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On Saturday January 8, The Hawaiian Kids started their 2011 build season by attending the annual Kickoff Presentation at McKinley High School in downtown Honolulu. All the robotics teams on the island of Oahu were in attendance. The event started early, 5:30 A.M., but everybody was wide awake with excitement for what was to come. The Kickoff Presentation is an annual event that FRC teams wait all year for. The purpose of the event is to announce the year’s game and is the official start of the six week build season. Also, this is the time when the robotics teams pick up their kit of parts. The kit of part is collection of parts that are needed crucially to create their robot. This year’s Kickoff was finally here and we were all ready to find out what the game will be. So, when the video announcement aired every student was as focused as could be. By the end of the video the students were already discussing ideas on the new game, “Logomotion”. The point of “Logomotion” is to have a robot place inflatable circle, square, and triangular tubes in the order of FRC Logo (triangle, then circle, then square). Logomotion also had a second part, to have mini robots deploy from the main robot and climb a ten foot two inch poll. After Kickoff was over the team made a decision to take a physical break for the rest of a day, which means that we were to use rest of the day to understand the game and to come up with ideas for the robot. There were also a few students after Kickoff that went back to Waialua and sorted out the kit of parts to make sure that all the parts are supposed to be there, were there. By the end of the day every student of we were tired from a long day but their minds were full of great robot ideas and some knowledge of what was to come. That knowledge was that build season will be hard, but fun and a great opportunity for learning some important skills. |
Today, The Hawaiian Kids had their planning day. We decided to start the day by forming three groups and planning about this year’s game “Logomotion”. The three groups planned the game there strategy, and a robot design. Each group planned for fifteen minutes then presented their ideas in front of the other groups. Once a group was done presenting the other groups added to the ideas and asked questions concerning the topic. After each group had the opportunity to share the students had a little time to absorb all the ideas in. Once planning was over all the students had a good idea of what we want the final robot to look like and what processes will be needed to get to that moment. After planning, everyone broke up and started to work on their specific tasks. The video team worked on the weekly video and uploaded footage from Kickoff and of today’s planning. The construction team worked on painting the create that the robot gets shipped in. Then, when that was finished they worked on making a prototype telescopic arm for the robot. Once all the work of the day was down we cleaned up and decide a good amount of work has been done. One day done and six more weeks to go before the build season is over. We are definitely excited that the season has started to roll and are ready for what the future holds. |
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Today is day two of Build season and Team 359 is not wasting any time. We have our whole team putting all their effort not only during school, but also after school to get our robot together. Our construction team has already started putting the game field together and designing our robot. Also, our video team is hard at work putting in long hours to film construction and to get our open house video together. Next, our documentation team spent the day making banners. We also have one of our mentors, Mr. Wood, helping some of our students with the programming of the robot. Construction support starting to build the game field with the help of the construction team and the mentors. This will help us in the long run to test our robot out during the six weeks. Our construction team consists of mainly seniors and a few freshmen. With our seniors leaving soon it gives them an opportunity to show the freshmen the ropes and teach them how everything is done. Video team spent their day in and out of the auto shop and their video room filming the construction of the game field then heading back to the video room to edit and get the open house video together. Documentation team worked on creating a new banner. The banner displays team pictures and information about the team. It took a lot of time to put together but we got it done. We give a lot of thanks to our mentor, Mr. Wood for spending one on one time with our students to help teach them how to program the robot and help with the design of our robot. |
With only three days into the 2011 build season, the Hawaiian Kids' work vigorously to stay on task. Starting the day off, we went to get the materials for the playing field elements, such as plywood, PVC pipe, and PVC fittings for the scoring grid. Once the materials were bought, the construction team worked hard and taught the newest members how to measure twice and cut once. As the construction division was cutting out dimensions for the vertical columns and scoring pegs, the programming division was testing out the line tracker. Because this year’s game, Logomotion, has an element of each FIRST program, we brought in a few members of our FLL team to assist since they also worked with a similar line tracking program and to learn about the 2011 driver station and Labview since they will soon move up to the FRC program. After wiring up the line tracker to the prototype robot, it was tested through various conditions such as different ranges and surfaces to see the results. Before building the actual robot, the CAD division must design what it would look like so, the CAD designer worked on the base of the robot such as the wheels and frame. In the meantime, as the documentation team updates files for website and chairman’s binder, they also made omiyage; the media team works behind the scenes taping each division as they get footage for the open house and week one video. With so many things to be done, in so little time the Hawaiian Kids have no time to slack, but to get the job done. |
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With gusts up to 20 mph and rolling thunderstorms, nothing would stop The Hawaiian Kids from a day of working. With all the pieces cut out for the scoring grid, the construction team assembled it by connecting dowels to the reflector pads, then attaching it to the scoring pegs and lastly mounting the poles to the scoring grid. Because the assembly took less time then expected, they started and finished working on the base and post of the tower. Meanwhile, the programming team worked on mounting, calibrating, and reviewing the coding of the line trackers. As for our CAD division, they started the 2011 animation story board, which will be shown at each regional we attend once it is completed and submitted. They also started working on the design for the gear box which controls the movement of the wheels for the robot.
