Winner Rookie Inspirational Award

Auburn Mountainview High District Feb.27-Mar.1

AWARDS  Thirty-one teams competed with us at our first district competition, held week 1 at Auburn Mountain View High School Thursday February 27 5PM to Saturday March 1 6PM.  Team 5295 Aldernating Current won the Rookie Inspirational Award for: coordinating students from three schools to become a team “as strong as an alder”; being thankful enough to list our wisdom sponsor Team 4450 on our tee-shirts; using a three-dimensional printing part on our robot; and having lengthy list of sponsors. Since Team 5295 was the only rookie team competing, we knew we had won as soon as the award’s title was read.  All awards must be won; simple showing up is not sufficient to win an award.  We will be eligible for the Rookie All Star Award at the Shorewood District competition.  Our wisdom sponsor Team 4450 “Olympia Robotics Federation” won the Innovation in Control Award.

PHOTOGRAPHY  After the awards ceremony, the two teams were photographed together.  If you have pictures or video of Team 5295, please send them to me atAlanWalker@earthlink.net and I will ask our webmaster Lilly J. to add them to our website, http://frcteam5295aldernatingcurrent.blogspot.com/  If you would like to be the media focal (photography) for Team 5295, please contact me at the above email address.

PERFORMANCE  On Friday, the team went 1-7 placing last of thirty-two teams. On Saturday, we improved to 2-2 finishing qualifications with a 3-9 record and the #30 seed.  We were not selected to be on any alliance for the elimination rounds.  We are currently 20^th of 32 teams in the Pacific Northwest district standings; Team 4450 is 5^th.  Only the top third (64 of 179 teams in Oregon and Washington) will be invited to the week 7 District Championship in Portland.  Our 21 district points come from qualification (6 points; two points per win), Rookie Inspiration Award (five district points) and our rookie status (ten points). For more information visit http://www.district.firstwa.org/PNW/2014

TRANSPORTATION  Thank you to T.James for providing his bus to transport us to the competition.  Thank you to drivers J.Foss, Jason W. and A.Walker for getting the team to and from the event.  It took one bus, one pickup truck and one car to move the entire robot team to the competition.

PARTICIPATION  Six students attended Thursday, eleven on Friday and eight on Saturday.  Four students attended all three days: Team Captain Jacob “J-K”; Electrical Lead Kyle D., Build Captain Josh M., and Pit Crew Chief Jason W.  On Thursday with only six students, Jacob “J-K” put into practice his plan to allocate students to the team’s different disciplines.  Also attending were seven family members and friends, six mentors, two sponsors (Bezos Family Foundation) and two school officials (Shelton).

SAFETY When we set up the pit, we placed the fire extinguisher, battery spill kit, and the first aid kit on the back table right hand side. Within the first hour of unpacking on Thursday, a student on a second year team injured her hand. Jason W. retrieved the first aid kit and bandaged her up. One day before the competition, the team added graffiti to the first aid kit and battery spill kit so everyone knew what they looked like (thank you Team 2557 SOTAbots for the suggestion).  Brady J. clearly displayed his Team 5295 safety plan and Team 3574’s more extensive safety plan.  At the urging of Safety Mentor K.Mougous, Jedi Safety Captain Brady J. presented a safety contract for all students and mentors to sign.  Thank you 4-H Team 3574 High Tekerz C.J. McAnulty and Carrie C for sharing your entire safety plan with us.  Padawan Safety Captain Lilly J. interviewed teams Thursday and discovered that keeping an clean and orderly pit was important.  She also attended the safety captain meeting Friday morning while Brady J. was on the drive team.  Todd M. visited all thirty-two pits Thursday and researched which teams had first aid kits, battery spill kits, and fire extinguishers.  On Saturday after obtaining approval from a Safety Advisor and Pit Administration, Janae N. and A.Walker posted the location of these emergency supplies on the two pit maps using dots given us by the robot inspectors.  At the Shorewood District, we will research and modify the pit maps shortly after arriving on Thursday.  Thank you Jacob “J-K” for sitting for an hour at the safety glass table cleaning safety glasses and reminding people to wear safety glasses upon entering the pit.

