St. Ignatius High School - Wildcats, Team 1308
Welcome to our 2008 US FIRST web page. Here you will find links to important FIRST pages, our daily log, and other information.
Important Links:
US FIRST Robotics homepage - http://www.usfirst.org
Overdrive Competition Animation - http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/2008_frcwebcasts.php OR http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lq0K-a6BvU
Full 2008 US FIRST Manual - http://www.usfirst.org/frc/2008/manual
Innovation First Control System - http://www.ifirobotics.com/
USF Updates - http://www.usfirst.org/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=450
Email blast archive - http://www.usfirst.org/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=6616
Community Resources - http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/content.aspx?id=7006
Suppliers - http://www.mcmaster.com/ - http://www.grainger.com -
Cheif Delphi - You should visit this site for lots of info! - http://www.chiefdelphi.com/
Autodesk - https://firstbasefrc.autodesk.com/
Scholarships - Deadlines coming up for some - https://my.usfirst.org/scholarships//index.lasso and More USF Scholarship Info
My Tentative Schedule of days and times I should be available.
Sunday, Jan 12 - While driving my son back to school and on the way back home, I had 8 hours (500 miles round trip) to think about the design and came up with some things to throw out for discussion.
Saturday, Jan 11 - We started putting together the practice chassis with mostly old parts. It should be driving by late Monday or early Tuesday.
We have been contacted by some engineering folks who are interested in working with us. No names until details are worked out.
Thursday and Friday, Jan 9 and 10 - If someone could write up short summaries of what happened, I would like to post them. Thanks to Mr. Sabol and Mr. DeCarlo for filling in.
Wednesday, Jan 9 - Remember, I will not be available after school, but the plan is for Mr. Sabol or Mr. DeCarlo to be present so you can have a good meeting. Same thing goes for Thursday, but Mr. Bogen will be in charge. The meeting will begin after the Science Olympiad meeting, so SO members can attend both.
Tuesday, Jan 8 -
I will not be able to meet with the team after school on Wednesday and Thursday due to the wake and funeral of my sister-in-law. I am hoping to get Mr. Sabol and/or someone from Science to cover for me. If not possible, we still need you to meet somewhere and continue designing and gently arguing.
Team Update #1 was posted on 01-07-08. This modifies the following in the Manual:
Section 7 - The Game
Section 8 - The Robot
Section 10 - The Kit of Parts
Please visit the Update link above and read these sections.
ALSO - All missing parts replacement requests must be placed (by me) by 11:59 pm (Eastern Time) on Wednesday, January 9, 2008. Please make sure we have the correct info by double-checking our list of stuff, our list of missing stuff, and the update mentioned for section 10. This is a ONE-TIME request. If we find something missing later, we are out of luck and will have to find a way to purchase the missing part(s) if we want them.
Mr. Rene Polin, Joe Polin's dad, and president of Balance Product Development met with us after school. He explained for the team the role of the industrial designer and showed a number of cool examples of products his company has designed and the processes they use. ( http://www.balanceinc.com/portfolio - click on boldface listings under clients for product pics). We then watched the Overdrive Animation and described the competition for him and members who missed the kickoff.
We discussed our situation and need for advice. He was able to give us a number of suggestions on researching, prioritizing, testing, modeling, bulding mock-ups, and choosing how many and which functions to include. We had some of our usual heated discussions with him present. We would like the thank Mr. Polin for coming and being able to jump into something new to him and to pick up the pulse of the competition in a professional manner. It was easy to see his experience in design.
We mentioned to him our need for an engineer with experience in robotics. We have a motivated team with several experienced members and quite a few new faces. Combining this with a professional programmer and a professional designer, all we need to fulfill our minimum desire is the engineer. This would give us the strongest chance of moving to the next level. Our first three years were weak but fun and a great learning experience. Last year was surprisingly strong (middle of the pack), considering the troubles we had. This could be the year we jump into the top third and stand a strong chance of being drafted for the finals.
We also discussed design until from 4:00 - 5:30 after Mr. Polin left. We discussed the possibility of building a small robot chassis using parts from previous years to test its speed, maneuverability, and stability before we cut into the new aluminum channel. We will soon need to start making some preliminary decisions, so this will help us focus on several properties of the robot. We will probably do a poll on some of the features to determine how team members are thinking.
I am very happy to see the fire and spirit of the team, which indicates a strong desire to put together a good robot. This is good example for the younger and newer members and will help bring them up to speed quickly. I think there are a number of functions that are easy enough to do well, so they will be able to contribute right away.
Monday, Jan 7 - We did an inventory or the KOP and had a number of missing items.
2 Igubal Rod End Bearing PN: KBRI-16
2
Aluminum shafts (Larger) PN:AWI-16 (Update 01-07-08 -
They only want us to have the two we have)
2 Latex Tubing PN: 5234K44
1 Vibration Isolators PN: SMB003-0100-2
10ft #6 AWG, Red PN:M3391-102
10ft #6 AWG, Black PN:M3391-101
Denso Window Motor 12 Volt DC PN: 262100-3030
Saturday, Jan 5 - Today we picked up the kit of parts after viewing the kickoff feed and animation. We returned to school and spent a couple hours discussing tasks we would like the robot to perform and preliminary designs of how these could be done.