KO 7/5/04
Rochester FIRST Robotics Team – Harris Corporation & Penfield High School
Time Schedule
February 2004
§ Obtain Harris Sponsorship (Kim)
§ Gain School Interest (Judy)
§ Begin Preparing Schedules/budgets/documentation/ideas
§ Come up with team Structure
March 2004
§ Attend/Tape/View Webcast of a Regional Event
§ Begin Harris Recruiting/Work with HR
§ Discuss Teacher involvement with Penfield HS
April 2004
§ Continue planning/Develop HS meeting activities
§ Come up with Fundraising ideas
§ Research Other team info/Contact Rochester teams
§ Develop Harris Recruiting fliers/emails/etc
May 2004
§ Start looking for summer events to attend
June 2004
§ Discuss school/team logistics with Penfield HS
§ Harris Recruiting event (beginning month)
§ Harris Recruiting meeting (end month)
§ Harris Kick Off Meeting (end month)
July 2004
§ Harris Planning/Teambuilding meeting (3)
August 2004
§ Harris Planning meetings (determine team leads) (4)
§ Develop HS Recruiting Strategy
§ Meet Again with HS Reps to plan
September 2004
§ High School Recruiting Event
§ Harris Planning meeting (1)
§ High School Recruiting meeting (1)
§ Team meeting (2) 1hr Teambuilding, Intro, Activity
October 2004
§ Team meetings (4) 2.5hrs each, activity & learning
§ Subteam meetings – Fundraising, Animation, Team leads, Webpage
November 2004
§ Team meetings (4) 2.5hrs each, activity & learning
§ Subteam meetings – Fundraising, Animation, Team leads, Drive Train, Mechanical, Electrical
December 2004
§ Team meetings (3) 2.5hrs each, activity & learning
§ Subteam meetings – All
§ Decide on Logos/Name
January 2005
§ Team meetings (2/wk) Design & Build
§ Weekend meetings (1/wk) Design & Build
§ Subteam meetings – All
February 2005
§ Team meetings (2/wk) Design & Build
§ Weekend meetings (1/wk) Design & Build
§ Subteam meetings – All
§ Complete Build
§ Ship Robot
§ Driver Training
§ Local Rochester Competition??
March 2005
§ Driver Training
§ Clean-up, catalog
§ Attend Competitions
§ Volunteer @ Competitions
April 2005
§ National Competition?
§ Clean-ups
§ Preparation for summer (demos/competitions/etc)
May 2005
§ Team Party/Picnic
June 2005-August 2005a
§ Summer Competitions?
Roles
Kim O’Toole: Team Lead, Electrical Engineer, Schedule, FIRST interface
Judy Graham: Harris/High School Interface, Parent, FIRST Interface
High School Staff: Facilitate meetings, Community Involvement, Administrative Details, Travel Planning for students/faculty, Help Develop Preseason Projects, Assist in Student/Engineer interactions
Harris Staff: Engineering, Develop Preseason projects, co-lead subteams, Inspire Students, Travel Planning, Marketing, Finance, Coach
Parents: Community Involvement, Travel Planning, Fundraising
Students: Subteam leads, Drivers, Fundraising, Fabrication, Drive Team, Get Inspired!
Six Week Design & Build Period Schedule
Week 1: Brainstorm, Ideas, Pick Robot Design, Field Construction
Week 2: Mechanical Design, Programming & Electrical Development
Week 3: Finish Designs, Procure Parts, Start Building, Programming & Electrical Development
Week 4: Building, Testing
Week 5: Finish Building, Electrical Wiring, Programming
Week 6: Driver Training, Work out Bugs, Ship Robot
Subteams (Ideas)
Team Leads Mechanical Chairman’s Award
Fundraising Electrical/ Programming
Webpage Strategy/Drive/Rules
Business/Marketing Photography/Videography
Animation Spirit/Logo
Subteam Descriptions:
Team Leads: (Kim, Judy, Mark, Teacher, 2 Student Reps) Responsible for the scheduling,Organization, and main planning for the team. Meets with the Subteam leads. Robot BOM, Inspection Checklist, Budget should be maintained. FIRST interface.
Fundraising: Responsible for coming up with fundraising ideas, planning and implementing them, keeping track of the fundraising budget and what each student/person is required to raise.
Webpage: Responsible for designing and implementing, as well as keeping up to date, a webpage for the team. Also responsible for monitoring the FIRST webpage for pertinent information
Business/Marketing: Responsible for keeping track of the budgets for the team, developing marketing materials for the team, both locally and for competition. Is responsible for handling the marketing requirements from Harris RF & Corporate.
Animation: Responsible for learning the 3D Animation software and implementing an animation for the 3D animation competition.
Mechanical: Responsible for the Mechanical Design and Mechanical Fabrication of the Robot. Also will be responsible for running Mechanical Preseason Projects
Electrical/Programming: Responsible for designing and implementing the electrical systems on the robot, including the programming and the driver control system.
Strategy/Drive/Rules: Responsible for knowing and understanding all of the game and robot rules, will provide final inspection of the robot, develops the competition strategy based upon the robot design chosen by the team, implements driver training, and MUST contain all drivers and backup drivers.
Photography/Videography/Documentation: Responsible for recording/documenting all meetings and creating media for the Webpage and marketing group. Will also be responsible for maintaining all team documentation in readily accessible form.
