flux Magazine article!

Check out the cover story about our club in the Mag Lab's flux magazine!

http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/mediacenter/publications/flux/issue9/documents/flux9_web.pdf

$23K!!!

A big thanks to everyone who came out to our MLC Dinner tonight.  Special thanks to the cooks and helpers (Davie Brightbill, Kelly McGrath, Brian Burke, Dave Rothamer, Julie Rogers, Elgin, Pete Broderson) who spent hours upon hours prepping the delicious meal.

The efforts from this event and a recently awarded grant of $2,000 from Consortium for Florida Education Foundation via AT&T, we are excited to announce that we have achieved our fundraising goal of $23,000.  This is just in time for build season beginning in less than a month!  A complete list of our sponsors will be posted on our website very soon.

A big thanks to all of our sponsors and supporters for helping make this happen.  We WILL do you proud at our upcoming competitions!

MLC Dinner Fundraiser Tomorrow!

Hello everyone!

 

We have one last big fundraiser before build season.  Join us on Saturday, December 15th for a gourmet dinner and robot presentation.  Drive the robot and shoot the layup. Then at 6:30 enjoy a fantastic meal by some of the best chefs on the Co-Op served by SAIL robotics team members themselves.

The meal will be 100% vegetarian including the rennet used in the cheese. This is a pasta dinner featuring an Alfredo sauce made by Brian Burke, a traditional sugo (tomato based red sauce) by Davie, pasta, salad, garlic bread and for desert, home made biscotti and coffee or tea.

 

We will ask for a $10 suggested donation. 

 

To students and parents:

We need as many students there as possible in order to make it go smoothly. Students should be at the Miccosukee Land Co-op by 2 pm. The dinner will be starting at 6:30. The dinner will go on until around 8, and then students need to stay and help clean up until around 9. Please RSVP and let us know if you are planning on staying for dinner.

Hope to see you there!

 

~The Octo-PI-rates

FIRST Team 3502

Join us at Ghengis Grill tomorrow!

Dear friends, family, and OctoPIrate supporters,

Please come to our fundraiser at Ghengis Grill tomorrow!  All you have to do is purchase a meal and tell your server that you are there for the robotics club and we will get a percentage of your final bill.  This is actually an ALL DAY event so you can go for lunch and/or dinner.

Here is a flyer about the event:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/18D-zzbZXnbNQDFnGHM6SRdoBspayap258Gfqum0WbXFdNv2YJTu_ztg8CFgy/edit

Thanks in advance!!
The Octo PI rates

Panther Prowl and general updates

This weekend we will be traveling to Melbourne, FL to attend Panther Prowl, an off-season competition featuring last year's game "Rebound Rumble".  We are bringing a smaller crew this time due to limited funding.  We have a few veterans attending as well as some new members.  The goal is to expose new members to the excitement of the competition.  Live streaming of the event can be viewed at http://floridatech.orgsync.com/org/firstatfit/results.

On the fundraising front, we are doing well!  After numerous grant rejections, we finally been awarded grants from JCPenney again this year in the amount of $1000 and from CFEF/Motorola in the amount of $5000.  This is great news as it gets us our entry fee into the Florida Regional.  A big thanks to JCPenney and CFEF and Motorola for getting us to this huge milestone!!

We are still however, about $12,000 short of our goal this year.  We will continue to apply for grants as well as organize fundraising events.  As of now, we have firm dates for our Open House on Oct 25 and a benefit dinner at the MLC on Dec 15.  We are also running ongoing bake sales, planning for car wash(es), merchandise, and more.

The new Crandall Machine shop is coming along slowly but surely.  We got power hooked up about a month ago and had some training sessions on the mill and lathe with volunteers from the Mag Lab.  We have also received a MIG welder donated to us by Lively Technical Center.  It just arrived today!  So some more legwork will have to be done to get these machines set up and ready to use before build season.