ROBOT INSPECTION consumed all five hours on Thursday, February 27 and another two hours Friday morning.  Volunteer Robot Inspector K.Luthy patiently explained where our robot did not meet the requirements of Robot section 4 of the Game Manual.  Most items like covering exposed copper or using 12 AWG (American Wire Gage) for our 40 amp motor controllers (thanks Kyle D.) were simple to fix (the robot inpectors donated the 12AWG wire).  The last two sticky points were not.  We had to trim ½” off our electronics box so it did not extend beyond the chassis frame (R02).  One bumper was not tight to the frame (1/4” maximum gap R26B) causing it to sag and start less that two inches off the floor (R22).  We passed inspection shortly after 10AM Friday morning (seven hours).  We hope to halve this at the week 4 Shorewood District allowing us to practice Friday morning before the qualification matches start.

BUMPERS  In the pit, the pit team determined three ways to meet the bumper requirements.  Option A was to flip the team numbers;although we did not have an extra two sets of team numbers.  Option B was to un-staple the bumpers, turn the red/blue fabric 180 degrees, and re-staple the bumper assembly.  This would too long.  The team chose to use aluminum and cardboard washers to tighten the bumper to the frame, eliminating the sag and bringing the bumper to above 2” off the floor.  The district machine shop enlarged the holes in the steel fasteners per student sketch.  This allowed the thicker cotter pins provided by robot inpector K.Luthy to fit.  To speed up robot inspection at the Shorewood District the team is planning to rebuild the bumpers.
Prior to the competition, thirteen individuals helped build our four red/blue reversible bumpers.  M.Logeais of Team 2177 The Robettes made her five page reversible bumper instructions available to us at Chief Delphi.  L.Larson of Sew Now Studio in Shelton donated the proper sewing needles for 1000d cordura. Kenny H. and C.Mann sewed the blue and red cordura fabric together.  P.Cook of Team 4450 and A.Walker provided pool noodles.  Josh M. and J.Foss trimmed the 3.5" diameter pool noodles to 2.5" width (Rxx). Todd M. cut the 3/4" thick boards to the correct length.  Jason W. and Kyle D. fabricated fasteners from steel rod.  Josh M., J.Foss and A.Walker assembled the fabric, pool noodles, board, and fasteners.  Guy B. added velcro to the bumpers.  A.Walker purchased white blank sticky paper. Jason W. and J.Foss cut team numbers and stuck them to both the red and blue bumpers.  J.Niski of Team 230 Gaelhawks suggested making stencils and using paint, but A.Walker ignored this valuable insight.

PIT CREW  Jason W. organized the efforts of Aaron J., Brady J., Guy B., Josh M., Kyle D., Todd M. and William C throughout robot inspection process and in-between matches.  J.Foss monitored and advised.  The pit crew taped exposed wires, replaced wires with correct gage, tightened belts, repaired leaky pneumatic tubing, adjusted the net fitting to fit inside the frame chassis, re-glued the thirty-two team numbers to the bumpers, tightened the bumpers, trimmed ½” from our PVC arms, cut ¼” off the electrical box mounting spacers, trimmed hollowed aluminum tubing, removed the arms broken in match 3, designed and installed an 15” triangular support to prevent the electronics box from wiggling, and listened to the drive and programming teams to diagnose problems.  In a fantastic act of Gracious Professionalism, Team 2929 Jagbots donated a pneumatic pressure regulator to us; one of our regulators leaked.  William C. organized our pit on Friday very efficiently. Jason W. reprimanded A.Walker emphasizing that pit organization should never result in a less efficient pit crew.  After some of our tools went missing, J.Foss started a borrow list.  In future, we will label every tool with “5295”.  On Saturday afternoon, the pit crew played an important role in sketching out design improvements to the robot.

BATTERIES  Lilly J. and Janae N. kept the batteries charged. Team 4450 uses a green/black device in the battery pigtail to show if the battery is good (green) or in need of a charge (black).  The team learned to keep one good battery in the bottom of the robot cart.  The team electrically insulated (via electrical tape) the battery terminals where they connect with the pigtail.

DRIVE TEAM  Six students participated on the four person drive team: Aaron J., Brady J., Guy B., Josh M., Kyle D. and Lilly J. took turns being the runner, fielder, human player, and drive captain.  The most important drive position is the cart holder. This team member has the most influence on getting robots on and off the field safely.  Aaron’s expertise with programming and Kyle’s with electronics enabled them to quickly diagnosis robot performance issues.  In match 3 with our arms extended, we hit another robot head on and broke the arms.  In multiple matches, the robot would just sit.  After investigation, this was determined to be a loose electrical connection.  The drive team had only an hour of practice prior to the competition.  We want to give the drivers more time prior to the week 4 Shorewood District competition.  Georgette L will join the drive team at the Shorewood District event.