Well AIR Strikers, the 2010 FRC challenge BREAKAWAY has been announced.  Our kickoff this past Saturday was a great success.  50 students, mentors, and family members gathered at Building 80 to view the kickoff live from Manchester, NH.  After viewing the game animation, students broke into groups to analyze the game and understand its’ rules and constraints.

At our meeting today, students recapped our kickoff meeting for members not in attendance on Saturday.  We discussed the many ways to play this game and our top priorities for design.  Students then broke up into mechanical, electrical, programming, and strategy sub-groups.

Summary:
Two alliances of three teams each compete on a 27′ x 54′ field with bumps attempting to earn points by collecting soccer balls in their goals. Additional bonus points are earned for each robot not touching the field at the end of the match.

Robots:
• Dimensions at start of game 28″ x 38″ x 60″
• Max. dimensions during last 20 seconds of game not to exceed 7′ in diameter or 90″ in height.
•Weight not to exceed 120 lbs., excluding batteries and bumpers.

Simplified Game Play Rules:
• Robots may not possess more than one ball at a time, but they may herd and kick multiple balls at a time. Balls must remain in contact with the floor while in robot’s possession.
• Alliances must return scored balls to the field quickly.
• Only one robot at a time is permitted to play defense in front of the opponent’s goals.

Link to the game animation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex90Aw4PdAI&feature=player_embedded
Link to rules: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/content.aspx?id=452

Our meeting schedule this week is Monday through Thursday, 6:00 pm to 8:45 pm at Building 2 on the Naval Station.  Saturday we will be meeting from 12-4 at Building 2 and then go over to Building 80 for a game night!  The game night is for our FRC team members to get to know each other.  More details later this week.  ALL STUDENTS SHOULD BE READING THE RULES! Especially section 7 about the game.

If families or students have any questions, please reply to this email.

Great kickoff everyone!

FIRST Lego League

• January 9, 2010 – RI FLL State Championship
  8:00 AM – 6:00 PM
  Roger Williams University
  One Old Ferry Road
  Bristol, RI  02809

FIRST Tech Challenge

• January 2, 2010 – All Day Meeting
  9:00 AM – 6:00 PM
  Building 2
• Build Meetings
  Sundays: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
  Mondays: 6:00 PM – 8:45 PM
  Building 2
• January 15, 2010 – Delaware Travel Decision Deadline
  Contact Mike DeSousa or Rick Blight
• January 27, 2010 – Delaware Pack Up
  6:00 PM – 8:45 PM
  Building 2
• January 29 – 31, 2010 – Delaware State FTC Championship
  

FIRST Robotics Competition

• January 9th, 2010 – FRC Season Kickoff
  9:30 AM – 3:00 PM
  Building 80 UCTOC
  No food will be provided.  Please bring your own snacks/bag lunch (refrigerator and microwave available).
• Build Meetings
  Monday through Thursday: 6:00 PM – 8:45 PM
  Saturdays: 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM
  Sundays: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
• January 22, 2010 – BAE Regional Travel Decision Deadline
  Contact Sue Violet

• Small arm weight reduced
• Small arm programmed
• Manual control now, automatic to be determined
• Lexan slide cut and mounted
• All wiring was cable tied down
• On/Off switch secured

Reflections

• Pickup arm harder than expected
• Lemon Pledge makes pucks slide nicely
• Autonomous actions can make things much easier on the driver
• Clean wiring makes a huge difference

EN 65

16 Pucks Scored:

Teleop rack to goal:

Next 4 are Autonomous Mode testing:

• The team has two solid ideas on puck pick up from the ground.  Over the next week we will experiment with both and choose the best option.
• Instead of a solid bin on the arm, Greg S. developed a “net” using the non slip matting.  This gives us much more capacity while reducing weight.
• We are also planning on using two of the DC motors for the arm to increase speed and reduce wear and tear on the existing motor.
• The team has decided to have a Bowl-A-Thon fundraiser on January 31.  Please contact us if you would like to donate.

EN 53