Tag Archives: field

Relay For Life 2012

relayWe 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!  teamOur 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.making a signTo 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)LAMBeth2.0All participants were given T-Shirts….but after a few moments it was evident that there was a sleeve monster on the loose!  attack of the sleeve monsterAfter 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.  luminariesSome 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.dance contestThere was a dance competition!  We did a pretty good job showing everyone our dance moves.pizzaThere was a pizza party for dinner…coffee house…followed by a coffee house, where musicians showed off their talents….newspaper fashion show…and there was a newspaper fashion show at 2:30AM!  vacuumingIt 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!debuggingWe 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.demoWith 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.driving lessonsAs the night wore on, some of us took time out for a nap.sleeping…or a quiet moment to read a book.sleepingWhen 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.good morningIn fact, our team raised the 4th highest amount!  For this, we got prizes.prizesThanks to Sam for being the team captain this year.

St. Louis Competition Day 1

We were up bright and early eating breakfast at 5:30AM.breakfastDawn was breaking as we walked to the Edward Jones dome, and the streets were very quiet.  archWe 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.waitingWe saw many familiar teams as we waited.  Some of these teams we remember from regional competitions, and others we see only at the championships.waitingWe 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.standsIt was a reunion of sorts….we’ve seen each other play so frequently at the Ontario competitions.fieldThis year, unlike last, we have all 4 fields in the dome! pitWhile 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. bumper weightLast night our bumpers transformed from this…..bumpers…to this….bumpers…and finally this!bumpersThey are much more sturdy this time, and the reversible flaps work much better.  matchesPractice 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.scoutingIn the afternoon we started the qualification matches, and were scouting in full force!adventure to the archAs 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!arch groupFrom the top of the arch there are commanding views of the city and the river.  We can see our hotel and Busch stadium!viewWhen not otherwise involved in team events, we have some time to explore the pit areas and see other teams, and see many exhibits.SWATWe saw SWAT (team 771) and Sabre Bytes (team 772).  We’ve got mentors from both of these teams working with us this year!772Part of the activities available in the pit area is the bedazzling of safety glasses.  There’s never too much bling!blingWhen 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!FTCYou never know who you’ll find when you’re walking in the pit area.  Several of our students saw Woodie Flowers….woodie flowers…and got his autograph.autographAll in all it was a very exciting and exhausting day.  Our poor blue bear got a little bit sweaty with all of the dancing!tiredMatches continued until just after 8PM.  K-Bots were all in bed by 10PM, ready for another early wake up call tomorrow!sponsorsWe 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!

Back to the Warehouse

We’re back at the Transformix warehouse today!  My how we’ve missed the lovely carpet….beach vacation…it’s so nice to lay down and relax….it’s almost like having a beach vacation!new tapeWe applied reflective tape to our third target, and our programmers got right to work implementing the changes to the vision algorithm…programming…while our mechanical crew attached the shooter to the platform.remounting the shooterSpring is in the air….and pool noodles have hit the store shelves.  We’re stocking up for spare bumper parts for St. Louis….but in the mean time, they’re pretty fun to play with. playingTomorrow we’ll be doing a robot demo for parent-teacher interviews (K-Bots, please show up at 6PM to prepare).  Friday we’ll be back at the warehouse 5PM-8PMish working on calibrating the shooter.

Slow and Steady Progress

We met for a short while today to get in some driver practice….drive practice…and work on getting encoders and chain back on our shooter.  There were some discussions as we analyzed the mechanics of the situation.encoder mount discussionAfter deciding on a course of action, we got to work.hard workTomorrow we’ll have the chain back on!

Our chairman’s team has been meeting faithfully each day to prepare and practice their presentation.  We got a thumbs up today that the video is also just about done.  We look forward to seeing it tomorrow at 5:30 PM at Plant 2.video

K-Bots: we’re meeting at Plant 2 from 5:30PM until 10:30PM tomorrow.  Arrange for your own food, or bring something to share.

Happy Pi Day!

EMC interviewToday a reporter came to take a few pictures for EMC. A few of us got interviewed for next week’s paper.

We had a delicious dinner of hot dogs and butter tarts (to celebrate pi day).  Thanks to parents who keep us fed and happy!Working on the shooterThe shooter needed a few adjustments for our upcoming competition in Waterloo. But for the shooter repairs we were missing a few tools so some of us walked to Lowe’s, twice.  It’s looking pretty good so far.

Sketchy box bot

That's engineering at its finest!

For more realistic driver practice we decided to make a box bot.  This way, the balls get hidden from view more frequently, just like they do in the real game.

We are now using two cameras, one for shooting accuracy and the other so our driver can see the ground. We made an obstacle course out of supplies around the warehouse, chairs, bins and boxes.