In general, club meetings are continuing to meet on Mondays and Thursdays after school.  We have a promising set of new young faces.  Workshop training sessions were held early on and will resume after Panther Prowl this weekend.  So far, we have taught cleaning/organizing, measuring, hardware, and safety.  Future workshops will include hand tools, power tools, electronics, programming, CAD, etc.

There is so much more happening than what is posted here!  If you would like to volunteer in any way, please contact Jasun at jasun.burdick@gmail.com.

Let the games begin!

From Jasun:

Welcome to the 2012/13 Season.  We have a lot of momentum right now and several events coming up soon.

 

We will be meeting Mondays and Thursdays 3-4:30 till build season begins. Students will start Thursday with: Introductions, Tour, Panther Prowl Paperwork, and Drive "The Farrell Beast"

• In our 2 years of robotic building we have come along way.  From motors taped to frames and screwed into plywood. Now we are shooting basketballs, autonomously video processing shapes and lining up shots and distances.  Using sensor feedback to control flywheel RPM, position of arms, and robot navigation.  Yet we still have a long way. 
• Our Mission to spread STEAM to our team and beyond.  
• We will beginning our COBB mentor-ship program starting next week when the FLL Mindstorm game is announced on the 28th.  
• Our robotics class is looking strong.  We have lots of excitement and a difficult project ahead.
• 1st 9 weeks Build 4 line following robots to be used for demos
• 2nd 9 Build projects around SAIL
• 3rd 9 Compete in the FIRST FRC competition (This was the basketball game last year).
• 4th 9 Individual projects
• Projects
• Our machine shop has power and needs some clean up and oiling and we will be able to cut almost any shape out of metal.
• A welder is in the works being donated by Lively
• The 3D printer is 80% complete and is awaiting a bearing to finish assembly.
• The local makerspace is close to finding a home and will provide lots of expertise and new tools.
• The local Arduino group has met twice and is defining some project
• Staying Connected
• Please join our Facebook to keep up with the inner workings and keep an eye on the web page for announcements.  I will try to be consistent with e-mailing this list also with relevant events.  Let me know if you would like to be removed or put in the Bcc line to avoid spamming. 

2011 - 2012 Summary

Go to our gallery page to check out a slideshow of our 2011 - 2012 season summary. Have a great summer!

Capital City Villager Article

We are the featured story in the latest Capital City Villager newspaper!!! Here's a link to the online version of the newspaper.
http://issuu.com/capitalcityvillager/docs/villager_apr112012_tab_mixedcolor_web?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

News Article and Meeting Times

An online article about us by WCTV news: http://www.wctv.tv/schools/headlines/Robot_March_Madness_143429336.html

Hope you all had a great Spring Break and Intensives week. We'll start meeting again every Thursday after school starting this Thursday.

See you then!
Wendy

We did Great

We placed 7th of 63 teams at the Orlando Regional March 10th 2012

Wow. What a adventure. The OctoPiRates played some great basketball scoring balls autonomously, picking them off the ground, and shooting goals from over 40' .

The end game involved balancing on bridges with other robots where we scored more points than any other robot. Check the gallery for pics from the competition.

We did so well I really want to thank our sponsors: Lowes Foundation, Motorola Solutions, JCPenney, CFEF and the rest of our Fellowship. We raised $23,000 dollars this year to make all this happen. We have some money left over that we are going to put into more tooling. We also were just donated a lathe and mill from the Mag Lab that will allow us much more capability in working with materials. Also a big hip hip horray and pats on the back to all our Students, Mentors, and Parents who put in the many long hours to make it all happen.

Looking forward to next year and the months of training to teach the next generation how to be on the cutting edge of Science and Technology.

• Designing in 3D modeling to the thousandths of an inch
• Calculating the Forces and Energy required for each assembly, component, and material
• Measuring, Machining and Welding using top safety practices
• Marketing and Fundraising to be able to make it all happen.