Spirit/Logo: Responsible for developing and producing the team logo, Tshirts & buttons. Also responsible for decorating the robot, and developing spirit paraphernalia, team cheers, etc.
Chairman’s Award: Should the team elect to work on the Chairman’s Award, this subteam is responsible for the development of the Chairman’s Award Submission.
Projects for Preseason (Ideas)
Drive Train – Research other teams Drive trains, design 3 different drive trains (ie tracked, 4 wheel drive, 2 wheel drive) and build at least one.
Arm System – Research other teams Arms, for different competitions, design 2 different arms, build at least a model of one of them.
Electrical Wiring – Examine parts from old kits, put together a sample Electrical board
Strategy/Play – Use old competitions to come up with a moch-play scenario in which kids pick a robot design and push eachother on scooters.
Mechanical Design – Design robot arms, Ball Carriers, Ball Suckers, Box Movers, etc
Programming - Review the concept of AI, a brief AI thought task, get into some low level programming using the FIRST program apps.
Welding – Do a small project which requires welding and teaches the students about welding.
Metalwork – Do a small project which requires sheet metal/metalwork and teaches the students how to use the different machines & tools involved.
Lathe – Do a small project which requires the use of the lathe.
Materials – Use a kit of parts and a bunch of materials from the small parts/materials lists and allow the students to identify catalogue and come up with uses for each.
Competitions for Preseason (Ideas)
Lego Directions – Each group is given a prebuilt lego unit and has to create directions and instructions for how to rebuild the unit. The unit is then taken apart, and another group has to build the unit.
Paper Bridge Competition – Each group is given materials and a set of rules and has to build the strongest paper bridge possible.
Mousetrap Car – Each group is rgiven materials and a set of rules and has to build a car powered by a mousetrap which travels the farthest distance (fastest?).
Straw Bridge – Each group is given materials and a set of rules and has to build the strongest bridge out of straws.
Newspaper Tower – Each group is given materials and a set of rules and has to build the tallest freestanding Newspaper tower possible.
Egg Drop – Each group is given materials and a set of rules (and can bring certain things from home) and must construct an egg “basket” which protects the egg when dropped from the highest height. There may also be a marketing portion.
Catapult Competition – Each group is given materials and a set of rules and must build a catapult which hurls an object the furthest distance.
Balloon Rocket – Each group is given materials and a set of rules and must build a balloon rocket which travels along fishing line the furthest distance.
Mini-FIRST Competition – Select a competition from previous years, find a way to simulate the field using known parts, and the team plays out the competition on scooters to understand the aspects of the game.
Lego Competition – Using the Lego Mindstorms kits and a set of rules, each team must build a robot and select drivers to compete in a mini robot competition.
Budget
Preseason Materials: $800
Sample Kit of Parts: $750
Rochester Registration $6,000
2nd Regional Registration $4,000
Parts/Materials: $3,000
Harris Travel: $3,810
High School Travel: $4,590
Total: $22,950
Meeting Schedule
Admin Meeting 1 (June 10): Meet with High School Advisors & Parents
Harris Info Session: June 23rd : Presentation, Hand outs, Forms, Q&A (video??/photos)
Harris Kickoff Meeting: (July 8th) Balloon Rocket Activity, Go over subteams/find leads, Review FIRST and the team mission, List and assign Preseason Activities, Q&A
Harris Planning/Teambuilding 1: (July 29th) Discuss Projects
Harris Planning/Teambuilding 2: (August 12th) Discuss Projects/Recruiting
Harris Planning/Teambuilding 3: (August 26th) Discuss Projects/Recruiting
Admin Meeting 2: (August) Meeting with HS & Parents, discuss recruiting, projects, etc.
Harris Planning/Teambuilding 4: (September 2nd) Discuss Recruiting, Projects, Years Project Layout Schedule.
Harris Demo/Recruiting: (September)
High School Recruiting Meeting: (September) Presentation, Video, Hand outs, Forms, Q&A, Lego Instructions Activity
Team Meeting 1: (September) Competition, Subteams
Team Meeting 2: (September) Project, Subteams
Team Meeting 3: (October)
Team Meeting 4: (October)
Team Meeting 5: (October)
Team Meeting 6: (October)
Team Meeting 7: (November)
Team Meeting 8: (November)
Team Meeting 9: (November)
Team Meeting 10: (November)
Team Meeting 11: (December)
Team Meeting 12: (December)
Team Meeting 13: (December)
Tasks/Misc Activities
Preseason:
1. Try and find a machine shop (BOCES?) to work at, or get donations of particular metalworking tools. Run by school as to how to train the kids to work with them.
2. Find a place that will make/donate Tshirts for the team, Find a place to make buttons for the team. Either get donations, or get quotes.
3. Find a place/assign a person to be in charge of field construction. We will need to find places willing to donate materials or find cheap prices.
4. Find a location to set up the field.
5. Start a team webpage, examine other teams webpages.
6. Learn the 3-D Animation Software, see if we can purchase or get a free copy from FIRST. Come up with an idea to set our robot in
7. Get a sample kit of parts from FIRST
8. Explore the Robovation idea from FIRST
9. Plan the preseason activities, gather materials, write up rules.
10. Look into travel costs, fundraising budgets etc.
11. FUNDRAISE!!!!
12. Nov/Dec: decide on team name, logo, motto, etc.
Inseason:
1. Acquire materials, Construct field
2. Get Tshirts & Buttons Made
3. Complete Fundraising
4. Make Travel Plans/Arrangements