Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Chief Delphi Reminder

Hi everyone!

Just as a reminder, make sure to make an account of Chief Delphi before Build Season comes along if you haven't already! This is one of the most used websites in robotics (other than usfirst.org) and will be a great help come Build Season. We use CD to clarify rules with other teams so no one is breaking the rules. There are also a few teams who will give hints about their robot on there, which might spark an idea for our own robot. Plus, during Build Season we usually have homework about what we saw on Chief Delphi the night before a meeting.So make an account and browse around Chief Delphi so you get used to the website before there are thousands of threads going. If you have a question about anything you see, maybe what a specific thread is about or whether we could maybe use a concept, shoot an email to a mentor or the team to see what everyone thinks about it.

See everyone tomorrow!
-Sam

Saturday, December 4, 2010

FLL Competition

Hi everyone,

Because questions have been asked about tomorrow's FLL event, I am going to take the opportunity to answer all questions for everyone's benefit.

-- The FRC students are to be at the Student Center at Rowan University by 2 pm. The Student Center is next door to the Rowan Bookstore. If you get lost, please call either myself or Mat and we will help get you to the Student Center.
-- Please park in Parking Lot A, otherwise you will be issued a ticket. Not a "Rowan" ticket but a "City of Glassboro" ticket.
-- Eat lunch beforehand or bring a lunch with you. The Cafeteria is open tomorrow, but it is $8 per person to get in. Plus, if you are busy eating in the Cafeteria, you will not get to see the RoboTechs or the Lunabots performing in the robot part of the competition.
-- Wear your blue shiny shirt tomorrow.

Remember: all FRC students are requested to attend this competition to show support for the two FLL teams.

See everyone tomorrow!!
-Sam

Monday, November 29, 2010

FLL Competition

Hi everyone!

We have received the schedule for the FLL competition on December 4th. As stated earlier, the FRC students are asked to attend the competition to support both FLL Team 4790, the RoboTechs, and FLL Team 4791, the Lunabots.

The competition is being held in the Rowan University Student Center, which is where the cafeteria is. It is the building right next to book store. Tentatively, the schedule for the public is as follows:

Opening Ceremony at 10:00-10:30

Robot Performance Rounds at 2:15-4:00

Closing Ceremony at 4:30-5:00

In between Opening Ceremony and Robot Performance Rounds is closed off to the public for the judging sessions.

Here is the link with the schedules for the team, coaches, and the public:

http://elvis.rowan.edu/firstrobots/doc/schedule.html

We hope to see everyone there on Saturday!

-Sam

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Team Update: November 22, 2010

Hi everyone!!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Here are just a few reminders for the rest of the 2010 season.

There is no meeting this week. Our next meeting is on Thursday, December 2.

The holiday party is December 9 at 6:30 pm. The R.S.V.P date is December 5. Please reply to sjroboticsfll@gmail.com with how many people will be attending from your family and what you are planning on bringing. We are doing a polyanna again this year for the students with a $10 limit for the price of the gifts.

The two FLL teams (team 4790 out of Quinton Middle School and team 4791 out of Salem Community College) are participating in their first competition on December 4 at Rowan University in Glassboro. The FRC team is requested to be in attendance to support the two teams.

Thank you Mr. Cardona for making the 2010 DVD! It means a lot to everyone on the team that you used your time to make the DVD for us!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
-Sam

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Team Update: November 9, 2010

Hi everyone!

Last night we practiced driving the robot and worked on figuring out Drive Teams for Saturday.

Mr. Fordham asked Mat to fix one of the batteries and Sammy to fix the battery charger that is broken. All the batteries are to be plugged in and charging between Thursday night and Friday night.

See everyone tomorrow! Don't forget to bring Script Order forms!

-Sammy

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Duel Reminders

Hi everyone!

As a reminder for everyone, students are supposed to be at the college at 5:30 pm to help uncrate MOE's truck. Please have gloves and safety glasses on when you uncrate the truck. Also, on Saturday we have to be at the college at 6:45 am for Duel. Lunch will be provided, but please make sure to eat breakfast before you come or bring something with you to eat once you get to the college.