Our Robot

Name: The Farrell Beast"

Weight: 111 pounds

Size: 28 x 38 x 58" Tall

Power: 12 volt, 18 Amp Hour Battery

Drive Train: 4 high friction independent wheels with encoders

Shooter and conveyor: Picks balls off the ground, storing 3 balls, and shooting autonomously from over 40 ft.

Bridge Arm: capable of exerting over 25 ft/pounds

Can't wait to find out what next years game will be?

~JaSun

A Word from JaSun

Dear Supporters of the OctoPiRates,

We are very proud 2 be in our second year of building robots for the FRC competition. Our robot this year "The Farrell Beast" picks up and holds 3 foam basketballs with a conveyor up to a single beautiful 10" aluminum flywheel. We have hit 5 shots in a row from the key and some 45 foot shots occasionally. We have 3 excellent arms, a working conveyor, several sensors, and a great shooter it's absolutely amazing. I am so proud of our students at SAIL High School who: Designed, CAD, Programmed, Welded, Machined, Soldered, and Assembled such a great machine in 6 weeks.

Here is a link to an recent ABC broadcast at our website.
http://sailroboticsclub.com/news.html

Our competition is March 8-10th at Orlando in the UCF Basketball arena.

We have a strong shot to do very well.

Follow us on twitter to keep up to date and track our regional event stats

Thanks for your support, helping to educate the brightest minds in the areas of STEM and life skills.

An extra big thanks to our platinum sponsors.
Lowe's Charitable Education Foundation

Motorola Solutions Foundation

JCPenney

Build Season... Check!

The Farrell Beast is alive and well. Now, she lies dormant in the robot room getting some R&R before her big debut. I am so excited for all the hard work we have put in. No matter what happens at the competition, we have already accomplished an amazing feat!

We did so well that we had time to show off our robot to the media on the last day of build season. Here's a link to our 5 minutes of fame on ABC27: http://www.wtxl.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=3294749

We've still got a few things to do to prepare for the competition. Here's a message from Jasun:

We just built an amazing robot. I am so proud of us and want to congratulate everyone. I eagerly await March 7th and the regional competition in Orlando.

We are going to be meeting Wednesday, and Thursdays 3-7:15
You should be at all meetings or let Emily or I know that you will need to be caught up.

... Wednesdays will be workshops:
Robot and team facts
Science of how the robot works
interviewing skills
juggling
expectations for competition
Thursdays will be less formal and work more on preparation for the event.
Spirit, swag, robot improvements

Only 2 weeks till competition!!

~JaSun

The Light at the End of the Tunnel...

... is near! Goosebumps, cheers, and high fives were among us tonight as we just made our first basketball hoop! Video will be posted soon!

The conveyor has also been assembled and can pick up balls off the floor!

There is still alot of hard work ahead of us before stop build day in just 5 days but we are super excited that we are 500% ahead of where we were last year at this time!

Testing Time

8 Days left till the Crating Ceremony and the end of build season

February 21st 6pm @ SAIL HS

All supporters welcome.

We shot our first ball over the weekend and can't wait to turn some clamps into welds so we can turn up full power. We will be testing the robot all week trying to tune our shooting range and accuracy. Its going to be so fun. :)

~J

Team update

Words from JaSun:

28 Days till Crating

I am really impressed with our club. We have developed into a much stronger team. Individuals are working together in groups. People are being self motivated to find out what to do and continue to solve problems even if that just means asking for help. Remember to read the To Do List every day when you arrive.

Mechanical: We have dreams of great features but we have no capability to do such. We need a plan of what were doing in CAD. We need to find a machine shop and also build ours. We own a lathe, but we have no expert to use it. Our field elements look great, I can’t wait to have a robot to start testing them.

Spirit and Image: We have raised around $22,000 dollars. We need to put this to use. I love our crate. I would like to see it constructed in the hall and more functionality put into it (shelves, power strips, …). We also need to be thanking all of our supporters and giving them regular updates. I love our team cheer, I look forward to many more.