We also had a visitor from Team 1018, RoboDevils. Their mentor, John Yamashita, came to tour our robotics facilities and talk to our mentor, Mr. Glenn Lee. With only a few days left of week one, the media team is finishing up the week one video and working on the open house video, which will be shown on February 17, 2011, at our annual robotics open house. As the website division edited pictures, made a site map and created multimedia pages, the documentation team is making the profile pages for our program binder and it's support team made buttons to give out at regionals.
As the weather conditions seem to worsen throughout the islands of Hawaii, Team 359 won't quit until the job is done for the day.
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With only a single day left of week one, Team 359 worked diligently to reach each goal subjected to each division. For the construction division it was to complete and assemble all playing field elements, which was accomplished today. It was a busy day for the construction crew since they built the human player station, made the top of the tower, and reinforced and added a driver station to the scoring grid. Since each field piece is completed, they now need to paint and move the items from the auto shop to the testing room. On another note, the programming division was able to have the prototype robot track the line and steer. Since they accomplished this task they started changing different elements such as the wheels and codes. The wheel was changed to a slicker wheel to test the ability to track and follow the line; and the code was changed so it runs for 10 seconds, but we are shooting for it to run at least 15 seconds just as in the autonomous period. In the meantime, Mentor, Mr. Randy Wood, helped a Waialua Elementary Student, Cody, with programming his NXT mindstorm 2.0 robot. As the FIRST robotics program extends to the younger levels, each child becomes prospective students for the FLL, VEX, and FRC programs at Waialua, such as Cody. Meanwhile, the CAD division continued working on the story board for the 2011 animation video, and the visual media division captured footage of the fabrication of the playing field and also edited and finished up the week one video. As week one slowly comes to an end, we soon await for the rest of the five weeks ahead. |
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It was a good day to end off week one, with the skies filled with sunlight and the night ending with hopeful plans for the next five weeks to come. Today the video team finished up their week one video and submitted it to the website division for it to be posted. As they continue to film the different divisions on our team, they are also preparing for the week two video and progressively working on the open house video. As for the construction division, they finished painting the scoring grid, which is a field element for which robots must place inflatable tubes in the order of the FIRST symbol. Since all of the pieces of the playing field were completed, they moved each piece to the testing room, where the driver's of the robot can start to test drive and get the feel of how to play the game. Because the construction team doesn't need to focus on the playing field anymore, they started working on the arm of the robot. For today, they finished making an adapter for the window motor so that it can connect to the shaft and also completed making a plate for the sprocket. During the same time, the programming division adjusted the speed of the line tracker to move quicker. They also set up a tank drive mode for the prototype robot to run off of the Logitech game pad so that the drivers can get a feel for it. In addition to the CAD's division progress, they are perfecting the story board for the animation. This years animation video theme is to "Change Their World," which the designer must create an invention, product, or an idea to improve the world for the better. This animation project is due in just four weeks, so the designers must work hard to get the job done. Week one is officially over, and now The Hawaiian Kids prepare and proceed for the next five weeks to come. Imua Waialua! |
To view the Safety FIRST! article for week one, click here.