See everyone at Duel!
-Sam

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Team Update: September 28, 2010

Hi everyone!

Tonight's meeting was focused primarily on the gyro and accelerometer and what challenges we have facing us regarding those two sensors. Here is a breakdown of what was discussed tonight:
Our Challenges with the gyro/accelerometer
  • gyroscope --- the gyroscope measures the angle in degrees on three different axes. we know that we will get the angles of the robot's positions. We will know the roll, pitch, and yaw in degrees.
  • accelerometer --- the accelerometer measures the speed in all directions.
  • code/program
  • we need to know how fast our robot goes
  • we need a teeter totter
  • programming so when the robot is not at 0 degrees (or whatever we decide will be level), the joystick will be overridden by the robot so the drivers cannot accidentally cause us to drive off the teeter totter
  • the robot has to be able to distinguish the different angles
  • distance we need to drive
  • keeping track of the angle from level
  • robot needs to know when to start balancing
  • P.I.D --- this is a continuous loop that will always try to achieve a goal. in our case, it will read what degree we are at and will then speed the robot up or slow it down depending on how many degrees we are away from our goal of level.

All team leaders: Mrs. Danner wants to have a plan for Thursday night's meeting for each project by Wednesday night. As a reminder, the projects and leaders are as follows:

Gyro/Accelerometer: Sam and Mr. Hinde

Programming: Nick and Mr. Don

Gear Boxes: Rachel and Mr. Fordham

Crate: Christian and Mr. George

Also, if you did not bring your soda order forms to the meeting tonight, please make sure they are in by Thursday.

See everyone on Thursday!

-Sam

Friday, September 24, 2010

Team Update: September 23, 2010

Hi everyone!

In the beginning of the meeting last night, the students were in Davidow driving the robot and kicking the soccer balls. During the second half of the meeting, we had a discussion of the projects that must get done this fall and the regionals we want to go to for the 2011 season. Each student signed up to be the student leader of a project and there is a mentor leader as well.

The first project is the gyro and accelerometer project. Mr. Hinde is the mentor leader of the group and Sean is the student leader with Mat in the group as well. Their goal is to build a teeter totter and figure out how to use the gyro and accelerometer to balance on it.

The second project is trimming the driver station sticks. Mr. Don is the mentor leader with Nick as the student leader. Issa and his dad Mr. Cardona are a part of this group as well. Using programming, these four will trim the sticks to make them more precise. They will research ways to do that so our robot can move a glass of water without changing the water line at different speeds.

The third project is the gear box project. Mr. Fordham is the mentor leader of this group with Rachel as the student leader. The two of them will organize the back room and determine what we need to build a new drive system and gear boxes, as well as building the gear boxes for the 2011 season. Inventory will be done so we can determine what we need to get for next year.

The fourth project is the new crate. Mr. George is the mentor leader of this project with Sammy as the student leader. Christian is a member of this group as well. These three are in charge of building a new crate that is lighter and meets the FIRST requirements.

Our machinist and fabrication group is Mike and Ally with Mr. Weick. Nick is going to learn how to program this year. We need someone to help with inventory so it is not left up to the group working on the gear boxes alone.

There were two assignments given that are due on Tuesday, September 28.
--Each student must research 10 algorithims, codes, or math configurations for the gyro and accelerometer to balance the robot on the teeter totter. If you are looking for code, it must be in LabView, otherwise it is not useful to us. Here is a hint: several years ago, FIRST put out a game that involved just this.
--Each student leader is to email their mentor leader and figure out a plan for what is to be accomplished and what is needed for their project.

If you are not going to be at robotics on Tuesday for any reason, email your assignments to Mrs. George or find out if someone can bring in your homework for you.

Reminder: Soda sale orders are due Tuesday, September 28. Don't forget to sell soda! Every case of soda you sell will get you closer to the $1,300 you must raise for this year.

See everyone on Tuesday!

-Sammy

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Kick Off is around the corner!

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to let everyone know that there are 124 days until the game is released! Before we know it, January 8th will be right around the corner and we'll be learning about the game. I hope everyone is as excited as I am about this!

