Team 3113 Wins the 2010 MD FTC Championship!

We headed out for the MD FTC Robotic championship at 5:30am on Saturday morning a bit bleary eyed and with high hopes.  I think all of the scouts had high hopes but none of us expected do do as well as we did - we won!

We placed 4th overall in the Qualifying rounds which gave us an automatic placement in the championship round as an "Alliance captain".  It was pretty cool to see the Boys as one of the selecting teams rather than hoping to be selected as in previous years.

There is a good bit of strategy in selecting partners and the #1 ranked qualifying team (Team 2843, Under the Son) asked us to join them in an alliance and we did so.  The third and final member of our alliance was team # 7, Tactical Sheep.  The second picture shows all the teams of the winning alliance, from left to right Tactical Sheep, Under the Son and Team 3113, The Craftsmen.

The championship round is played tournament style, with the four alliances playing in a seeded format, best 2 out of 3 matches.  Our alliance won it's semi - final match 2 games to zero.  The finals were very close (we split the first two rounds) and the last match had to be re-run due to a technical issue with the field.  The fourth match was a thing of beauty as all for robots (Under the Son and our robot vs G-Force and their partner) performed very well.  The last picture shows the end of the match with all four robots balancing on the bridge (extra Points).  Still we managed to eek out a win at 52 - 50!

The tournament itself was very well run - hats of the Professor Jeff Tjiputra, the College of Southern Maryland and all the volunteers how really made this event both work like a Swiss clock and be really a lot of fun.

Now we need to see if we get invited to the National tournament in St Louis.....

dECEMBER 10, 2010

Holden, andrew, Scott, Jared, Mr.Lanterman, Connor, Sean, Matt, Logan, Grant, Brad

Sean- Is moving Samantha and NXT to protect them from damage

Scott, Andrew, and Logan are re-gearing the drive system

Holden is replacing the Autonomous Program to allow for the new devices

Grant is redoing the presentation because we lost the original one.

Now all of us are testing our robot autonimous, Since we re geared the bot we need to retest the distance to time ratio.
WE have a working autonomous that drops the bridge and balances it WELL DONE GUYS!!!
Andrew taught us how to tighten a bolt

The Last Build Session before the MD Competition

Well here we are - the last build session before the competition

We have a good bit to do tonight, but I think we can get it done and done well.  There is one hitch - I have an appointment in DC this afternoon and likely will not be back to the house until a little after 5:00

Here's a list of items I'd like the boys to focus on

(1) Re-Gear the Drive system - last night the team determined that the stress issues we're having with the robot can be greatly reduce if we re-gear the drive system to have smaller gears driving larger ones (our current one works in the opposite direction.  There is an example set up next to the robot and the main thing is it doesn't require a lot of rebuilding.  I would like Scott, Andrew, David and Logan to focus on this first thing

(2) We need to move both Samantha and the NXT module to safe locations (on top of the robot).  Both need to easily accessible per the rules.  Sean this change is your first task.

(3) We need to re-calibrate the autonomous programs to take into account the gearing change.  The program logic does not need to be altered just the power and run time parameters.  Holden, please take the lead.

(4) We need to finish the Engineering notebook - including a description of tonight's activities.  We also need to finish the Robot Spec sheet and presentation.  Conner / Grant / Jared please work together to get this done.

(5) we need to formalize our game strategy and pit crew assignments - Matt please take the lead

Given the early start on Saturday (the boys need to be here at 5:00am!, mary Beth and I are more than happy to have any or all of the boys sleep over.  While the accommodations may not be regal, I can guarantee a nice pancake breakfast in the AM

ALL boys and parents need to bring safety glasses / goggles to the competition saturday.  This rule is strictly enforced and you will not be able to participate if you forget.!

December 8, 2010

People present: Brad, Connor, Sean, Matt, Holden, Scott
We are having a problem with the wheels because the bot is too heavy. Airgo, WE NEED TO DO THIS TOMMOROW!!!

Things to do and things done

1)Magazine was too narrow, batons where getting hung up. Magazine was widened FIXED

2)Bridge lowering devise was too long, it exceeded 18” we shortened it. FIXED

3)Aiming shoot is 3/4in too far right

4)Bridge devise was damaging bridge added angles to bridge devise end FIXED

5)Difficult centering baton dispenser added alignment strips for visual aid FIXED

6)Loading angles need to be moved 1/4in FIXED

7)Bridge devise was backwards program switched FIXED we smoked a motar :(

8)All programming speeds where lowered for more persistence FIXED

9)autonomous program was tested at 1,2, and 3 sec. For a distance calculation FIXED

10)Conveyor tabs where too long to fit on the bot to the ground FIXED

11)NXT brackets where blocking movement on bridge Moved NXT FIXED

December 7, 2010

People present: matt, Logan, Connor, Andrew, Holden, Sean, Mr.Pontius,

Today we will work on programming and testing.

Testing notes-

Bolt and nut fell of arm during testing.

Missed rolling goal (put an angle on baton dispenser)

Got an autonomous program

Aiming problems (we are using zip ties for visual aid)

We turned the bot in perfect line up with the bridge

Bot specs

This is the Samantha, located directly above our wheels.
This our NXT, located above our back wheel.
This is our control boxes located on the top of the bot.
This is our baton maneuverability system comprising of our baton collecdter, magazine,conveyor belt baton dispenser.
This is our wheel system, notice how we have mini wheels in the middle for more smooth of a movement over the mountain.
This is our baton dispensing system, it drops our batons at an angle to allow it to go in the rolling goal. The conveyor drops it and the bar angles it.
This is our baton collector, these spinners spin at all heights and collect the batons and put them in the magazine to be lifted by the conveyor
This is our bridge lower that is used to lower the bridge allowing us to drive over it.

December 5, 2010

Holden, Brad, Grant, Connor, Mr. Pontius, Andrew, Scott, Sean, Matt, Logan
our zip tie mechanism resembles Groucho Marx's eyebrows!
Andrew is making the bridge push.
Scott is working on baton support as the batons go up the conveyor.
We are also wiring the robot.
We tested our robot and we got a burnt motor and loose motor. This motor is being replaced.

December 4, 2010

Brad,Connor ,Scott, Sean, Mr.Reidy, Andrew, Mr.Pontius, Holden

Today we organized our supplies. We added a new way to drop the batons.

We added a bottom to the baton collector.
Holden made a testing autonomous program.
We made our zip tie loading mechanism.