Final Standings

For anyone interested in the final standings, they are posted on the Wisconsin Regional Website at

http://www2.usfirst.org/2012comp/Events/WI/rankings.html

 

Not the best final rank number FIRST Team 2202 has seen BUT we accomplished so much to become a more well rounded team this year and this season was a huge success!

Regional Competition Field

In the News

 

FIRST Team 2202 is featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after the Regional Competition at the U.S. Cellular Arena, among other teams competing that day.

Check out the pictures and captions here

Fine tuning the kinect - Picture courtesy of JSOnline

FIRST Team 4095′s rookie teaser video

 

FIRST Team 2202 is very excited to see what our little brother rookie team Pius’s Team 4095 has come up with. Judging from their teaser video above, we’ve got some great rookie competition to look forward to at the Regional!

Post-Build / Pre-Competition

Since the bagging our team has stayed busy preparing for the competition. We have accomplished:
• Making buttons to hand out at the Regional
• Worked on excess parts
• Modified last years robot to test drivers and programming
• Pit has been assembled
• Made a banner for the pit
• Programmers refining the code
• Enjoyed a lot of food and team bonding time
We are excited for the competition, only 9 more days! We’ll see you all there!

Where in the World is FIRST?

FIRST Team 1649 down in Windermere, Florida has created an incredible map showing where all the FIRST teams around the world are located. Bill’s Blog featured this map and we’re completely impressed with it! This map is now featured under our FIRST Friends page.

Don’t worry, FIRST Team 2202 is represented on the map, go B’East!

Check it out here

and check out FIRST Team 1649 (who have mentors from Walt Disney World!) here: http://team1649.com/

 

 

 

FIRST Team 2202′s Robotics Friends and Allies

Through our years of competition, FIRST Team 2202 has been partnered and allied with many teams. We’d like to recognize some of those teams here, whom we consider excellent competitiors and the teams that consistently push us to be our best.

 

 Marquette Hilltoppers – Milwaukee, Wisconsin

A team from the heart of Milwaukee, the Hilltoppers are consistently a great team at the Wisconsin Regional Competition. They recently designed their website, also.

Check them out here.

 

Charger Robotics – Sussex, Wisconsin

One of the older teams in the region, FIRST Team 537 from Sussex Hamilton helped us gain traction our first year and provided invaluable help. They also offer a mini-regional practice event the week of stop-build each year, providing a chance to utilize a full size practice field. We thank them for the efforts and continued gracious professionalism!

Check them out here.

 

C.O.R.E. 2062 – Waukesha, Wisconsin

FIRST Robotics is about more than the robot. It’s also about networking and friendships. Our team has friends on C.O.R.E. 2062 from Waukesha and we admire their hardwork. We took inspiration from their award winning website while starting our redesign this year.

Check them out here.

 

Pius XI – Milwaukee, Wisconsin

A proud moment for any veteran team is when they can offer help to a FIRST rookie. One of our mentors, Eric Eggers, left to launch a team at his Alma Mater Pius XI High School in Milwaukee. We showed the team around our shop, invited them to attend a pre-build season meeting, and have been following their progress all season. We’re excited to see how far they’ve come at the Regional.

Check them out here.

 

Windermere Prepartory School - Windermere, Florida

FIRST Team 1649 down in Sunny Florida has put together a fantastic map titled “Where in the world is FIRST?” and pinpoints each location of every FIRST Team!

Follow the link to see their map http://team1649.com/witwif/ and please link back to it for them!

 

 

Cuz it’s the final countdown – dadada daaaaaaa…

Welcome to the final full week of Build Season, B’east fans! We have “stop build” date next week Tuesday the 21st.

Happy Valentine’s Day! – Thanks for the cookies, Mrs. Fassbender!

 

 We are mostly done with the sub-systems of the robot and are in the process of getting it to all work together – the major challenge we have this week is to get our weight down to 120lbs.  We are currently at 135!
 

This Sunday 2/19 there will be a Mini-Regional competition at Sussex Hamilton High School from 12-4.  The mini regional is a great way for us to see how the robot will perform on the playing field and we’re looking forward to seeing what the other teams have innovated.  

 

 

After Feb 21st, we will continue to meet to prepare for the Wisconsin Regional March 22-24, but the meeting schedule will be reduced to every Wednesday night (6:30) and Saturdays as needed.

It has been a busy, fun and hectic build season.  Thanks to all the parents who have been helping out.  Wish us luck this week! 