See everyone on Thursday!
Sam

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Back to School Night Discussions

Everyone,

I have started a discussion on the LuNaTeCs group page on Facebook to brainstorm points to mention at the different Back to School Nights. It would be great if everyone who participates with facebook could express their ideas on the discussion board so everyone, including alumni and friends, can help the students organize the best possible information to portray to the potential recruits and their parents.

thanks,
Sammy

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Back to School Night Recap

Today, Rachel and I met at the Woodstown Diner to discuss what we think should be incorporated in the Back to School Night presentations. With Mrs. Peterson's help, we came up with a simple, yet effective idea for the presentations. Because we will have limited space and people will be walking around going to the different teachers, we discussed having: a Powerpoint presentation on loop, a picture board of the current robot, brochures to hand out, our most recent trophy, the scrapbook, and the Lego MindStorm robot. As people come up to us to ask us questions, we would stress the different points such as: the college credits earned, very time consuming during January to March, can make many connections, scholarships available, etc. This is a very good opportunity to get more recruits, so let's take advantage of these events!

See everyone September 2!
-Sammy

Friday, July 30, 2010

Back to School Night Reminder

Students,

I have only heard back from three students about whether they will be able to help prepare for the Back to School Night presentations. It is important that you email or text me with whether you can or cannot help us prepare for these so I am able to figure out a date that will be best for everyone. Please reply back as soon as you can!

Thanks,
Sammy

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Back to School Night (Mentors)

Mentors,

Since Back to School Nights at the high schools are coming up within the next couple of months, the preparation of the presentations to be given at the schools to recruit new members is going to begin in the first few weeks of August. To ensure that every point is touched on in the presentations, I am asking the adults who have worked with the team to provide ideas to put into the presentations. If you could send me your ideas within the next few weeks, the group of students who are going to be working on the presentation preparations will incorporate the ideas into the presentations for the schools.

Thanks!
Sammy

Back to School Night (Students)

Students,

As much as we are all possibly dreading it, school is going to start back up soon. Which means, that Back to School Nights are going to be going on, mainly in September (with VoTech as the exception in August). And as many of you know, the robotics team is in need of more students, especially freshmen. So, we are planning on doing presentations at as many of the Back to School Nights as we can. Before we can do the presentations, however, we need to plan for them. That means, we need to plan what we are bringing, if we are going to have a powerpoint, if we have a speech ready, etc.

My proposal is getting as many students together either during the first or second week of August to plan for the presentations. I will need a few dates when you know you are able to meet with the team to help plan. Once I have dates from everybody, I will figure out the best date for as many people to be there as possible.

In addition to a time of when to meet, we would also need to figure out where. SCC is closed during the month of August, so a location is necessary. We could do it at my house in Pedricktown if we need to, BEANS Coffee Shop in Woodstown, or any other central location that would be easier for everybody. If transportation is an issue, a carpool can be worked out.
If you are unable to attend due to vacation, camps, transportation, etc. it is completely understandable. In lieu of you physically being at the planning meeting, I ask that you email or text ideas to me and I will present the ideas in your place.

Please help to make our presentations a success that will get us many new students. Thanks!
-Sammy

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Car Wash

Students,


Ally and I are in the midst of planning at least one car wash for this summer. What we need to find out from you, however, is if you have any old (clean!) rags we can use to wash the cars with around your house and if you have any bucket type things we can use to hold the soap and water. We need as many of each as possible. So, please ask your family (extended family too!) if they will be willing to lend supplies to us for the car wash.


We will send out another email with a tentative date for the first one as soon as we discuss dates with Mr. Fordham. If you know of any dates you absolutely cannot help out, please email us back as soon as possible so we can get the maximum attendance for this fundraiser.


Thanks!
-Sammy

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Team Update: June 1, 2010

Tonight we discussed our homework from last week. Mrs. Danner would like a hard copy of a plan by next week. That includes dates of when things should be completed (things such as how much tickets will cost, where will it be held, etc.). You can handwrite your plan or type it up; it does not matter to her. Please make sure it is done.

