Tag Archives: safety

Sunday Morning

Posted on February 13, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Day 36:  Our K-Botics family is so great!

Look at the breakfast that was delivered here this morning.  Yummy muffins!!

new glassesWe tried on our new glasses today!  Thanks to Hollingsworth Supply Services for donating them to us!  Some of them are tinted.  Some of them are big enough to go over prescription glasses.  The best thing is that they are scratch free!

glassesWe’re going to keep them that way with our safety glasses holder.  You can make one too (instructions)

skype

We skyped with one of our mentors this morning.  It’s great to use technology to stay in touch.  Nobody want’s to miss any exciting robotic developments.

robot?

Our developments are incremental at this point…

robot?

…we’ve stopped adding metal.  We’re adding cables, cords, and connectors to our robot now.

zip ties

You can NEVER have enough zip ties!

running out

More wiring will take place today.

more wires
We hope our robot will be driving soon!

→ Leave a comment

Posted in 2011 Logomotion

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Two More Sleeps

Posted on January 6, 2011 by | Leave a comment

There are just two more sleeps until Kick Off and we’re all really excited!  The Beta-Testing that we’ve been doing is wrapping up, and our programming team is excited about getting started with the new challenge.

excited programmers

excited programmers

We had a talented group of sign makers create many signs to welcome our friends and family, and other community members to our Kick Off festivities.

artists at workWe’re hoping for good weather so that we can fill our cafeteria with excitement on Saturday.

welcome

A particularly warm welcome goes out to our new friends the Cyber Falcons, team 3710 from Frontenac Secondary School who will be joining us for Kick Off this year.

We’re still trying to finish up our Skills robot, as all work will halt on that one until FRC build season is done.  Improvements are still being made, and we’re proud of all that we’ve done so far.

skills

Identical drills on each side will help make our robot drive straight!  Getting everything attached is harder than it looks though.skills

Sometimes it takes a team to get things working the way they should.teamworkOur safety glasses have found a new home now too!  We have a wall hanging with many pockets all made from fleece.  Instructions can be found here.  This will hopefully keep us from losing/scratching our glasses.

We are continuing our preparations for Kick Off.  We’ll post a link to the webcast, and the twitter feed so everyone can follow along with us.  Enjoy your two more sleeps!

→ Leave a comment

Posted in 2011 Logomotion

Tagged , , , , ,

Preparations

Posted on January 4, 2011 by | Leave a comment

We met today to prepare for Kick Off.  It’s hard to believe that it is on Saturday!  Our chairman’s report is well underway.  We’re trying to have it mostly done before this weekend so we can spend our time and effort brainstorming and building an awesome robot.

chairmans

We also prepared advertising for around the school to encourage our friends and teachers to come to Kick Off with us.  We hung up our new safety posters to remind everyone about wearing the right equipment.safety poster

Of course, there’s always time for snacks!

snacktimeOne more meeting before Kick Off…we look forward to meeting our new friends team 3710 the Cyber Falcons from Frontenac Secondary School who are joining us for the day.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in 2011 Logomotion

Tagged , , , , ,

Mentoring Mentors

Posted on December 14, 2010 by | Leave a comment

We’re excited to welcome team 3710 the Cyber Falcons to join us for our kick-off celebrations this year. They are in their rookie year, and don’t have any idea how much hard work and how much fun is in store for them this season.

mentoring

mentors mentoring mentors

One of their mentors came to visit us today to discuss details of team organization and build season timelines.  We talked about all of the game animations available on youtube, autodesk inventor, and chief delphi.  We also showed our sponsorship package and pamphlets from the past two years, along with our media binder.  We talked about using google documents/calendars for organizing communication and team interaction, and we’ve set up a mentorship plan that includes helping with bulk orders of supplies, and visits through out build season.

safety posters

composing the safety poster and presentation

To prepare for build season, we’re putting up new signs in our workspace.  Safety is so important, and we need signs to remind us of all the safety rules.  We have ares that are designated as safety glasses zones.  We need to have sensible shoes, and no dangling cords/jewelry/or hair in work areas.  Several team members put together a powerpoint presentation for general safety rules that we will go over next week.

filing

As we prepare for the start of the FIRST build season, we’re in the final crunch to get our Skills robot complete.  Work is still being done on our reloader mechanism.

Thursday we plan do to a brainstorming activity, to run through the kick-off strategy/robot design process using a challenge from an earlier year.  Practice makes perfect!

→ Leave a comment

Posted in 2010 pre-build, 2010 skill building

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Wanna Play Catch?

Posted on October 14, 2010 by | Leave a comment

wanna play catch?

Today marked a successful launch from a prototype catapult-of-sorts.

launchWe’re still not sure if this is going to be how we will shoot those little plastic balls into the fishing nets….but at least we have somewhere to start!  We also now have fishing nets!  Some of us have experienced a little game of “catch”….

caught caught caught

We have experimented with where to aim on these nets to assure us of a goal.  Sometimes the ball jumps out of the net.

dismantling

Today we had several newcomers join our group to see what’s going on.  It’s fun to teach them what we know.  Here we were dismantling part of an old robot to scrounge working motors.  In the process we could show what a master link is, and how chain can be removed.  New members also learned how to use a drill safely.  Safety is so important!  We’re taking it very seriously.proofreadingToday our grant proposal got proof-read.  It is sometimes hard to explain things in detail within a limited number of characters.  With each new read through it will get more and more polished.

marketingA small group of us met our new friend Spencer who is going to help us with marketing our team and fundraising for the FRC season.  Thanks for your great ideas!