 

Weekly Report 5

This week, the robot has finally started to come together. We have begun the final assembly process, and the countdown to “stop build day,” as well as the competition, is imminent. Although many small problems have arisen, our main road block at the moment is cutting the robot’s weight by about twenty pounds. One of the most important milestones of the week was the final mounting of the sweeper. After about an hour of frustrating adjustments and tweaks, the design has been finalized. Finally, our electrical team has begun to wire up the robot in its final configuration.

 

How the Robot Currently Looks

 

Mentors and Volunteers

Richard Oakes

I am in the Information Technology business. My company, SpiderLogic writes custom software applications. I have been involved with FIRST Robotics since 2006 when my son Tim asked me to be a mentor for the B’East team. I was a science major and have always enjoyed teaching and working with my hands, so I have a lot of fun working with the students and seeing how fast they learn.

Richard Oakes with Dean Kamen in 2009

 Terry Secora

My 29+ year career so far has been in Service Design for state of the art Cardiology (EKG) and Oncology (PET) Medical devices. I mainly help mentor the team on mechanical assemblies of their robot and really enjoy seeing them learn skills they’ll definitely need and use in their future.

Tim Obermann

I am a Power Electronics R&D engineer for ABB (Major Team Sponsor). I volunteer because I am interested in getting High school kids pursuing careers in STEM.

Stephen Fox

 

 

Stephen Fox

I’m a software engineer at GE Healthcare IT working on Electronic Medical Records. My background is in Computer Engineering and I’ve always loved low level computing and robotics, so FRC is a fun place to get to play around and get your hands dirty.

 

Rob Nevermann

 
 
 
 
 
 

Rob Neverman

2012 is my fifth season as a mentor.  I am a Development Engineer for GE Healthcare, working on a MRI hardware engineering team.  I graduated with a BSEE from UW-Madison in 2007, and am currently working toward an MSEE at Marquette University.  I am a mentor because I believe in the mission of FIRST and believe that more engineers, scientists, and bright people are needed to help solve the world’s biggest problems.

 

 

Mark Burbey

Mark Burbey

I am “The Electrical Guy.” I have been a mentor since our first year. About 6 years ago my good friend Richard (Mr. Oakes) asked if I would be interested in helping with a new robotics club that he was helping assemble. Since then I have been hooked! I have an apprenticeship in Electrical Industrial Maintenance as well as a degree in Industrial Electronics Technology. I enjoy working with the kids and sharing anything that they are willing to learn.

 

 

Deborah Oakes

My younger brother started the club at this school with a friend and my dad, Mr. Oakes, has been involved since. Now, my youngest brother is a member of the team and they asked me to help redesign the website for the club this year. I work as a Professional Services Consultant and have some background in website design.

 

Barry Dieser

I am a software development manager/software engineer. I am a general purpose mentor for the team, and first came to the team with my son John, and have remained with it, as I see the immense value if has for high school students.

Barry Dieser

 

 
 
 

 

 
 

 
  
Joseph Larcheid

I am currently a full time student at UW Waukesha studying mechanical engineering. My working experience started at Midwest Composite Technologies, as a SLS/SLA/3-D printing technician, uploading and fixing customers CAD files. During the build season, I make sure the students stay on task and assist them when they ask or look like they need assistance on a rebound rumble challenge task. I also make sure that the students are using proper safety techniques when working with tools and machinery in the shop. I am mentoring because I like passing down knowledge that I have obtained and enjoy watching an engineering master piece come together.

Richard Li

I borrow the money for the City of Milwaukee. My daughter joined the Robotics Club, and is interested in software. My undergraduate degree is in math and computer science, so I am trying to help out the software team.

Mark Drews

I am a Hydrogeologist for the Department of Natural Resources. My son asked me to help out the robotics team to make sure there were enough mentors. I am helping with the robots mechanical construction, due to my 5 years of auto repair while putting myself through college.

 

 

Weekly Report 3

 This week, the team accomplished the following:

  • Created an operational chassis
  • Tested the launcher, we currently have 70% accuracy at close range
  • Created a debouncer for the xbox controller
  • Worked on designs to improve launcher accuracy
  • Created a mechanism to traverse the bridges and barrier
  • Begun work on a feeder/loading mechanism

Ball in mid flight...

 This week, the shooting team continued to make adjustments and has made progress on improving the accuracy of their design. They began by mounting the shooter in order to have a fixed angle. They are currently working on the barrel and experimenting with different combinations of motor speed, angle, and distance from the hoop.

Meanwhile, the team working on the lift has begun the assembly process, and should have a working lift by the end of the week.

The chassis team has continued to work on concepts to navigate the barrier and bridge, preferably with the same mechanism.

 

Machining the robot

This is the halfway point in build season, and there is still a lot of work to get done. We anticipate that there will be extra meetings as we approach the ship date. We’ll keep you posted.