2015 Auburn Mountainview District Feb.26-28: Students Troubleshoot Failures into Success

Auburn Mountainview District Feb.26-28, 2015

ATTENDING 
Seven students and seven adults of robotics Team 5295 "Aldernating Current" attended the Feb.26-28th district competition at Auburn Mountainview High School in Auburn, Washington. With the team all three days were students Dustin S., Guy B., Jacob K.("J-K"), Josh M., & Kiery E; and Coach Bachtell, mentor A.Hospador, Josh's mom Kimberly, and lead mentor A.Walker. Brayden O. and his mom Joy joined us Friday and Saturday. Todd M. and his parents Carrie and Craig joined us on Saturday.TEAM CAPTAIN: Josh; DRIVE TEAM: Guy (Drive Captain), Josh (driver), Kiery, and Brayden/J-K; PIT TEAM: Josh (Build Captain), Kiery, J-K, Brayden & Todd. Kiery also installed a fully charged battery before each match; PROGRAM TEAM: Guy and J-K; SAFETY TEAM: J-K (Safety Captain) and Dustin; SCHEDULE BOARD: K.Mougous, A.Walker, and Dustin.

PERFORMANCE
After our dozen qualifying matches, we finished 30 out of 32 teams. We were not selected to be on a playoff alliance; 24 robot teams were selected. We were offered the position of 4th backup robot (replaces a playoff robot if and when it breaks). Instead the students decided to pack up after lunch and head back early. A.Walker tried to overrule the students until Josh reminded him that "Mentors suggest, students decide." The more successful teams tend to have more students and more community support. For example the winner of the Engineering Inspiration Award, Team 3588 from Lindbergh High in Renton had sixty team members (students + adults). Standings are posted at http://frc-events.usfirst.org/2015/WAAMV/rankings

ROBOT INSPECTION
Partially because the team did not have a competition packing list of items to load into the trailer, the team forgot to bring white boards which we intended to add the team number and attach to our competition robot "Fir". This meets the requirement of rule R02. (The game manual with all the rules can be found at http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/competition-manual-and-related-documents). We could not sign up to be inspected until we had an inspectable robot. The team looked at how the other robots posted their team numbers and then quickly cut up one of our white moving boxes, added "5295", and attached those to the robot with cable ties. We were one of the last teams to be inspected. Volunteer E.Stokely from Team 360 "The Revolution" inspected competition robot "Fir" and discovered three things amiss: 1) one sharp edge on our arms; 2) leaky pneumatics near the pressure regulator; and 3) software version 60 should be updated to version 62. He complemented the team on having so few items to resolve inspection. Within twenty minutes these items were all resolved. The robot inspector also said that our Bill of Materials (BOM) should include the market price of any wood or metal materials donated. We passed inspection on the first day, too late to use the practice field.

SAFETY EQUIPMENT 
Dustin walked around the pit asking each team which safety equipment (first aid kit, battery spill kit, and fire extinguisher) they had in their pit. Safety Captain J-K got permission from Pit Admin to modify the pit map showing the location of these three safety items. J-K and Dustin got dots from the robot inspectors and added this information to the pit map. This effort was one of the reasons the team won Hat Hat pins last year.

PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE 
Josh had a brainstorm and designed backup system to pickup the totes in case our robot arms were not working too well. He made a sketch and gave it to the onsite machine shop first thing on day 2 Friday. The machine shop fabricated a set of robot claws from the raw aluminum stock we brought with us.

SCORING REVIEW
---Four yellow totes stacked by both alliances = 40 points.
---Gray tote on white scoring platform = 2 points.
---Green recycle can on a tote = 4 points per number of totes in stack.
---Litter or pool noodles in landfill zone (midfield) = +1 point.
---Litter or pool noodle of alliance color not in landfill zone = -4 points.

