Saturday 10/26/19 Meeting

Date: Saturday 10/26/19

Agenda: Build like crazy so we can get testing!!

In attendance: Coach Chad, Hayden, Sean, Liam, Tristan, Kairon and Connie

Note taker: Kairon

Reflection: Sean reprinted the 3D print base for the capstone to perfect the sizing.

Liam, Tristan, Hayden and Kairon worked with Coach Chad to get the chain drive on and put the arm together. We figured out how to attach the grabber to the x-rails with the Core Hex motor so that the grabber can basically fold into the robot. We were waiting to build the arm until the Ultraslides arrived, but since one arrived broken and they are not stable and reliable, we went back to using our ServoCity x-rails. We spent much of the meeting building and strengthening. Kairon and Sean also worked on autonomous paths and ideas. We realize that this year’s challenge is going to mean multiple autonomous paths to  work well with our alliance and avoid collisions.

Thursday 10/24/19 Meeting

Date: Thursday 10/24/19

Agenda: Parts arrived! Build the Stone Delivery Arm!!

In attendance: Coach Chad, Hayden, Sean, Liam, Tristan, Kairon and Coach Cynde 

Note taker: Hayden

Reflection: Sean worked the 3D printed model of the base of the capstone for sizing. The base should fit over the stone extrusion at the top slightly loosely so that it easily fits over but not so loose that it can fall off when the foundation is moved. The actual design of the capstone is still being discussed. The capstone needs to be a minimum of 3x3x4”. The current idea for the capstone is to have a block base that can show the team number on the sides and an Elk head. Sean is working on the base of the design and we are hoping that Mrs Billings will let us print in on the school 3D printer since ours is now obsolete.

The story of our 3D printer is that 5 years ago, Grace Lyons applied for a grant thru the Coca Cola Company for the team to receive a special 3D printer that used recycled soda bottles for printing materials. We were approved and received an Ekocycle. The additional cartridges for printing were a little expensive, but we have used it successfully since we received it and taught many of our team mates how to 3D print. Unfortunately, the machine has not been phased out and the print cartridges are no longer being made or available for sale. At the Summer Arts Festival and our fundraisers, we have been asking for donations so that we can buy a new 3D printer this year. We use 3D printing for specialized parts for the robot and team markers like the capstone. Learning how to design sophisticated programs like Fusion 360 teaches our team members how to visualize and create a 3D form which may be very valuable for us in future careers.

Some of our new parts arrive early this week including our 2 Ultraslide extrusions that we ordered from Rev Robotics. Unfortunately, One of them failed right out of the box and ball bearings went all over the floor. So, we decided pretty quickly that these were not going to be as strong as we needed and went back to original idea of using the x-rail. Liam, Tristan and Hayden went to work to put together the chain drive and the base that will hold the arm extension and claw. We will build more at our Saturday meeting.

Saturday 10/19/19 Meeting

Date: Saturday, 10/19/19

Agenda: Finish configuring new laptops, work on robot base, discuss capstone design

In attendance: Coach Cynde, Coach Chad, Hayden, Sean, Liam, Tristan, and Connie

Note taker: Sean

Reflection: The new laptops were updated to include Coach Cynde as administrator so that we could finish installing Android Studio. We still are having an issue syncing Android Studio on the new laptops, even though we were able to sync it properly on Kairon’s computer. We may have to contact the school’s computer support again to find out what the issue is. coach cynde will e-mail him and see if he can help with the issue.

Liam worked on reconfiguring the base and adding side walls. The plan is to have a chain drive to lift the grip arm, but we are waiting for additional parts to arrive for the construction. Unfortunately, our new Ultraslide extrusions did not arrive yesterday as they said they would. It looks like they should be here Monday now. We did add a core hex motor that will help rotate the arm so that it fits in to the body of the robot to drive under the bridge.

Connie and Tristan worked on some ideas for the support robotics shirt sale that we want to do this year. We need to talk to the student body council and set a sales time frame and we need to contact Oregon Serigraphics for the printing. 

Since we didn’t get the parts for building, we took a little time at the end of the meeting to play games together.