Lock it up: Everyone needs to be at our Crate-ing ceremony. On February 21^st we will stop building and crate our new robot currently with out a name. Several media people will be there and we will be shooting hoops hopefully autonomously and taking our team picture. We will be in our outfits ready for battle, and talking about our dreams.

Schedule: Homework time will now be till 3:30 and then skills till 4:00 when we start meetings. That will give everyone some time to relax and play. Every Octopus (that’s us) should be flexible, able to juggle lots of objects, and be able to sit and think.

~JaSun

Week 3 begins

Robot "brains" are wired up and ready to be tested. We are still waiting for some parts to come in before we build the frame / drive system. More prototyping is still happening as well as CAD of our ever evolving design. Programming has finally started showing promising signs of functionality.

Goals for this week: Finish CAD work, build frame, assemble drive system, build bumpers, fabricate parts. Have a driving robot by the end of the week. If we're good we'll be able to pick up balls by then as well.

Big news from last week: We were awarded the Lowe's Toolbox for education grant in the amount of $7,700! We are now up to a total of about $22,000 raised this year. Great job everyone!

9 days in, 36 days to go!

We're moving along nicely. We spent all week brainstorming, voting, debating, re-voting, and prototyping and at last, we have our final design idea. We ordered about $1300 in parts and supplies this weekend.

Today was a school holiday, but robots don't take days off. Thanks to those who came out to our house today to help build the practice field. We now have a bridge, a barrier, and 90% of the basketball hoops built. And also thanks to those who donated lumber and hoops to the cause.

This week we will be modeling our design in CAD while we wait for our parts to come in. The electrical team can also wire up the control system as well as fix a few things. Mechanical team can start building the frame. Fundraising team can work on grants. Marketing and design has things like press releases, team essays, chairman's awards, and more. Programming can start coding the different subsystems of the robot. Jess is busy making our crate look beautiful and Chente is heading up the robot cart project. That's not all, so much to do only 36 days to go!

Much thanks to all the parents for pitching in with food and endless support.

Keep up the good work all!

Kicking off the Kickoff

Thanks to all who came to our open brainstorming session... parents, sponsors, community members. It was really important for us to talk to you and are excited about your support.

We had alot of great ideas thrown out there and we're still super excited to get rockin! For the rest of this week we will be building prototypes to test out the best ideas. We'll decide on the final design by Friday then start the CAD process.

There are still a ton of other things to do also. We have to build the practice field, get all of our software set up, write a couple more grants, write team essays, work on team awards, finish building the crate and the cart, etc etc etc....

Let's do it!

Rebound Rumble!

This year's game challenge, "Rebound Rumble" has been announced! If you haven't already, watch the game animation to see what it's all about. Also read the game manual and start brainstorming and strategizing. Bring your ideas on Monday!

Don't forget we're having open house kickoff on Monday at 5:30pm. We want all of the parents to be there! As well as anybody else who is interested in checking it out!

Here's a link to the game animation: http://youtu.be/nzpoMzLMhcw

Here's a link to the game manual: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/competition-manual-and-related-documents

Ready or not...

We're less than 4 days from kickoff! Are you feeling the excitement?

We've worked our tails off to raise almost $14,000!!! This Saturday, FIRST kicks off the build season. Jasun and I will be picking up the kit of parts that day. All students and supporters should watch the kickoff online (streams on NASA TV) and read the game manual over the weekend so we are ready to start brainstorming ideas when we meet on Monday.

NASA Streaming Link: http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/2012_kickoff.php
Game manual link: http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/competition-manual-and-related-documents

Be ready for six weeks of late nights and hard work. All parents are strongly encouraged to come to our local kickoff event this coming Monday night at 5:30pm. We would like to talk to you about what to expect over the next 6 weeks.

Orlando Regional here we come!!!