MATCHES: FAILURE---TROUBLESHOOTING---SUCCESS 
Sometimes our robot "Fir" did not perform as desired. After troubleshooting, our students were able to turn failures into success.
 Auburn Mountainview Matches 2015 Team 5295 competed in Auburn Mountainview matches 3-8-12-18-22-31-36-43-47-51-55-63.
--- Match 3 --- The robot ceased talking to the field software. Solid robot signal light indicated something wrong. Guy asked Pyton of Team 4911 to explain why our roboRIO developed zero memory. Guy fixed the software. Robot now functional.
--- Match 8 --- Chain fell off when the aluminum support angle had a bearing failure (the bolt tore through the bracket). Josh led the pit team in fabricating a new aluminum bracket. Robot now operational. The length of the chain and its weight were the root cause of this failure. Another mentor commented that using a lightweight cable, wire or rope would not have this problem.
--- Match 12 --- Disappointed that a fully functional "FIR" could only successfully stack two totes, the pit team replaces arms with robot claws. Good thinking Josh to come up with an alternative robot claw design ahead of time.
--- Match 18 --- The claws seem to pick up totes more easily than the arms. We are now ranked 22nd overall.
--- Match 22 --- One by one we drag three totes to the scoring platform. Sometimes only one claw attaches to the tote. The pit team discusses how best to modify the claw. Some quick work and the claws are better able to grasp the gray totes.
--- Match 31 --- "FIR" stacks gray totes on top of one another. More practice ahead of time would aid drive team performance.
--- Match 36 --- Halfway through the match, our robot "FIR" stops. Troubleshooting revealed a dead laptop battery. Recharged and all okay.
--- Match 43 --- Connection problem causes "FIR" to temporarily cease. The team now checks all electrical connections before each match.
--- Match 47 --- More chain problems. The lower end of the chain comes loose from the sprocket. The pit team reinstalls and tightens the chain. 
--- Match 51--- Grasping totes quickly with both claws eludes us. The pit team discusses this and feels the best we can do now is use the improved claws. When we return to our robot shop, we can improve how we pickup totes.
--- Match 55 --- Why does our robot "FIR" just sit midway through the match?
--- Match 63 --- "FIR" stacks first one, then two yellow totes on the common area. We realize we need to more quickly grasp and release totes. 

LETTER-WRITING The team received $4900 this year from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (Thank you P.Cusack for writing the application). Our state legislature allocates funds for this purpose. There are 1054 FIRST teams in Washington with a combined budget of $4.6 million. Erin McCallum, President of Washington FIRST Robotics, asked each student to write a letter to our elected senator and two representatives. All seven students wrote letters to our 35th Legislative District Senator Tim Sheldon, Rep. Dan Griffey, and Rep. Drew MacEwen thanking them for supporting FIRST robotics, encouraging future support, and sharing what being on Team 5295 meant to them personally.

QUOTES During the opening ceremony on Friday, the principal of Auburn Mountainview High School said "Robotics is the coolest thing ever". The Associated Student Body president Kayla felt "Nothing else could be more exciting or rewarding". Early in the 2014 season Josh (current team captain) remarked: "Before I was on the robot team, failure was a rare occurance. Now, it is a common occurance."


AWARDS Team 2557 "Sotabots" won the Chairman's Award. Team 4450  "Olympia Robotics Federation" won the UL Industrial Safety Award. "The Proper Care and Feeding of Your Tribble" tipsheet aids safety teachings littered with humor.See http://frc-events.usfirst.org/2015/WAAMV/awards for t he full list of awards.

DEANS LIST
The Deans List honors students who model ideal student behavior. Our two Dean's List nominees, Todd and Kiery, will be interviewed at our Shorewood High School district competition on day 3, Sunday morning March 22. Pages 43-45 of the administrative manual give more infomation on the Deans List.
http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/competition-manual-and-related-documents

MARKETING
---VISIBILITY---In order to recruit more students, mentors, and funding, P.Cusack (Director of Career Technical Education for Shelton School District) and A.Walker feel we need to display our six foot robot at high school events and at public events in the city. Greater visibility will bring the team more students, more parents, more sponsors, and more community support.
---BRAND---
Second year teams usually expand their image. In their second year our mother Team 4450 "Olympia Robotics Federation" added an Engineering Bay to their pit and handed out Tribbles at the 2014 Pacific Northwest Championship. They now use "Proper Care and Feeding of Tribbles" to teach safety in a humorous manner. After some thought and communication with some members of the team, I do not think there is much to develop with "Current": the raison fruit, electrical current symbol I, or i = square root of -1. "Aldernating" a timber derivative of "Alternating" may have more promise. Since the serbian (present day Croatia) Nikoli Tesla developed alternating current, one idea is for the team or just a mascot to be dressed up as Nikoli Tesla and his mustache in lumberman garb. Perhaps we could fill one hump of a sine wave with timber icons and the other with electrical icons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternating_current


