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