Driver Practice

“Every time you hit a box, it’s 20 push-ups.”-Michael, Queen’s MentorpushupsLater on Sam and Mike decided to play some 21…Playing 21The final score was Sam 21 and Mike 16…. can you guess why?  Look at the shots!Playing 21After the game they were both pretty exhausted….but thankfully still friends. They just needed a hug.Sam and Mke sngglingK-Bots: we’re meeting at the Transformix Plant 2 Warehouse from 5:30PM-8:00 PM tomorrow evening.  See you there!

Watching Webcasts in the Warehouse

Today we gathered at Transformix Plant 2 to work on our shooter calibration and to watch the webcasts for the week 1 regionals.  webcastCongrats to our friends FIRST Team 772, Sabre Bytes who were winners at the Smoky Mountain Regional!

Today was Alex’s birthday, so he got to wear our fancy tiara to celebrate.happy birthdayWe’re starting to really notice the time passing.  Some of us are feeling the time crunch!  There are only 5 more days until we are competing in Oshawa, and we’re still working on some critical components. We’ll figure something out in the nick of time!designingOur skills at vacuum forming chain guards is increasing by the day.  We made another mould today, and will work on our final moulds tomorrow.  Thank goodness for all the Timbits consumed today.  We needed the cardboard to help stabilize the styrofoam!making moldsBetween designing, scouting, programming, shooting, and vacuum forming we got pretty hungry.  Pizza sure was delicious!  Speaking of food, K-Bots: if you have not yet put in your food order for Oshawa, you need to contact Colleen.lunchWhile we ate, our new friend the Roomba helped clean up some of our carpet.  It’s mesmorizing to sit and watch it move around and around.roombaCome see the Roomba and the rest of the excitement at the warehouse tomorrow from 10AM-6PM.  Bring your own food!

In The Bag

The last day of build season was an exciting one!  Rodrigo was so excited that he wore his safety glasses all day long!safetyAfter school many parents volunteered to drive us to Transformix Engineering where we ate snacks and did homework….dinner…and worked on programming the robot….…and finishing up the wiring.electricalThanks so much to Transformix for letting us use their space for the weekend and letting us bag and tag tonight.  We’re making ourselves at home!  There are Queen’s jackets everywhere!Queen'sWe had a few visitors come to see the last exciting moments where our robot was driving around and shooting baskets.  It’s really thrilling to see everything come together at the last minute and work like it was supposed to!robot fan clubChris, from FESTO, was excited to see the pneumatic components in action.  He’s arranging FESTO giveaways for competition this season.FESTOWe also had our follow-up with CKWS TV.  It was exciting to have media present for the final moments of our build.  Bag and Tag was officially documented this year, and a two part series about our team will air Monday and Tuesday at the 6pm news on CKWS.CKWSOne minor hiccup that we had to negotiate before bagging the robot was our bumper design.  After recent clarification our original split number bumper was deemed to be against the rules.  We quickly made some patches to sew on.  bumperThere were still plenty of people taking naps on the sidelines…It will take time to regain all of the lost sleep from recent days.sleepyWith 30 minutes to go, we separated our shooting device from the robot to hold back and work on over the next little while.  Thank goodness for a withholding allowance!removing witholding allowanceThere was great hustle near the robot, and also in the Transformix lunch room.  We cleaned up all of our dishes and food and prepared for the excitement of putting the robot into the bag.cleaning upBut first…we needed to weigh our robot.  Using the bathroom scales gave us one estimate…weighing…Transformix’s industrial scale gave us another….weightWith a 20 pound shooter, we’re under weight!  bag and tagWe gathered at 11:50 to bag our robot.  Everyone wanted to be a part of the momentous occasion.CKWSIt’s all caught on film!doneWith a sigh of relief and a few cheers we were done, with a few minutes to spare!happyIt’s a strange feeling to be done building.  We’re used to seeing each other every day, and now we’ll take a day to rest and recover before we start thinking of all that remains to be completed before going to competition.  sad it's overWe’ll miss each other in the mean time though!  Good work everyone.  Thanks to all of our families and supporters for helping us through an intense 6 weeks.  Enjoy your rest.

Day 39: Transparent Robot

Warehouse Day 1: Our robot is now cheeseholed to transparency….warehouseToday we started off bright and early in the Transformix Engineering Plant 2 Warehouse.fireWe worked hard to reassemble our robot to get everything in working order to test some key components that Purolator delivered today!  purolatorWe’re so excited to be in the warehouse and wrapping up build season.  Some of us are wearing robot themed accessories!spiritBefore too long we set to work putting holes into our robot….EVERYWHERE!weight lossWe weighed the robot….and look what the scale said!weight lossJust kidding….that was only part of the robot.  We think we’re on target though.lunchWe ate a yummy lunch provided by our parents.  It’s so nice to be well taken care of during a very stressful time.who's that on the floor?After lunch it was nap time, until we had to construct the field.  It takes a lot of power to keep the warped wood lined up properly.fieldThe Cyberfalcons, FIRST team 3710, joined us in the warehouse today, and helped out fastening the field pieces to the carpet with heavy duty velcro.cyberfalconsHard work leads to more nap time!nap timeOur electrical and programming team worked hard to get all of the sensors connected and working.electrical and programmingProductivity was everywhere….bumpersThe Cyberfalcons made bumpers…programmingWe worked on programming….field construction…and built a human player station….sparks flew….and made sparks fly!absolutely happySome of our mentors were ABSOLUTELY happy with all of our progress…..while others were a little concerned to see the robot disappearing before their very eyes.a little concernedOur families came to visit us and see our progress all day long.  All of Mr. Wood’s family was here all at once!family day weekendWe appreciate our families encouraging us through these last busy days.  It’s nice to share the excitement with everyone we love.

