Team Wins Safety Award

Shorewood District March 20-22, 2014

AWARDS  Thirty-two teams competed with us at our second district event, held at Shorewood High School in Shoreline, Washington Thursday March 20 5PM to Saturday March 22 6PM.  Team 5295 Aldernating Current won Hard Hat Safety Pins, runner up to the Underwriters Laboratory (UL) Industrial Safety Award.  This is quite an honor for a rookie team.  It is quite an accomplishment considering that our safety captain Brady J.  was unable to make the trip.  Lilly J., Janae N. and Todd M. did a wonderful job alternately acting as our Safety Captain.  On Thursday, Janae N. as acting Safety Captain interviewed all thirty-three teams Thursday to discover which teams had first aid kits, battery spill kits, and fire extinguishers. She and Guy B. posted the location of these emergency supplies on the pit map.  On Friday morning, Lilly J. attended the Safety Captains meeting.  On Friday afternoon, acting Safety Captain Todd Mann explained our safety manual to two safety advisors.  He showed them our signed safety contracts and our team safety plan (both written by our Safety Captain Brady J.). Todd M. also showed the safety advisors the risk assessment, disaster supplies and safety plan of Team 3574 High Tekerz, our safety mentor.  Thank you 4-H Team 3574 High Tekerz C.J. McAnulty and Carrie C for sharing your entire safety plan with us.
The team that shared their scouting software with us, Team 4030 NullPointerException won the Innovation in Control award.  Team 2557 SOTAbots won the Team Spirit award.  The Auburn Mountain View event also awarded us the Highest Rookie Seed award.

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 (same location as our other district event).  One day before our initial 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).  Lilly J. as assistant safety captain attended the safety meeting Fridaymorning.  Thank you Janae N. and Jason W. for sitting for an hour at the safety glass table cleaning safety glasses and reminding people to wear safety glasses upon entering the pit. Thank you Safety Captain Brady J. for writing the safety contract and team safety manual.
On Friday, safety advisor M. Nguyen used our battery spill kit gloves to move a cracked battery.  A student lifted a battery by its pigtails and dropped it four feet.  On Saturday, one student playing on cement fell and bloodied his nose and mouth.  His teammate used our first aid kit to help stop the bleeding.  Our emergency equipment has been used a total of three times in our two competition events.

PARTICIPATION  Eight students attended all three days: Jacob “J-K” (team captain, programmer & scout); Josh M. (build captain and driver), Jason W. (pit crew chief, design, and build), Guy B. (drive captain), Aaron J. (programmer and driver), Lilly J. (head scout, assistant safety captain, button design, & drive team human player), Todd M. (assistant safety captain, & banner design), Janae N. (tee-shirt design, pit emergency supply survey, assistant safety captain, safety glasses, and build).  Also attending were three family members, three mentors and one school official (Shelton).

PHOTOGRAPHY  If you have pictures or video of Team 5295, please send them to me at AlanWalker@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 started 1-5 placing 33^rdof 33 teams. Scouting efforts stopped.  We added new robot arms in match 3 and match 5.  Now familiar with the new robot arms, we finished Friday with a 2-0 followed by a 3-0 start on Saturday.  With one match to go we were now 6-5 and ranked 14^th of 33.  If we won our final qualification match, we would be an alliance captain for the elimination playoffs.  Team Captain Jacob “J-K” appointed Lilly J. head scout.  She spoke to Team 4915 Spartronics head scout Anika who shared her rookie team’s extensive scouting with us.  In match 12, we shot the ball over the truss for the first time!  We lost our final match finishing 6-6 with a #16 seed.  No alliance captain picked us.  As alternate robot #2, we practiced our high goal shooting with a 90% accuracy rate.  We are roughly 90^th of 150 teams in the Pacific Northwest district standings.  Our mentor Team 4450 is 46^th with one district event next week.  Only the top third (64 of 179 teams in Oregon and Washington) will be invited to the week 7 District Championship in Portland.  Our 33 district points come from qualification (18 points; two points per win, 6-6 Shorewood + 3-9 Auburn Mountain View), Rookie Inspiration Award (five district points) and our rookie status (ten points). For more information visit http://www.district.firstwa.org/PNW/2014

TRANSPORTATION and OVERNIGHT  Thank you to T.James and A.Lang (Lilly’s parents) for providing their 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 and one pickup truck to move the robot team from the welding shop to and from the competition.  Thank you A.Walker for organizing two nights of lodging and hosting two students at your home.

ROBOT INSPECTION consumed all five hours on Thursday, March 20 and another hour Friday morning.  Matt N. of Team 2557 SOTAbots advised Josh M. and Todd M. how to complete our pneumatics system.  Matt N. won Safety Star of the DayFriday for his assistance to us and other teams.  We would not have passed robot inspection without Team 2557’s help.  We passed inspection shortly after 9AM Friday morning (six hours).

BUMPERS  Before the competion, Lilly J. painted “5295” on each bumper with white paint and outlined each number in black.  Guy B. strategically stapled additional red/blue bumper material and some Velcro to give us 100% of the correct color. The team expended very little pit time on the bumpers.  Janae N. is designing a new method to build bumpers in the future.

PIT CREW  Josh M. organized the efforts of Aaron J., Guy B., Janae N., and Todd M. throughout robot inspection process and in-between matches.  Jason W. focused on strengthening the robot arms in our pit and in the machine shop.  J.Foss monitored and advised.  The pit crew trimmed exposed copper wires, removed and reattached the robot arms, modified the hammer to be triangular, and completed the pneumatic system,  In a fantastic act of Gracious Professionalism, Team 2557 SOTAbots donated various pneumatic parts.  Lilly J. organized the pit on Thursday and the bottom of the robot cart Saturdaywhile we waited as Alternate Robot #2 for a playoff callup.  We continued Coach Foss’ borrow list.  The team does not plan to redesign the robot.

BATTERIES  Batteries were topped off Wednesday and againThursday.  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  Four students participated on the four person drive team: Aaron J. (driver), Guy B. (drive captain), Josh M. (driver), and Lilly J. (human player).  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.  In match 12, Josh M. successfully shot the ball over the truss for ten points.  The entire team played a role in this accomplishment.