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternating_current
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla 
---ART---
Dustin thought of one way to make our brand more visible is to add eyeball catching artwork to our marketing materials. Dustin excels at artwork. Todd thought these aspects of Team 5295 should be represented in our artwork: teamwork and friendship. Friendship might be represented with a curvy little f or a handshake. Match 51 shows a blue/red handshake at the 44 second mark when Team 4450 completes the coopertition stack. Craig Mann thought a mechanical tree or claws and elbows (like our robot) might bring out teamwork. Any art we add to our marketing materials ( robot, pit, website, brochure, & letterhead) must be okayed by the students.
---WEBSITE---
Our team website is frcTEAM5295AldernatingCurrent.blogspot.com. Both students who worked on our website are no longer on the team. Ideally there should be at least one person (student or mentor) who knows how to add text, photos, or videos to our website. The consent and release form allows our team members to be photographed and videoed at FIRST competitions. Do we need additional approvals to post photos or videos of our students to our website? To preserve anonymity, Team 3574 "HiTekerz" taught Team 5295 that students should be identified as First L. and mentors at F.Last.

THANK YOU 
---Team 5295 "Aldernating Current" is thankful for the help provided to our team from many sources.
---Thank you Community Foundation of South Puget Sound for the $5000 that funds our team.
---Thank you Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the $4900 that funds our team.
---Thank you Bezos Family Foundation for the $3000 that funds our team.
---Thank you Shelton High School for meeting space, raw stock, and use of wood and metal manufacturing equipment.
---Thank you mentor A.Hospador for loading the trailer Thursday, February 26th.
---Thank you Coach Bachtell for splicing in trailer electronics so the trailer had proper safety lights.
---Thank you Coach Bachtell for driving the student van and trailer to and from the competition.
---Thank you Kayla of Team 2929 "Jagbots" for showing us how to properly install the pit canopy structure.
---Thank you volunteer E.Stokely of Team 360 and John ? for inspecting our robot Thursday.
---Thank you student Pyton of Team 4911 for showing Guy how to update the firmware (drive software) from version 60 to version 62.
---Thank you Team 4911 for donating red electrical tape to us.
---Thank you Pit Admin for letting us modify the pit map with the location of the first aid kits, battery spill kits, and fire extinguishers.
---Thank you T.Thomas of Team 2046 "Bear Metal" driving R.Bachtell & A.Walker on the shuttle Friday morning.
---Thank you student Pyton of Team 4911 for showing Guy how to eliminate the zero memory problem of our roboRIO.
---Thank you chaperon K.Mougous, R.Bachtell & A.Hospador for chaperoning our students at the Best Western motel. 
---Thank you machine shop for fabricating our robot claws Friday morning from Josh's sketch.
---Thank you Team 3218 mentor M.McGrew for teaching Labview programming basics to first years Brayden and Kiery on Friday.
---Thank you Team 4469 for letting us use your vacuum to cleanup our pit.
---Thank you mentor Dillan of Team 3663 for using a small power saw to cut angle stock into 2" lengths.
---Thank you Team 3588 student Vanessa L for driving R.Bachtell & A.Walker over to the shuttle area to pickup our vehicles on Friday.
---Thank you Eric at Best Western for loaning us pens for our students to write letters to our legislators. 
---Thank you Josh for reminding A.Walker that "Mentors suggest; students decide" in the decision to leave after Saturday's lunch.
---Thank you parent Joy (Brayden's mom) for heading back after lunch Saturday with Dustin and Brayden.
---Thank you J.Meier, K.Beaudoin, and J.Ordonez for writing checks to cover the cost of the food and motel.

MEALS
On Thursday the students had Cliff bars on the 80 minute drive to Auburn. For dinner we had pizza delivered. We ate breakfast both mornings at the Best Western Auburn Peppertree. We ate sandwiches (ham & swiss and/or peanut butter & jelly), fruit bars, and fruit (apples, tangerines, oranges & banana) for lunch and dinner at the high school cafeteria. For Saturday's lunch we ate sandwiches (turkey and/or tuna), fruit bars and fruit. Thank you A.Walker and K.Mougous for planning and providing food.

