Week 2 was another week of great progress for FIRST Team 604, as we are fully on schedule. With designs nearing completion, the robot is coming together.
The practice field is complete, as the finishing touches were just put on the bridge a few minutes ago. We have also found a way to recognize the white rectangles on the backboards of the hoops, using camera-tracking and some math.
During Week 1, we had gathered donations for Loaves and Fishes. This week, partnering with a community service club at our school, we carried out the event successfully. We were able to pack lunches for many underprivileged children around our community, and spread the message of FIRST with our caring actions.
After a successful build week, FIRST Team 604 is poised to make a solid run at this year’s FRC challenge, Rebound Rumble. All aspects of the team made progress. Designs for this year’s robot are almost complete. Using SolidWorks CAD software, 604 has been able to accurately model the design and physics behind our robot. Some of our programmers tested out sensors from the kit of parts as well as the Microsoft Kinect (video below), and attended a C++ workshop from one of our mentors. With our field parts almost complete, we should have adequate amount of time to test our robot.
We have also started fundraising through a second e-waste drive. More details can be found here. Over the course of the past week, we rounded up our school’s old, outdated computers to dispose of them in an environmentally friendly way. We are also participating in a project to feed children in need. Organized by Leland Key Club, the Loaves and Fishes program is designed to give a meal to youths in need.
FIRST Team 604 had an incredibly productive kickoff day. The day began by arriving at San Jose State just as the sun rose. Our team helped the kickoff site to set up the kit of parts distribution sites and distribute the kits. After many inspiring and motivational speeches the 2012 game was announced – Rebound Rumble! Following kickoff, we returned back to school to begin brainstorming ideas and think about possible solutions. Members and mentors alike bounced around design ideas to this new exciting challenge. Several team members bought the necessary materials and began to assemble the practice playing field. By the end of the day, we all had a productive day and are looking forward to a great year of learning, cooperation, and fun in this 2012 FIRST Robotics season.
UPDATE: Our presentation has been posted here. Feel free to contact us if you have any more questions or need help.
As part of the C++ beta testing we have been doing over the past few months, we will be holding an open house to share our findings and experiences. There will also be a question and answer session on anything related to the beta testing of C++ and Windriver.
If you have any trouble installing or configuring the Windriver software, driver station, or utilities, we welcome those questions as well.
We will be holding our open house as a part of the December WRRF workshops at Santa Clara University.
You can find instructions on how to sign up to attend the workshops on our website here.
Our session is during slot A, from 1:00 – 2:30pm.
During slot B, (2:30-4:00pm), one of our mentors, Mr. Best, will be on a panel discussing what software is best for FRC and your team.
With the 2011-2012 season just starting, FIRST Team 604 has already been hard at work, competing at two different off-season competitions — the WRRF CalGames and the MadTown Throwdown – running workshops, and demonstrating our robot throughout the community.
Working with NASA and FIRST Team 846, we showed off our 2010 FRC robot OverKill and introduced kids to robotics by letting them drive VEX robots at the 2011 San Francisco Fleet Week. You can find pictures from that demo and a few more this year on our website here.
For our off-season competitions, we chose to redesign our entire arm and minibot deployment. At CalGames, after some hard fought matches, we were chosen to be on the 6th seed alliance by FIRST Teams 1351 from Mitty HS, and 751 from Woodside Priory HS. Unfortunately, after losing the first quarterfinal against FIRST Teams 1868, 1678, and 256, our robot had communication issues with the field and was unable to move the entire next match, ending our CalGames tournament run. However we got some good news later on in the day when we found out we won the Entrepreneurship Award, as well as the first runner-up for the AMD CAD Award.
At the MadTown Throwdown, we were selected to be on the 6th alliance after winning 4 matches and losing 2 in the qualification rounds, joining FIRST Teams 3512, 1323B, and 3859. Unfortunately we lost in quarterfinals to the 3rd alliance, consisting of FIRST Teams 2073, 971B, 3256, and 362. It was a great learning experience for the team, and we look forward to going back next year!