Thursday 10/12/19 Meeting

Date: Thursday, October 12th, 2019

Agenda: Work on the arm, set up Kairon’s computer

In attendance: Coach Chad, Coach Cynde, Sean, Kairon, Liam, Tristan, Connie 

Note taker: Sean

Reflection: Sean and Kairon worked together to download the needed programs to Kairon’s computer so that they can communicate thru discord on the days when Kairon can’t come to the meeting and Kairon can help with programming in Android Studio. they were able to configure Android Studio and update Tensorflow so that it works for Skystone.

3 weeks until Zero Meet!!

Liam worked with Chad on how to mount the arm and discussed using a higher pivot point so that the arm can reach low and up higher at extension. They are also working on a needed parts list for the arm.

Coach Cynde helped set up the team blog in Blogger. We will use this for our meeting entries for the Engineering Notebook and for greater community outreach by publishing our meetings and advertising the blog thru the school website and our Facebook page. Our sponsor posts and other Facebook posts reached 629 people this month!

We discussed more outreach to our students and the community and are planing to promote Hour of Code by mentoring other students during National Computer Education Week. We need to meet with Mrs Rose to discuss how we can make some presentations to the students that week and demonstrate our robot for the school and community.

Saturday 10/5/19 Meeting

Date: Saturday, October 5th, 2019

Agenda: 3D print some adapters, Work on arm design

In attendance: Coach Cynde, Sean, Liam, Tristan, Connie, Hayden 

Note taker: Hayden

Reflection: We decided to lower the robot base by rotating the motor axels. It only lowers the robot about 1/2”, but we want a lower center of gravity this year, so every inch counts. Sean worked on printing some 3d print adapters so we can connect the new grabber arm. 
Tristan mounted the Rev expansion hubs to a wooden board that was a previous side for the robot. We have decided to mount them to wood in our overall quest to stop Electrostatic discharge.
Liam worked on construction ideas for the arm to support the grabber. he will draw up some schematics for the Engineering Notebook.
Connie worked on adjusting the x-rail for the new arm. We may not use it for the final bot, but decided that we will build what we can to test now, even if it’s slightly too long or doesn’t fit in the 18” box. We can buy shorter replacement pieces or trim the one’s we have later. We already know that we want to make the grabber smaller with custom pieces later. Mentor Dan can help cut the x-rail or other aluminum pieces for us at home or at Orenco where he works.
We set up and scheduled the sponsor gratitude posts so that a different post will happen every day this week on Facebook.

Thursday 10/3/19 Meeting

Date: Thursday, October 3rd, 2019

Agenda: Set up 3D printer, build suction cup adapter

In attendance: Mentor Chris, Hayden, Sean, Liam, Tristan, Kairon, Connie, Coach Cynde

Note taker: Tristan

Reflection: Connie worked with Chris to build a syringe suction cup adapter to see if it could work as a collection arm for the robot. It works really well, except that the suction cup is too small and doesn’t hold the Skystone when there is movement. Coach cynde said that she can bring a larger syringe and some larger suction cups to see if we can reproduce the concept on a larger scale. We discussed whether the device would be legal and checked the rule books. Since only the servo is mechanical, it appears legal. Although Liam’s grabber works, we will continue to develop this alternate arm and test which works more consistently too determine which we will use at competition.
We have been unable to locate the charging cord for the 3d printer and cannot print our adapter without it.
Kairon has officially joined the team!
We took a team photo and plan to create posts each day for sponsor appreciation. Our sponsors and donors are Umpqua Orthopedics, Frank Wood and the Wood Family Ranch, Roseburg Forest Products, Con-Vey Keystone, Barbara & Jim Maxham, Addcox Heating, and Larae Simmons. Thank You all for your Generous donations and for supporting Elkton robotics!

ECEC Oktoberfest 9/28/19

Date: Saturday, September 28, 2019
Agenda: ECEC Oktoberfest
In Attendance: Coach Cynde, Sean, Liam, Tristan, Connie, Lilly
Note Taker: Sean
Reflection: Our community fundraising event. This is the third year we run the dessert booth at the Elkton Oktoberfest. We got 4 German chocolate cakes donated from Tomaselli’s, Sherm’s Thunderbird, Fred Meyers, Albertsons and Safeway markets. Coach Cynde made apple strudels, and the other members made a homemade German chocolate cake, chocolate cupcakes, and molasses cookies. We had crazy sideways rain storms during the event and had to scramble to save our food from getting rained on. We talked to a lot of attendees and sold almost all of oof baked goods. It was a good day. We also received a $100 donation from a Jacob and Mary Huber! Thank you so much for your generous donation and for supporting Elkton Robotics!