HELP NEEDED
---SCHOLARSHIPS---
Parents of seniors and juniors should look at the $20 million of scholarships available to FIRST graduates.


http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/scholarships
---FOOD---
Coordinate who brings snacks and Saturday meals for our students.
Volunteer to bring food.
---NEXT COMPETITION---
Shorewood District Competition (March 20-22) in Shoreline Washington
   Plan grocery list.
   Create a list of what the team should load into the trailer.
---SAFETY ADVISOR---
Volunteer to be our Safety Advisor and work with our student Safety Captain.
Team 4450 won the UL Industrial Safety Award at Auburn Mountainview.
---MARKETING---
Help plan visibility events at the high school.
Help plan visibility events in the city.
Attend a fundraising seminar. Team 3588 (Lynden High) fundraising jumped from $2,500 to $11,000 after attending.
Create a business plan. Team 3781 won the Entreneurship Award for the best business plan.
---WEBSITE---
Figure out how we add or modify our website (text, photos, and video).
Keep website up-to-date with team information. 
Determine approvals needed before we can post pictures or videos of students to our website.
---PIT---
Donate a wall clock for the pit to help us stay on our match schedule.
Donate a hand vacuum to keep the pit clean.
Plan how to display our past awards, buttons, and brochures in our pit.
Build a Battery Charger. Teams 360 "Revolution" & 2046 "Bear Metal" built an easy to access battery charger out of 2x4s.
---ROBOT---
Look at the Oregon City district videos to see what characteristics the best robots had.
---ALUMNI---
At http://pnwfirst.org/alumni, document our three alumni that graduated last year.
---OTHER IDEAS---If you see other ways to improve the team, please contact AlanWalker@earthlink.net

ROBOT TEAM MEETINGS
We continue to meet Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:30pm-5:00pm and Saturdays from 8:00am-6:00pm in the Drafting Room 808 at Shelton High School.

New Members Welcome

New Year, New Challenge

 

"RECYCLE RUSH is a recycling-themed game played by two Alliances of three robots each. Robots score points by stacking totes on scoring platforms, capping those stacks with recycling containers, and properly disposing of pool noodles, representing litter. In keeping with the recycling theme of the game, all game pieces used are reusable or recyclable by teams in their home locations or by FIRST at the end of the season"

To Read More About The Game Click Here.

Playoffs; Jacob Wins Deans List; Robots Milk Cows

Oregon State University District April 3-5, 2014

HIGHLIGHTS  On our way down to Corvallis, Oregon we stopped at the Styger Family Dairy in Chehalis, Washington to watch robots milk cows. During alliance selection, the #7 alliance captain Team 1571 "Error 404" selected us and then Team 847 "PHRED" to be on their playoff team.  Judges awarded Jacob "J-K" K as a Dean's List finalist at the Pacific Northwest Championship. After our two day robot competition ended, Scott Card of Team 997 "Spartan Robotics" gave us a one hour tour of the Oregon State University.

PARTICIPATION  Eight students attended all three days: Aaron J. (programmer and primary driver); Guy B. (human player and alliance coordinator); Jacob “J-K” (team captain, program lead & acting safety captain); Janae N. (scout lead, tee-shirt design, pit emergency supply survey, and build); Josh M. (build captain and driver); Jason W. (pit crew chief, design, and build); Kyle (drive captain, electrical troubleshooter, and build); and Todd M. (scout, assistahttp://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/Sendmailntsafety captain, & banner design).  Also attending were Eli "Sam" and Cinthia Johnson-Pettis, Aaron's stepdad and mom.

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 C.Johnson-Pettis and S.Pettis for driving our robot and pit supplies in your 20 foot trailer.  Thank you to drivers S. Pettis and A.Walker for getting the team to and from the event.  It took one bus and one 20 foot trailer to move the robot team from the welding shop to and from the competition.  Thank you A.Walker for organizing two nights lodging at the Best Western Grand Manor Inn in Corvallis.

STYGER FAMILY DAIRY  Linda and Andy Styger of the Styger Family Dairy in Chehalis, Washington gave us a tour of their barn where the Lely Astronaut A4 robot milks their 70 cows on a first come, first serve basis.  http://www.lely.com/en/milking/robotic-milkingsystem/astronaut-a4

The Styger Family Dairy is the first dairy in Washington State to use a robot to milk their cows. Linda explained that they prefer to produce organic milk for Organic Valley.  The only place for the cows to get a nutritious snack is to stand in the milking area.  After identifying the cow, the computer determines if the cow was milked in the last six hours. If not, the robot washes her teats (brown to pink), uses lasers to see, and applies suction tubes that do the actual milking.  Each teat may supply a different amount of milk.  The robot chemically analyzes the milk to aid the Stygers is keeping their cows healthy.  Lely used to sell the milking robots for $1 million each. Farmers had to wait months to get one which were made in Sweden.  Now the robotic milkers only cost $250,000. Farmers wait weeks while the factory in Iowa builds them.  It takes three weeks for a technician to install the robot at the farm. The dairy must already have a milking room built to the correct specifications.  Previous to installing the milkers, humans twice a day milked the cows by hand.  Linda said it was difficult finding help for a job that was not forty hours a week. Lely is constantly updating the software that controlls the milker.  The cows adjusted pretty quickly to the milkers.  The humans took a bit longer.  Linda mentioned that there will be a need in the future for technicians to maintain the robotic milkers.  An article by Amy Watkins in the March 24th Everett Herald alerted Alan Walker to the robots in use at the Styger Family Dairy. http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20140324/BIZ/140329538