As well as discussing homework, we began to clean the workshop for the upcoming Open House (June 17, a Thursday) and packing for the two assemblies we are holding at Alloway (Friday) and Quinton (Thursday the 10). If you were not at the meeting tonight, please tell Mrs. George if you are able to go to the assemblies or not.

We have our party Thursday night at Mr. Hinde's house at 6:30 as a reminder to everybody. It is tons of fun! Make sure to bring your dish that night with you.

As of the end of this month, Mr. Fordham will no longer be able to check his PSE&G email. So please start emailing his home email address as well as the work one from now until the end of the month. His home email address is: jrfordham@comcast.net

Hope everyone has a good rest of the week!

See you Thursday
-Sammy

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Team Update: May 25, 2010

Tonight we discussed the different drive train ideas to try out for next year possibly. The one we decided to test out was Christian's idea of using Swerve Drive. That involves four wheels being on the same motor. We would have the ability to rotate all four wheels at the same time in the same direction.

We also discussed the combined 50 ideas of fundraising that Christian and Mat came up with over the past week. After writing them all on the board, each student was to vote for five different options. The top five were: Coin Drop, Car Wash, Big Sponsors (grants), Movie Nights, and Sport Tournament. We would incorporate the other choices, such as Jelly Bean Counts, Raffles, and Concession Stands, into the bigger options as well.

Of those five ideas, two students were assigned to each to come up with dates, materials needed, if we can incorporate other fundraising ideas in with them, and timing for each step of planning (when each step should be completed by). The following explains the specific requirements for each of the top five ideas and who is assigned to them:

Coin Drop (Mat and Christian)
- choose date(s)
- prepare materials
- Christian is going to confirm the date(s)

Car Wash (Sammy and Ally)
- choose date(s)
- contact Mr. Fordham with when we would like to do the car wash
- pre-sale tickets (including cost)
- make up flyers about program
- possible raffle?

Sports Tournament (Collin and Mikey)

Big Sponsors (grants) (Ally and Rachel)

Movie Night (Sammy and Shannon)
- SCC Date
- Advertisements
- concessions
- raffle

For the assigned tasks above, the requirements listed earlier are needed by next Tuesday.
Following is a list of upcoming dates to keep in mind:

Thursday May 27: the Math Showcase at SCC from 9 am until 2 pm. We will not have robotics that night.
Tuesday, June 1: our next meeting
Thursday, June 3: The End of Year party at Mr. Hinde's house at 6:30 pm
Friday, June 4: Hot Dog/Movie Night at Oldmans

Hope everybody has a fun week ahead of them! Enjoy your Memorial Day
-Sammy

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Team Update: May 18, 2010

We are not meeting on Thursday due to many students going to prom that night, so our next meeting will be on Tuesday, May 25.


There is homework that is due by Tuesday. If you are not able to be there at the meeting, make sure to email your homework to Mrs. Danner and/or Mrs. George to get credit for doing it.


The first assignment is to pick a drive system that you saw on another robot that you liked. Make sure you do not choose the same drive as another person. There should be eight different designs turned in on Tuesday. With the design, you have to explain why you like it, why you think it will work, and what the challenges might be in driving or building the drive system.


The second assignment is for recruiting. We are planning on going to the elementary schools in Salem County soon to recruit 8th graders for next fall and the 5-7 graders for the county wide FLL team we are starting. In order to visit these schools, certain things must be accomplished.
- Sammy is in charge of drafting up a letter explaining what we would like to do the assembly about and when we would be interested in doing it.
- Ally and Rachel are in charge of putting together the presentation for the students. This includes the demo and any speaking that is going to be done at the assemblies.
- Collin, Shannon, and Mikey are in charge of the agenda for the hour we will be there. They are to include the demonstration of the robot in the agenda.


Mat and Christian are in charge of surveying other teams about their most successful techniques of fundraising. Our goal is to do fundraisers that have profits of thousands of dollars, not hundreds. Mat and Christian are to each have 25 good ideas each by Tuesday.


Over the course of the rest of the school year and the summer, we are planning on having a new drive to work with, the demo bot running, and students learning programming and computer drafting if they are interested. This is the time to learn these skills, not during build season.


