Robot Season 2013

From JaSun:

Hello OctoPiRates,

  The FIRST robotic challenge is being announced this year on January 5th (3 days away).  We the OctoPiRates have fundraised $23,000 dollars to build an robot entry.  We know right now it will be <120 pounds and smaller than 28" x 38" x 60" (last years details), the rest will be unveiled in a few days.  

  We will be meeting at SAIL this Saturday 10-6pm to see the game release, brainstorm solutions, and general team bonding.  Parents are required and we will be having a information and question session to talk about what to expect.  

Big Dates:

• January 5th Kick Off 10am-6pm (Parents 10-12)
• We will be meeting every day after school 2:45 for juggling, 3: with required home work/reading time and 3:30 will start our meeting and sub team projects.
• You will need to attend meetings of your group/sub team talk to your lead mentor and large group meeting every Monday.  If your motivated you can be part of multiple groups. 
• Stop Build is February 19th is our last day and the robot has to go into a sealed bag before midnight. 
• March 6-9th Orlando Regional 
• We will be taking the ~18 most dedicated team members.  Based upon work hours and skills.
• Mar 11-15 Intensives
• Mar 18-22nd Spring Break
• Mar 28-30 South Florida Regional (Drive team and 2 Pit crew)

Parents:

• We will be at school every day till dark thirty (qualitative term for late).  As the season wears on we will host longer hours, weekends, and possibly over nights.
• I have Hungry Howies on speed dial and will organize food if we stay past 6pm.  Last year we had a great parent support that organized food several times a week, we will try to make happen again.
• Their are some costs associated with the team.  
• $5/shirt and $150/regional (These costs are waived with 40 hours of robot time logged) which some of your young people already have.

Students:

• I hope everyone learns a lot.  Makes a lot of great friends.  These seeds of learning will provide many rewards in your future.  
• Stay focused.  Keep pushing around obstacles, and ask for lots of help.
• I hope your excited and that you got lots of sleep over break.  
• If you have any time before Saturday read through our website. https://sites.google.com/site/sailoctopirates/
• During build I would like you to take ownership of a page and keep it updated.
• Everyone should also be reading their area on http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/portal.php
• lots of game hints and other fun reading.

~JaSun

Kickoff

Kickoff for the 2013 FRC is THIS Saturday!  We will be gathering at SAIL to watch the FIRST Stream featuring the game challenge.  We'll do some brainstorming, studying of the rules, and strategizing.  We'll also share some snacks and do some team bonding exercises.  Parents are encouraged to attend for the first hour so we can talk to you about what to expect during the next 6 weeks of build season.

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.