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 events).  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). Janae N. interviewed the teams in the pit to determine which team had fire extinguishers, first aid kits and battery spill kits.  Jacob "J-K" K. posted this information on the map of the pit. Thank you Safety Captain Brady J. for writing the safety contract and team safety manual.  Thank you 4-H Team 3574 High Tekerz C.J. McAnulty and Carrie C for sharing your entire safety plan with us.  Our emergency supplies were not used at the Oregon State competition.  Our first aid kit was used at our first two competitions.  Our battery spill kit was used at the Shorewood competition.  In all, our emergency supplies were used three times total at our three events. 

PERFORMANCE  After match 18 we were 3-1 and heavily damaged: the 5/8" steel shaft hinge for our arms sheared off; the right motor worked only some of the time; and the entire robot would power down and sit for ten seconds and not move.  Jason W., Josh M., and Kyle D. worked with Manley in the machine shop to create a new hinge shaft from the extra bar stock we brought along.  This included adding a slot and a hole at one end.  We would have saved some time had we brought along a detailed drawing of the shaft.  S. Pettis investigated our electrical power circuit and discovered a loose wire from our power distribution board to the cRIO. This explained why the robot sat on occasion.  With help from student April of Team 4457 ACE Academy, and mentor Terry from Team 847 PHRED, we discovered that our right motor was much hotter than our left motor.  They brainstormed what might be wrong with the right motor.  Did we add lubrication when we built the transmission? Yes.  Does the belt stick during operation? No. The motor may be bad.  Together we discussed swapping in a new right motor but this would take much longer that the 25 minutes between matches.  We could do this after our last match of the day, except we did not have an extra CIM motor.  Team 1425 "Error COde Xero" donated a CIM motor to us.  S.Pettis took a look at the power wire to the right hand motor and discovered it was not fully crimped at is Talon motor controller.

We played match 24 without arms but at full power.  Our alliance should have lost match 24.  In the last ten seconds of the match, our opponents dangerously extended a hand into the playing field for a 50 point penalty.  We were now 4-1 with the hinge shaft replacement almost done being machined.  We played our next match 28 without arms too.  We lost match 28 by nine points.  The referees illegally awarded ten truss points to our opponents for an autonomous ball going over the truss during teleop.  After the match ended Drive Captain Kyle D. immediately stepped to the question box and lodged a complaint with the head referee. This is the only time the team is allowed to dispute a match. Kyle D. represented our team well. The head referee did not change the match outcome.  The replacement shaft now complete, Jason W. and Josh M. reattached the arms.  We won our final match of the day to finish the qualification matches Friday at 5-2 and tied for sixth place. The team decided not to replace the right hand motor until Saturday morning.

After replacing the motor, we had high hopes.  Unfortunately we went 0-5 on Saturday to wind up at 5-7 overall. In a classy move, Team Captain Jacob “J-K” appointed senior Kyle D. team representative for alliance selection.  Team 1571 Error404 from Gresham, Oregon selected us to be on their #7 alliance.  They mentioned they were impressed when a representative of Team 5295 (Janae N.) visited them and spoke about alliance selection at the end of day one.  Alliance captain Team 1571 also selected Team 847 "PHRED", a tall defensive robot to be on the alliance. We were the top offensive scorer on the alliance.  We lost the best of three quarter finals 27-130, 28-0, and 27-150.

ALL COMPETITION RESULTS AVAILABLE AT http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/5295

Our opponent, alliance 2, featured the #2 and #4 seeded robots.  They would go on to be on the winning alliance. After we lost the second match, we went back to the pits and slowly took apart the pit. Due to one of the Alliance 2 robots reaching outside the field in the human area (and potentially very dangerous), the referees removed all their points. Very quickly, Teams 1571, 5295 and 847 got back on the field for our third and final match.

