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Edina Robotics FIRST Team 1816
Update, February 2007
Welcome
This Update issue, written by student members of the Edina Robotics
FIRST Team 1816, is intended to communicate our team’s excitement to
our sponsors, mentors, parents, and other supporters.
Since the Kickoff on January 6th when FIRST announced the 2007
challenge, Team 1816 and the other 1,300 FIRST teams around the world
have been concentrating on designing and building a robot capable of
playing the game. The FedEx truck is coming to ship our robot off to
competition on February 20, so we’re clocking some serious hours at our
build site. Even in the midst of this 6-week intensive build, we did take a
little time to spread the FIRST message with people who mean a great
deal to the team – our corporate sponsors, teachers and school officials,
and our parents.
The 2007 Game
& our robot design
The game for 2007 FIRST Robotics
Competition is known as Rack 'n' Roll, in
which two alliances composed of three
robots each compete against each other for
points. Points are scored by placing large
inflatable pool rings in rows and columns on
a large structure in the center of the playing
field known as the Rack. The Rack is a
large metal contraption with three levels of
hanging metal bars, with each level having
eight arms evenly spaced in a circle. Each
of these levels is called a spider, and each
arm is called a spider arm. In a
change from previous games
where the field elements were
rigid and had known starting
positions, each spider hangs
on chains and thus is movable.
In fact, at the start of the game,
officials will shake the Rack,
making the task of placing rings
more difficult.
There are two phases of game play. In the first 15 seconds (the
autonomous phase), the robots may place game tubes called “keepers” on
the rack using only preprogrammed computer commands. During the last
two minutes of play, robots driven by the pit crew get to place “ringers,” the
default game piece, on the spider arms. Special pieces called “spoilers”
can also be strategically placed to disrupt opponents' rows. At the end of
the match, robots can be elevated above the ground by their alliance
partners to score bonus points, which are then added to the points scored
using the tubes to determine the winner.
Edina Robotics FIRST Team 1816, The Green Machine, Update February 2007 1
Our team's robot design has focused primarily on lifting the other robots on
our alliance during the endgame for bonus points. We are planning to use
two ramps positioned on opposite sides of the robot. During the endgame,
the two other robots on our alliance will each be able to drive up a ramp
and be lifted up twelve inches via pneumatics – the height required to
score 60 bonus points. During normal game play, the ramps will be folded
up (oriented perpendicular to the ground) which may be a useful defense to
prevent other robots from placing the game pieces. We have also put
considerable effort into programming aspects of our robot. We hope to be
able to place game pieces using a basic manipulator that, under the control
of our robot's vision system, will grab and release the game tubes.
Although the design as described is current as of this writing, it may
change significantly before
shipment as the team
discovers what works and
what doesn't.
So far we have completed
the basic chassis and are
in the process of building
the ramps. Basic
manipulator designs are
being discussed and
prototyped, but a single
design has not yet been
decided on. The
programming team has
really been working hard
to ensure that programming for the machine vision system, gyroscope, and
other sensors will be able to guide the robot to the Rack during the
autonomous period and assist during regular play as well.
Sharing the
FIRST message
with our community
Every FIRST
team is
charged with
spreading the
message of
FIRST (For
Inspiration and
Recognition of
Science and
Technology).
On Saturday,
January 27,
The Green
Machine took a little time off from building to do just that, by playing host to
approximately 60 guests at our Honeywell-provided build site in
Minnetonka. Edina Robotics Education Day attendees included team
corporate sponsors, representatives of the Edina Board of Education,
Edina High School Site and Parent Councils, teachers, school and district
administrators, and parents. Most of the team’s 34 students were on hand
Edina Robotics FIRST Team 1816, The Green Machine, Update February 2007 2
to demonstrate and explain how a FIRST Robotics team prepares for
competition and to show the progress to date on the 2007 robot.
Particular points of interest for the visitors were the Fuel Cell Station, the
Rack, and the 2007 robot chassis, which was finally operational! Last
year’s robot also made a cameo appearance. Visitors were also treated to
video highlights of last year’s robot in competition, and some excellent
cake donated by the Queen of Cakes!
Sharing the FIRST story with our community.
Edina Robotics FIRST Team 1816, The Green Machine, Update February 2007 3
The following Monday the team
hosted a few additional very
important guests: Dr. Ric Dressen,
Edina Superintendent of Schools;
Jenni Norlin-Weaver, Director of the
Department of Teaching and
Learning; Mary Manderfeld, Edina
High School principal, and Bert
Ledder, of the Edina Board of
Education, were given a private tour
of the team’s Honeywell build
facility, located in a warehouse in
Minnetonka. On their tour, these
guests were given a demonstration
of both the current and past robots’
abilities by the team’s lead student
engineer Kristofer L., well as
provided with an in-depth
explanation of the new Hydrogen
Fuel Cell pilot project from subteam lead Lauren L. The Robotics team also
strutted their stuff for another audience on Monday. A crew from
KARE-11’s “Whatever Show” filmed the team in action and interviewed
team members for an upcoming broadcast, tentatively scheduled for late
February.
Enlisting sponsors
Our budget this year is $46,000. We are excited to have been selected last
week by the Edina Education Fund to receive a $5,000 grant. To date we
are still seeking $12,000 to get the team to the Wisconsin Regional
Competition and the Championship Competition in Atlanta, where we are
expected to participate by virtue of the pilot fuel cell program.
We thank Honeywell, our top sponsor, for their in-kind contribution of a
large loading dock space in which to build our robot this year! Special
thanks also to Medtronic for their generous support of the team – in
addition to their original grant of $10,000, they anticipate an additional
allocation to us later this month. NASA funded our grant proposal for
$6,000, covering our registration at the Wisconsin Regional Competition in
March. Other sponsors who have made monetary or in-kind contributions
include Dunwooody Institute, Hennepin Technical College, Kaemmerer
Group, Honeywell Retirees Volunteer Program, Edina High School Student
Council, Home Depot, and Barr Engineering, WSB & Associates
Engineering, Queen of Cakes, and Uppercrust. We anticipate that many of
last year’s sponsors and new ones will collaborate with us this year. We’ll
be posting our 2007 contributors as we receive them (visit the Sponsor
portion of our website, www.edinarobotics.com.)
We invite you to be a part of our adventure! Tax deductible contributions
can be directed to Edina Robotics at 6701 Hillside Lane, Edina, MN 55439.
This issue of the Green Machine Update was compiled by students Greg Budd, Gentry Bain, and Alex Gough under the
direction of marketing communications mentor Carol Kaemmerer. Visit us at www.edinarobotics.com. Tax deductible
contributions can be directed to Edina Robotics at 6701 Hillside Lane, Edina, MN 55439.
Edina Robotics FIRST Team 1816, The Green Machine, Update February 2007 4
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