Another thing we need to do is fundraise like crazy. In order to go to one local and one away regional and Nationals next year, we need to raise about $20,000. There was discussion tonight about possible incentives to raise the money: if the students raise $X, the mentors have to do X. If the students raise $Y, the mentors have to do Y. The mentors are in charge of coming up with the levels of money and what they will have to do if we raise that much money.


Check your emails, students, to read what Mrs. George needs from everybody as well. Hope everybody who has prom on Thursday night has fun! Hope everybody has a good week, and I'll see everyone at robotics next Tuesday.


-Sammy

Friday, May 14, 2010

Women in Science panel discussion

For those who do not know, Ally and I participated in the Women in Science panel discussion tonight, held by MOE. We learned many things, both about colleges in general and engineering. We wanted to share some tips they suggested and just some general ideas they shared with us:
  • Math and engineering are launching pads for many different careers. Shoot for the harder major to begin with. It's easier to opt out of it after you're already in it if you chose to than it is to get into it.
  • When applying for colleges, have these thoughts in mind: your comfort zone (small/large, close/far, male to female ratio, etc.), the majors offered there (if you chose to not follow through with original major, is your secondary choice available there?), and if you are going for engineering, do they have a mentoring program available to help you out?
  • When in high school, write down your achievements as you go through your four years there. they can all be put down on college applications. And don't do 100 extracurricular activities. Focus mainly on one or two to show the colleges you are serious about something, not just dabbling in everything. Ask schools what they want to see on their applications. Some may require things that others do not.
  • Get information on the major you are most interested in. in order to get the most information, see if it is possible to donate some time to a professor in that field during the summer to get hands on experience. The professors will probably be more likely to answer questions in the summer and if you offer to donate a few hours here and there.
  • Take the PSAT's seriously if you are a sophomore/freshman. You can get scholarships through College Board if your scores are better than average. When taking the SAT's as juniors or seniors, using contractions (don't, didn't, isn't, it's, etc.) in your essays throws up a red flag. Those are signs of bad grammar. The last thing you want is for the readers to think you do not know correct grammar.
  • During the summers in college, do internships. Do a different job every summer. Volunteering as different places, such as museums, will open up other internships that you never thought you would have liked. and the major tip is to NETWORK! By talking to people, you can get them to pass on resumes, provide you with internships, etc.
  • Time management is key in college. You need to have an outlet from your course load. Don't spend all your time studying in the library. Take up a sport or two. Join a club you are not interested. You'll meet new people and might discover a hidden talent. But make sure to balance Play and Study.
  • No matter what major you are interested in, do a semester abroad. Almost every major has the time available to study abroad. It opens you to different cultures, shows you a new perspective of life, and may even reveal your passion in life.


The best tip by far was this: When you're stuck between a wall and a tough spot, life is putting you in the position where you must look at yourself in the mirror (figuratively or literally) and figure out what you think you have to do with your life. You are in charge of your life. If you need help with something, ask for it. If you think you need a change in your path, then change it. You are in charge. Nobody else is. Make it your own.


Hope everybody has a good night!
-Sammy and Ally

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

PARC Recap

Hi everybody!

For everybody who was at PARC, I hope you had fun!

For those who weren't at PARC this weekend, we were doing a great job in the Qualifying Matches. We were picked in the 6th alliance. Unfortunately, we were eliminated after the first round of the matches. But we worked hard, and had minimal problems on Saturday. Ally was driver, Sammy was operator, Christian was human player, and Rachel was the coach for the competition.

Thank you again Mr. Don, Mr. Weick, Mrs. George, Ms. Kirk, and Michelle for being our chaperons on Saturday! We appreciated all the support throughout the competition!

Hope everybody had a great weekend!
-Sammy

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Finger Lakes Regional 2010

I hope everybody is excited for Rochester! Tonight we found out our drive team, back up drive team, captain, and a few other jobs are. Here is the list of our new positions:

Drive team: Christian (driver), Ally (kicker), and Collin (human player)
Back up drive team: Rachel (driver), Sammy (kicker), and Mikey (human player)
Captain: Christian
Safety Captain: Rachel
Back up safety captain: Mat
Scout master: Mikey
Mascot: Eric V.