pizza

"130 slices...yes 1-3-0. Can you deliver it to a warehouse?"

For dinner, we ordered 10 extra large pizzas.  Yes…that’s 130 slices!  They were delicious.  Powered by pizza, some of us took to cleaning up.cleaningSpontaneous sweeping is always a good thing….so is collecting piles of files!  Rhyming organization is the best kind.

piles of files

piles of files

Together after dinner, we moved our field set up to prepare for driving and testing.  We want to be sure that we don’t have low hanging fans or hoses to worry about during human player practice.field movingWhile waiting for the testing to begin, we entertained ourselves in many different ways….one of which was a crazy hair extravaganza!  Thumbs up to everyone!crazy hairIt was such a great work day today.  Thanks to everyone for bringing your best effort, enthusiasm, and patience today.  Please also bring your homework tomorrow….there will be some moments of down time where you can get ready for Tuesday.  Also….when you arrive tomorrow, say happy birthday to Kevin!birthday boySee everyone here at 9AM!

Day 33: Bacon, Bumpers and Bridge Balancing

Today we made progress on our robot.  We sawed some parts….some of us tried sawing left handed to keep muscles balanced.  It’s harder than it looks!

sawing

Sawing with her left hand, to keep her muscles balanced

After sawing, the parts had to be filed.  We’re getting very good at filing!  There will be no sharp edges on our robot. filingWe’re making supports for the pneumatic systems and for the battery.  It’s quite a riveting experience.rivetingProgrammers worked hard today getting robots ready for driver tryouts.

thumbs up

thumbs up!

Our 2012 robot now has bumpers fully mounted onto the frame.  We’re glad we made reversible bumpers.  It would take up a lot of space to keep two sets in the pit!

bumpersAt lunch brunch we had pancakes and eggs and BACON!  In total we ate 10 pounds of bacon, and 5 dozen eggs.  Thanks so much to the Tavares family for the feast.

bacon

BACON!! To die for!!

Our electrical crew worked hard on various electrical boxes.  The apron of doom was a very good shield–aluminum shavings in the electrical components is never good.

electrical boxJags are now mounted….electrical boxSo are the victors…victorsAnd the wires are all being put in placewiringWe’ve had lots of helpers working on our electrical system. Thanks to Richard from Transformix for lending a hand today.electrical boxWe took a break to de-stress today.  Bubble wrap is a wonderful toy!bubble wrapIn the afternoon we set up the gym for driver/operator/human player tryouts.tryoutsWe practiced throwing long distances.  Some of us scored on the basket–some came close.  Our mentor, James, scored twice!tryoutsThe tryouts consisted of driving an old robot around the gym, through an obstacle course, over the bridge and back, and balancing.  We had a defense robot to deal with too!testAll interested drive team members then took a test to see how well they knew the rules of the game.

Any interested drivers/operators/human players who did not get to try out today can do so tomorrow after 5PM.

Day 8: What…It’s Day 8 Already???

Day 8:  Today started off with writing sponsor e-mails. We have had some workshops on how to do this over the last few days, and we sent some off this morning!
emailsWe’ve continued working on a top-secret knitting projects, and we’ve started some hats for some of our newer members.

knitting
Some people have been very creative in where they choose to knit… when we asked Sam why he was under the desk, he blamed “corporate America”.
knitting

Another knitting photo of our top secret project:  Watch it grow over time!

progressOur programmers have been working very hard, using our test chassis to decide how the controls will be laid out.programmersAfter modifying things, it’s really fun to drive the robot around!
programmersWe held a meeting right before lunch to discuss our latest outreach activity… we’re going global!  After our meeting we ate a delicious lunch.  Thanks parents for keeping us so happy and healthy!  We couldn’t survive our hectic build season without your support.
lunchAfter lunch, we split up into groups to work on various tasks that needed to be completed before the end of today.

field

Some of us worked on finishing up the field and setting it up in the gym…
field…While others worked on CADing various parts of the robot, including the drive train and some other ideas we’re working on.

CAD

We’re doing CAD in small groups, and in bigger groups too.
CAD

After consulting some of last year’s parts, we’re almost ready to order the things we will need to start building.
researchWe’ll meet next at the usual time after school on Monday. Enjoy your day off to relax and do your homework!