that we were also scoring A LOT!

At the end of the day we packed up our gear, disassembling our test rig…getting ourselves ready for St. Louis.Our programming/drive team is optimistic about how well we can perform in St. Louis. We’ll be playing in the Archimedes division with our friends 1114, 2056 and 781. We’re looking forward to a strong Canadian presence in the division.

K-Bots: enjoy the weekend off–do all your purple laundry! We’ll see you on Monday after school for a meeting and to finalize all the details. Tuesday we’ll meet at 7:15PM to load the bus.