Thursday 9/27/19 Meeting

Date: Thursday, September 27th, 2019

Agenda: More work on the grabber, Discuss Oktoberfest Fundraiser

In Attendance: Mentor Chris, Coach Cynde, Hayden, Liam, Tristan, Sean, Mentor Dan

Note Taker: Connie

Reflection: the team worked more on the grabber and discussed how to create a swivel S arm to connect the grabber to the arm so that it can connect to the arm and rotate to the inside of the robot to fit within the 18” box.

We talked about a Skystone goal and decided we would like to be able to build 7 high.

This Saturday is our Oktoberfest fundraiser at Elkton Community Education Center. This is our 3rd year hosting the dessert table at the event. It is usually a fun event and a good opportunity for us to explain to people who we are and why robotics is important to us. Most everyone plans to be there for most of the day or all of it and everyone is planning to bring a dessert to sell.

Mercy Surgical Robot at Roseburg Library/ Saturday 9/21/19 Meeting

Date: Saturday, September 21st, 2019
Agenda: See Mercy Surgical Robot at Roseburg Library/ Build Field Set
In Attendance: Coach Cynde, Mentor Aidan, Sean, Liam, Tristan, Lilly
Note Taker: Lilly
Reflection: We went to the Roseburg Library to see the Mercy Surgical Robot. We had an in-depth discussion about the danger of using a robot for surgery and whether a robot should be trusted over a human, and how the unemployment rate will increase when more robots enter the workforce. The robot arm was very impressive and articulated in multiple directions. In comparison, our collection arm should be able to rotate the grabber and be mounted to an arm that lifts up and down. We liked looking at the 4 servos inside the robot arm that control it’s motion. We didn’t stay to get a turn using the arm because the line was long, we felt we had observed enough, and we were anxious to get back and have our meeting.

Aidan joined us back at the meeting and one of our discussions was about the speed of the motors. And whether or not we need new motors. We discussed trying to buy ew gear boxes (20 to 1) to increase the speed. Looking on Andy Mark, those gear boxes were no longer available. We then discussed that being more symmetrical, balanced and lighter weight should make us move faster without increased motors. We would like to buy some of the new Ultraplanetary Gear box sets from Rev Robotics once they become available. In the meantime, we will stay with our motors.

Everyone worked together to build the bridge for the field.
Aidan and Sean looked at Tensorflow but could not find the links to update it to Skystone. They may not be available, yet. We may need to learn how to manipulate Tensorflow.

Connie worked on a points board that shows the possible points for Autonomous, Driver Controlled period and End Game. Coach Cynde drew up a timeline of our meetings and future meets.

Thursday, 9/19/19

Date: Thursday, September 19, 2019

Agenda: Make. The gripper smaller and more efficient at grabbing

In Attendance: Mentor Dan, Mentor Chris, Sean, Lilly, Tristan, Liam, Kairon, Drew, Coach Cynde 

Note Taker Tristan

Reflection: Liam came up with an idea for a gripper and the team helped him work on that most of the meeting with input from Dan and Chris. Kairon was new to the team and the other members showed him the challenge video and discussed what FIRST Tech Challenge is all about. If we can coordinate transportation with the school and Kairon’s Mom, he is interested in joining the team. We are also going to try to set up remotely so that on the days he can’t be at the meeting, we can work together via Skype or Discord.

Saturday, 9/14/19

Date: Saturday, September 14th, 2019

Agenda: Prototype for Arm, Organize team paperwork

In Attendance: Coach Cynde, Sean, Tristan, Liam, Lilly

Note Taker: Sean

Reflection: We created an easy block arm that can pick up the blocks sideways and lift them with the x-rail since we had the x-rail built from the last challenge. It was a quick easy build and gave us the opportunity to visually see what the problems were with a side grabbing arm. It is less efficient because you have to grab from one angle. The x-rail is not very stable and the block moves a bit and will make precision difficult. Tristan built a cardboard mock up of the Skystone for size and testing until our field set arrives.