DRIVE TEAM  Four students participated on the four person drive team: Aaron J. (primary driver), Guy B. (human player feeds ball to robots), Josh M. (secondary driver), and Kyle D. (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.  Guy B. consistently did this.  The robot had difficulty picking up the robot.  The team made 3 of 4 high truss shots and 2 of 4 high goal shots.  

AWARDS  Twenty-eight teams competed with us at our third district event, held at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon Friday April 4 8AM  to Saturday April 5 6PM.  Team 5295 Aldernating Current did not win any awards.  Judges interviewed Jason W. and Jacob "J-K" K. as Dean's List nominees of Team 5295. The judges awarded Jacob "J-K" a finalist for the Dean's List Award at the Pacific Northwest Championship.

AUTODESK PACIFIC NORTHWEST CHAMPIONSHIP

Alan Walker made arrangements to get Jacob "J-K" and his grandmother down to the district championship on Saturday at Veteran Memorial Stadium in Portland. The Dean's List judges will use the notes from the district judges to select the six Dean's List finalists for the St.Louis World Championship. Jacob "J-K" will not be reinterviewed.

Our team season is complete.  As a rookie, we finished 113th out of 153 Pacific Northwest teams.  The top 64 teams will compete at the Pacific Northwest Championship this coming weekend April 9-12 in Portland, Oregon. Both Team 4450 Olympia Robotic Federation and Team 3574 High Tekerz will be competing at the Rose Garden.

WATCH LIVE http://www.firstwa.org/FRC/DistrictChampionship.aspx

RANKINGS http://www.district.firstwa.org/PNW/2014

PERFORMANCE http://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2014washo

ROBOT INSPECTION occurred very quickly. We passed robot inspection two hours after requesting inspection. In our two earlier competitions, robot inspection took five or six hours to pass.

BUMPERS  The team expended very little pit time on the bumpers.  The red bumpers sometimes had a loose flap that dragged on the ground.  Referee K.Saxton asked the robot inspectors to review our bumpers.  Jason W. and Josh M. had the machine shop make some angles to help pull the bumpers a bit higher off the ground.  Janae N. is designing a new method to build bumpers in the future.

PIT CREW  The team worked as a well oiled machine.  Aaron J., Guy B., Janae N., Jason W., Josh M., Kyle D. and Todd M. worked well together.  Jason W. again coordinated on arm reconstruction with the machine shop, the third event he has had this task. In a fantastic act of Gracious Professionalism, Team 1425 "Error Code Xero" donated a CIM motor to us which we used all day Saturday.  We returned the motor to them after we were eliminated from competition.

BATTERIES  Batteries were topped off Wednesday and again Thursday.  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.

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/  Photos and videos of our team may be posted at http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/5295

ROBOT TEAM MEETINGS

Shelton High School is on break this week April 7-11.  Our next team meeting will be Monday, April 14th.  We will create our spring goals and determine our future meeting schedule. Robot team meetings are typically Mondays (except following a district event), Wednesdays and Thursdays from 2:30PM-6:30PM in the welding shop at Shelton High School, 3737 N. Shelton Springs Road, Shelton WA 98584.  We also meet most Saturdays from 9AM-5PM. With advance notice, there is a North Mason shuttle.  All are welcome.

OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY TOUR

Scott Card of local Corvallis Team 997 Spartan Robotics gave us a tour of the university. OSU has 23,000 undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. One quarter of all students are engineering majors.  Scott is a dual education and german major.  The school is just over two square miles, 30 blocks by thirty blocks.  The engineering department helped design the Mars Rover robot. The son of Manley, the machinist who fabricated the replacement shaft for our arms, was part of the Mars Rover design team. 

WIKIPEDIA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_State_University

OFFICIAL WEBSITE http://oregonstate.edu/

FIRST SCHOLARSHIPS

http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/scholarships

For 2014, FIRST has over 170 confirmed scholarship providers that are making available almost 900 individual scholarship opportunities with a total value of more than $19 million. FIRST scholarships are funded and administered by the scholarship providers (colleges, universities, corporations, etc.) not by FIRST.  Each have unique eligibility requirements, deadline dates, and application procedures. Scholarships are usually for use at a specific college or university, but a few can be used at any school. Most are merit-based and cover a broad range of scholastic abilities.  Roughly 35% of FIRST scholarhips can be used for any course of study.  Values range from one-time $500 awards to full four-year tuition ($160,000 value).
SCHOLARSHIP LIST http://www.usfirst.org/about/scholarships/scholarship-opportunities

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/first-scholarship-faqs

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.

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.