On a very crafty note….we were so excited to use a Cricut automated paper cutter to cut out pictures of robots!

robots

It is so cool to see and hear the machine in action.

cutting peeling

The robots it cuts out are very cute too…we’re going to have fun with this!

robots

A sure sign of fall, we have some knitted hats in progress.

hatCheck out our pattern and make your own!  Our team tradition involves making hats for other members of the team, and someone will make one for you too.  Hats get made for those who do not ask.  Hats get made for those who are longstanding and dedicated members of the team.  Some hats are crazy!  Each hat is unique.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in 2010 pre-build, 2010 skill building

Tagged , , , , , ,

Learning New SKILLS

Posted on October 5, 2010 by | Leave a comment

Prototypes are developing well these days.

wheels

We learned how to use a drill…

 

learning to drill

safety first!

 

…and now we’re attaching wheels to wood, to prototype a shooter mechanism.

prototype

We’ve made headway on frame construction…

frame assembly

…and others of us are working on learning how to program robots for our upcoming FRC season.

programming

One group member made a cool model out of LEGO to explain his design concept.  It’s easier to explain design ideas when you have a model to look at.

prototype

Come join us on Thursday….we’re having lots of fun!

 

smartie

I'm a smartie!

 

 

→ Leave a comment

Posted in 2010 pre-build, 2010 skill building

Tagged , , , ,

The Goal Is Accomplished

Posted on January 26, 2010 by | Leave a comment

Today started with a bit of a mix up.

Plywood Panel

At the beginning of the day we had a “goal roof” assembled which you would think is in fact the top of the goal, however it is not. While looking over the drawings for a fifth time, we discovered plans for a mysterious piece called the “plywood panel” a component not referred to anywhere else.   This panel appeared to fit much better than the goal roof ever would.  So, we got the unexpected pleasure of using power tools today.  We modified the goal roof to fit the dimensions of the plywood panel which thankfully was smaller.

Assembling a plywood panel sounds simple, unfortunately it is not.  It involves much measuring, drilling of new holes… …and cutting it down to size….safely.

This is the assembled goal ready for target practice. Soon it will be our robot kicking the ball.

In the mean time …we are having fun.

best action shot of the day!!

Our team is still growing, there are lots of jobs for anyone to do.  You can learn new skills, have lots of fun, use awesome power tools, and wear the most fashionable safety equipment.  Come to room 107 any day after school and introduce yourself to us.

cool kids join K-Botics!

Did your team run into any goal roof issues?

→ Leave a comment

Posted in 2010 Breakaway

Tagged , , , , , ,

Week Two In Review…

Posted on January 23, 2010 by | Leave a comment

This week we had a brainstorming and writing session for our very first Chairman’s Report submission.  We find it best to write as a group so everyone’s opinions are included.

“Five brains are better than one!!” –Opti (Jr. Mentor–First Year Queen’s Student)

In preparation for our report submission, we’ve also organized all our press coverage into a big binder.  This includes our recent article in the Whig Standard.  We hope to have more articles in the near future.

We learned how to use CAD to draw the parts of our robot.  These drawing have now been printed off and are in a very big binder. To make it more fun, some of the students made CAD into a game.

“For every completed drawing you earn one point, but for every mistake on that drawing you lose 0.25 of a point.  If someone has to completely re-do the drawing you get -1 point”–R.J. (Grade 10)

The winner was Brennan with 7 points.  Tim, who didn’t do any drawings, somehow ended up with 10 points.  There might be a flaw in the system somewhere.

Mentors and Students using CAD

Some of our group went to Transformix Engineering to begin the machining of our robot.

We are very lucky to have support from such a generous organization.  We have fantastic mentors from Transformix, and have made great connections with the technicians on the floor.

safety first!!

“It’s nice to see engineers reaching out to the community to spread understanding of science and technology” –Drew (Queen’s Mentor-3rd year Engineering Student)

Every day we are learning new skills, and working with new tools.  We are lucky to have such dedicated Queen’s students helping us out.

Our prototypes are coming along well.  We have successfully kicked the ball a few meters!  We can control the ball while the robot moves forwards and backwards!   These principles have been well tested.

In fact, several prototypes have been tested to destruction!

We have also learned how important it is to keep a clean workspace.  We are building in the back of a computer lab that operates as a classroom during the day.  Each night we have to clean up our mess before we go home.

If we don’t clean up we need to wear the APRON OF DOOM!!!

Doesn't he look excited??

We look forward to next week when we will start to assemble our robot.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in 2010 Breakaway

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Week One Is Done

Posted on January 16, 2010 by | Leave a comment

This week has been eventful, with meetings happening every day after school, sometimes until 9pm!!  Even though exams are next week we still have a good core group of students attending regularly.

“We are working well as a team, and making friends as we spend many hours together.  Balancing robotics, school, homework,  jobs and other activities is tricky at best.”

–Joy (Grade 9)

The prototyping process is continuing.  Ideas are plentiful about how to control and propel the ball, and how to suspend our robot.

The topics we’ve explored include pneumatics, pendulums and elastic energy.

We are in small groups working together on different aspects of the robot.  It is very exciting to see our prototypes succeed.  But even when they don’t, we can still learn from that.

“It takes a lot of ideas from everyone in the group to build a good prototype”

–Raymond (Grade 9)

We are very careful to make sure safety protocol is being followed.  Safety glasses are the newest fashion trend!!

→ Leave a comment

Posted in 2010 Breakaway

Tagged , , , , ,