Bagged and tagged robot

We did it!

At 11:03 PM we bagged our final robot!

Now it’s time to prepare for the Regional Competition in March. A new meeting schedule will be posted soon and we’ll be doing preparations including making buttons.

We are now looking for button designs!

Buttons are important because we hand them out during the regional competition. At the the regional, people wear buttons collected from various teams, so having catchy buttons is great exposure for FIRST Team 2202.
We want multiple designs and we will be mass-producing them prior to the regional competition.

We will be adding QR codes to the buttons so people can instantly access this website, so that’s another plus.

Team members will come up with designs, but we could use YOUR help. If you have a good idea for a cool button design, please draw it out and send it to info@beastrobotics.com. Thanks!

Some of the things our robot does well include:

• Shooting lay-ups from close range
• Driving and picking up balls
• Operating on the state machine
• Having great drivers

The pro drivers

Weaknesses that we are now working on with great haste include:

• Inability to traverse barrier and bridges
• Inability to shoot 3-pointers or from the key
• The “puke” state on the robot was malfunctioning
• We did not have a hybrid mode

Debby and Ed taking a nap

Robot in Action

Our robot performed solidly at the mini-regional. Everyone was focused on the task at hand. We were able to score a good 4 or 5 baskets each game, especially after some tweaking by the programming team and modifications by the mechanical team.

We are confident that the robot will be operational when the actual regional comes along, but there are many things we need to get done:

• Cover the robot with protective armor
• Redesign the labels on the bumper
• Modify the robot’s center of gravity
• Change programming code to shoot from the key

Mr. Burbey won the TV! Team picture with the prize

Unfortunately, the rookie FIRST Team 4095 at Pius (roxirobo.org) was unable to make it; but their mentor, Mr. Eggers, came to cheer us on and gather intel. We are sure, however, that they will be at the regional in March.

A pleasant surprise came when Mr. Burbey won the first prize in the Wisconsin mini-regional raffle. He took home a 60” flat screen TV. Fortunately, he had come with an empty mini-van with which to transport it.

 Marquette Hilltoppers

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

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

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

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.

• Added supports for the shooter
• Integrated sub-devices into one robot
• Simplified the robot brackets and joints with simpler methods
• Finished the wiring and pneumatic systems
• Reduced the weight of the robot
• Modified the shooter wheels

Finalizing the Robot

It was not easy having so little time, and having only a few people able to work on the robot at the same time. Nevertheless, the team was able to get everything working. It’s now down to the programmers to get the robot up and running.

Even mentors need a break sometimes...

This week, the programming team:

• Finished the deadzone value scaling class
• Completed and debugged the robot
• Created state machine for primary robot functions

Working on the Website

The mini-regional hosted at Sussex by FIRST team 537.

We will soon find out how our robot stacks up against other robots.

You can visit Sussex here: http://team537.org/

Also, Justin and Bryan sold the most raffle tickets to support our team. They both won gift cards for iTunes, and Bryan got some bling. Great job!

Bryan with his Bling

 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! 

This week the team:

• Created a ball coveyor
• Created bumpers for the robot
• Assembled the robot
• Refined the shooter to mount on the robot
• Got the Kinect to work
• Experimented with acceleration curves
• Tested the sonar devices

Lookin at the robot, it seems like signifigant progress has been made. There are two weeks left in the build season, and we all know that the team will likely be cramming to finish up the robot, but we also know that the hard work we are putting into this will certainly pay off.

Kinect Testing success

Our Robot so far...

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

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

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

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

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.

• 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

Shooter up-close:

Shooter from a distance:

They also created the chassis based on ideas of how to traverse the barrier. A concept for a device to cross the bridges has also been produced.

Building the Chassis

Prototype for traversing the barrier:

The programming team, now generally familiar with robot programming, completed driving code that runs on the lunacy robot using this year’s C-RIO and software, as well as the xbox controller. They created a C++ class to simplify usage of the xbox controller. We have also been assigned the task of creating code to test the shooting prototype.

We are optimistic that all of this will come together and create a robot as effective as we want it to be, and we are working hard to accomplish that goal.