We also have a change in coach this year. Instead of Mr. Hinde being the field coach, he has passed the job along to Mr. Fordham. Mr. George will be taking over the job of manning the pit for Mr. Fordham.

As a reminder to everybody, we have to be at the college tomorrow afternoon no later than 3:15 in order to pack all of our luggage into the vans and we will be pulling out of the parking lot of the college at 3:30. If anybody is able to get to the college at 2:30, please do in order to help pack all the stuff for the robot and that we need for competition before everybody starts to bring their luggage.

See everybody tomorrow! Let's win it this year!!
-Sammy

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Drive team!

This year, our drive team consists of: Christian as driver, Ally as kicker, and Collin as human player.


Our back up drive team is: Rachel as driver, Sammy as kicker, and Mikey as human player.




We also got our captain too! Our captain this year is Christian!




We leave tomorrow at 3:30 to head up to our first competition up in Rochester, NY. As of right now, there is no webcast URL that we can find. Once it is located, we will post it on here for everybody to see. If you happen to be in the area, stop by the field house at Rochester Institute of Technology to see our robot in action!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

2010 teaser

Our kicker in action while driving
A teaser made of clips of our robot drivng
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2wjHKz4HOk

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Woodie Flowers Award

The Woodie Flowers Award essay was submitted as of a few minutes ago. The award is a very prestigious award, given to only one mentor at each regional. The winners of the award at the regionals and their team then goes onto Nationals in Atlanta Georgia to get the chance to win the award at Nationals against everybody else who won. We submitted the essay at the first competition we are going to, the Finger Lakes Regional in Rochester, NY.

More details will follow as we get closer to the competition and the hopeful win the award for our special mentor.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

As of February 16....

As of tonight, the robot was on the ground driving and kicking the ball high and far into the air! We are able to go over the bump, use the camera, go under the tunnel, and do almost everything we wanted to do. We still have a few minor things to fix, but we are excited to have the robot running. The team is practicing our driving in order to figure out who will be drive team during competition season.

7 days until Ship Date!!!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Snow weekend!

Living on the East Coast of the United States is not always so great during Build Season. Between last night and today, the area where South Jersey Robotics is located got approximately two feet of snow. That's CRAZY!!! It puts the team at a disadvantage because we only have about two and a half more weeks until we have to ship the robot. And we only have it driving over the bump right now.

The team was not able to get into the workshop as planned on Friday night or today at all, and depending on if the Community College, which is where we hold our meetings, is closed or not, we might not be able to get into the workshop on Monday as well! Let's hope that this snow melts by then and we are able to get into the workshop to finish the robot in enough time!!

17 more days until Ship Date!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Hip Hip Hurray!

The robot is now officially driving! :) We got it driving last night, and was able to get it to go over the bump today.

Our robot weighed in at 96.2 pounds, giving us 23.8 pounds to work with before we reach the max weight limit of 120 pounds.

Unfortunately this is all I am able to post right now. We are trying to keep the progress of our robot somewhat under wraps so other teams don't find out what we are capable of doing just yet. Once we ship our robot, a picture of our robot will be posted on here as soon as possible, along with possibly a video of our robot driving.

I'll do my best to post again before we ship. Hope all the other teams are doing well so far!!

19 more days til Ship Date!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

New LuNaTeCs!

The LuNaTeCs have five new students! The team is very happy to have these new students, as that brings us up to a total of 15 students. The new students are:
Shannon Kirk
Amber Burkentine
Eric Davis
Eric Vignali
Walter Blackniak

We are happy to have these new students on the team, and hope they enjoy the FIRST experience!

Friday, January 8, 2010

FRC Kick Off

The First Robotics Competition Kick Off is tomorrow morning. The robotics team is expected to be at the Community College at 9 in the morning to watch the game animation and discuss the game itself. Our sister team 3151 is going to be there as well with us. Watch the animation tomorrow and give us feed back on what you think about the game! Here is the link for the animation. Can't wait to hear your feed back!