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OT: Robot Competition


DrWho

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So if you haven't seen me posting in a while, it's because I've been slaving away at a robot we've been building for the Jerry Sanders robot competition. It's kinda like Battle Bots but you win by scoring points by completing objectives. I just thought I'd brag a bit and mention that our team placed 1st place in the competition (In fact, we were never not in first). But even cooler, we also won an award for the best design [H]

http://dc.cen.uiuc.edu/

There should be pictures on the website coming up shortly as well as some pictures of my own that I'd like to post. We also had a wireless onboard camera and recorded the first person perspective of our robot.

Man it was a blast - now I gotta catch up on 2 weeks of classes that I missed trying to get everything finished on time [:(]

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Congratulations, Doc!! What a coincidence: My daughter Paloma will be competing with her team next weekend in San Jose in the FIRST® Robotics Competition.! For those wishing to check out the action, they will be having live streaming coverage. The link is not up yet, but you can access it from this page next weekend (Friday and Saturday). They'll also be in Davis, CA 3/29-4/1. I'll post info in a separate thread Thursday morning. If anyone has the opportunity to check it out, it is LOADS of fun. Paloma is on team 675, the Thechnology High Phantoms!!

Again, congratulations, Mike.

What is FRC?

FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is a unique varsity sport of the mind designed to help high-school-aged young people discover how interesting and rewarding the life of engineers and researchers can be.

The FIRST Robotics Competition challenges teams of young people and their mentors to solve a common problem in a six-week timeframe using a standard "kit of parts" and a common set of rules. Teams build robots from the parts and enter them in a series of competitions designed by Dean Kamen, Dr. Woodie Flowers, and a committee of engineers and other professionals.

FIRST redefines winning for these students. Teams are rewarded for excellence in design, demonstrated team spirit, gracious professionalism and maturity, and ability to overcome obstacles. Scoring the most points is a secondary goal. Winning means building partnerships that last.

What is unique about the FRC program?

*

It is a sport where the participants play with the pros and learn from them

*

Designing and building a robot is a fascinating real-world professional experience

*

Competing on stage brings participants as much excitement and adrenaline rush as conventional varsity tournaments

*

The game rules are a surprise every year

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" first person perspective of our robot. " [co]

Congrats Doc, but go get some HUMAN companionship, yer getting a little too friendly with the machinery....[*-)]

lol, this robot competition has been a childhood dream ever since I saw something similar from MIT on TV. But I agree, now that this crazy thing is over and the weather is nicer I can go out and hunt down some ladies [;)]
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Congratulations, Doc!! What a coincidence: My daughter Paloma will be competing with her team next weekend in San Jose in the FIRST® Robotics Competition.! For those wishing to check out the action, they will be having live streaming coverage. The link is not up yet, but you can access it from this page next weekend (Friday and Saturday). They'll also be in Davis, CA 3/29-4/1. I'll post info in a separate thread Thursday morning. If anyone has the opportunity to check it out, it is LOADS of fun. Paloma is on team 675, the Thechnology High Phantoms!!

Again, congratulations, Mike

Thanks Fini, I was thinking of you and your daughter during the competition. Is FRC only for high school and younger? Here I thought your daughters were older, but if they're gaining experience now, then they will probably kick some butt once in college! It'd be cool if they travelled this way for the Jerry Sanders competition.

Btw, I dig her robot's name. We were the Daleks (indestructible supreme robot race of the universe from Doctor Who) [;)] Tell Paloma best of luck!
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Ok finally some pictures...

Here's the robot at the starting position ready to go.

img058.jpeg

Then this is a general shot of the course and a picture of us picking up a hula-hoop. They were worth more points than frisbees and we didn't need to go up the ramps to fetch them - huge time and battery saver.

img011.jpeg

And then here's a successful drop at a scoring location:

img016.jpeg

Pushing the robot into the arena. It weights 130 lbs:

img061.jpeg

Picture of the team after winning the competition:

(From left to right you have Lev, Dan, Me, Aleks, Kieran)

img045.jpeg

Shot of everyone that won awards. We won 1st place and got an award for Best Design. Second place is to the right of us and then third and fourth place are to the left. The far left won "Most Autonomous Robot" since there were no autonomous robots entered this year.

img041.jpeg

And then a few more random pics can be found here:

http://kieran.mknz.net/~kieran/IEEE-UIUC/

There was also a youtube video taken from another team:

That was Kieran's only time driving during the competition so he was a bit rough on the controls...

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lol, thx [;)]

32 lbs were batteries

36 lbs motors, wheels, geartrains

5 lbs arm motors

17 lbs arm

8 lbs speed controllers (just like the amps that drive speakers - ironically, speakers are very much like motors too)

The rest is the frame and all the wiring and hardware and stuff (about 30 lbs)

I think that comes to about 130?

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" first person perspective of our robot. " [co]

Congrats Doc, but go get some HUMAN companionship, yer getting a little too friendly with the machinery....[*-)]

lol, this robot competition has been a childhood dream ever since I saw something similar from MIT on TV. But I agree, now that this crazy thing is over and the weather is nicer I can go out and hunt down some ladies [;)]

And what is this, "...the weather is nicer I can go out and hunt down some ladies." ?????!!!! C'mon now, young buck, you don't need nice weather to hunt for ladies!!! [:P][<:o)]

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Sweet Mike, congrats to you and the team. You know your going to have to stay on your collective toes with Paloma coming up[:o]

I have to agree with the Colt though you need to back away from the machinery once all those ladies come out of their caves, you got your club ready Ugg?[;)]

Ha, that's funny, at DrWho's age his club is always ready ! [:P]

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