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!