Two Saturdays ago we hosted our annual FLL tournament, the Quixilver Qualifier. There were 16 teams in attendance with some action-packed rounds. We tried out a new system this year, having playoffs done with four alliances of two teams each, to try and mix up FLL and FRC. Looking at the feedback, it seems that all of the participants loved it! Congratulations to the champions, Team 1202, VulnifiSquidz. Our team was later recognized with the Volunteer Award! A big thanks to Jim Mori for directing the tournament, all the volunteers, and FIRST Teams 2643 and 2135 for their help.
Entreprenuership & Runner-Up CAD Award!
Our eliminations alliance at the Madtown Throwdown
After a successful Sacramento Regional, FIRST Team 604 competed at our home regional, the Google Silicon Valley Regional. While initially faced with some electrical and pneumatic issues, Quixilver made the necessary modifications on our robot, and passed inspection early Friday morning.
Having considerably more experience, our drivers were able to consistently put up one to two logos per match as well as play strong defense. During alliance selections, we were invited to join the second seeded alliance, comprised of FIRST Team 1323, Madtown Robotics, and FIRST Team 1868, the Space Cookies. Our alliance was able to breeze through the quarterfinals and semifinals, before narrowly losing both finals matches to the tournament champions, FIRST Teams 254, 1538, and 751. The finals were so close, in fact, that the match could have gone either way up until the last second. Thank you 1323 and 1868 for being great alliance partners and becoming the 2011 Google Silicon Valley Regional Finalists.
We would also like to give a shout-out to one of the teams that we helped start, who were just rookies last year – FIRST Team 3256 the WarriorBorgs — for winning the Engineering Inspiration Award, as well as having one your members being recognized as a Dean’s List Award Finalist. You guys have come such a long way in a short time.
Another shout-out goes to one of our former members, James Best, for mentoring FIRST Team 3473, Team Sprocket, to a Regional Win at the Los Angeles Regional! See you in St. Louis!
This past weekend, FIRST Team 604 attended our first regional competition of the season. After three days of exciting and intense competition, we received several awards recognizing our hard work.
On Friday, our mentor Mrs. Best was awarded the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award. She will go on to compete for the Woodie Flowers Award at the Championship Event against all previous Woodie Flowers Finalist Award winners, including another one of our mentors Mrs. Arrington who was a finalist last year as well. That same day, another of our mentors, Mrs. Zafiropoulos, was named the Bret Harte Teacher of the Year. Congratulations to our amazing mentors!
On Saturday, after ten qualifying matches, we were selected to be on the 7th seeded alliance, compromised of FIRST Team 3013, the Zombots from Vallejo High, and FIRST Team 114, Eagle Strike from Los Altos High. Unfortunately, we were knocked out in the quarterfinals by the eventual champions, FIRST Team 1678, the Citrus Circuits from Leonardo Da Vinci High, FIRST Team 1868, the Space Cookies from the Girl Scouts of America, and FIRST Team 766, M-A Bears from Menlo-Atherton High.
Later, four of our members were recognized for their invention of a secondary container for battery transportation, winning the Runner-Up Abbott Inventor Hall of Fame Award.
Finally, our team was awarded the Regional Chairman’s Award (RCA), the most prestigious award given at a Regional competition, for our outreach within the community and the nation — our fourth RCA in the last five years. This award qualifies our team for the Championship Event in St. Louis, which will be held mid-April.
Photos and videos from the competition will be on our website shortly.
The Sacramento Regional has certainly had many ups and downs. Starting the day with a semi-non functional robot, FIRST Team 604 worked its way back up the rankings, ending the day with only one loss in the last five matches. One of our mentor’s, Mrs. Best, was recognized for her efforts today with the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award. She joins our teacher/advisor, Mrs. Arrington (Sacramento ’10), as our second distinguished mentor.
But the good news didn’t stop there. Today another of our mentors, Mrs. Zafiropoulos, was named the Bret Harte Middle School Teacher of the Year.
Congratulations to both of our mentors for their achievements!