Thursday 9/12/19 After school meeting

Date: Thursday, September 12th, 2019 
Agenda: Finish moving in & setting up room, Reconstruct base & drive train
In Attendance: Coach Chad, Hayden, Liam, Mentor Aidan, Tristan, Connie, Lilly
Note Taker: Lilly
Reflection: A few of the members drove to the Wood House with Aidan and Chad where we stored our equipment for the Summer to pick up and bring back our tools and table and extra parts. Last year, our base was not symmetrical and our weight was not well balanced, so and we didn’t straif as well as we could. This year, we want to be sure that we can strain and drive faster. Once we got more of the room settled, we spent the remainder of the meeting rebuilding the base and discussing some ideas about the arm.

St Mary’s SOAR League FTC Skystone Kickoff 2019 Saturday, 9/7/19

Date: Saturday, September 7th at St Mary’s High School in Medford

Agenda: Skystone Kickoff!

In Attendance: Coach Cynde, Mentor Dan Killeby, Mentor Aidan and his Grandpa, Sean, Tristan, Liam and Lilly 

Note Taker: Connie

Reflection: We took off at 6am for the drive to Medford. It was cool to see some of our other league mates. We waited for the big reveal and were excited to see the new field. It was not what any of us had expected. There are new restrictions on the robot height because of the bridge. We anticipated having to build something and had talked about an arm extension but now could see what is needed. The link for the challenge video is below:

https://youtu.be/XiGB_8Ppnbs

The big job in our challenge is to create a claw that can pick up, transport and stack the Lego-esque blocks as high as possible with an extension arm that will lay under the 14” bridge in transport. In our team session, we discussed that the current x-rail is too long for this purpose and we may need to cut it shorter. We also talked about stability of the x-rail. When we used it to place the idol 2 challenges ago, it bent from the weight. We may need to look at the new Rev extrusion elements for more stability, but they are on backorder right now. 

The team split up for classes at the Kickoff and attended Programming, Team Building, 3D printing, and Notebook. Team building showed that Biobotz spends a lot of time playing games together. We saw some great examples of notebooks, and learned some interesting ways that other teams work well together. We had a great day together and the food trucks were very good!

1st Official Robotics Meeting of 2019/2020, Thursday, 9/5/19

Date: Thursday, September 5th
Agenda: 1st official Meeting of the year! 
In Attendance: Mentor Aidan, Hayden, Sean, Liam, Tristan, Connie, Lilly, Coach Cynde, Coach Chad 
Note Taker: Sean
Tasks: Dismantle last year’s robot, Move in robotics equipment and arrange the room, discuss plans for travel to FTC Skystone Kickoff
Reflection: Our space is more limited this year because of sharing the room with the high school band, but we will make the best of it! With the construction that is coming at the grade school, next year, we will have a dedicated Robotics/Technology room!! We are very excited about that! So, this year, we manage the room space as best we can and we will set up our practice mat on the stage when we are ready to drive. 
We have asked the school for two new laptops - one for programming and travel and the other for social media, FTC blog, 3D printing and research. The current 3D printer will be there, too. We will have two tables near the shelves, so that we have room for multiple people to sit and work on the computers. We will have one of the long tables in front of the whiteboard so that we can have out tool boxes open and available and workspace and design. We will keep one central table for current building

A group of us worked on dismantling last year’s robot and keeping the electronics basically together. We need to order the new JST PH to JST XH cables from ServoCity so we can replace the cables that need the converters. Coach Cynde will order them. We discussed mounting the Rev Expansion hubs to a wooden side to maximize central space within the robot and help minimize Electrostatic discharge. We have never had trouble with ESD until we made it to State last year. This year, we will do everything we can to protect our robot from ESD.

We took some time to discuss with lily what FIRST Tech Challenge is and what her role can be on the team. We also discussed how we might recruit more team mates.

Fort Umpqua Days 2019

Date: Saturday, August 31st

Agenda: Fort Umpqua Days at Elkton Community Education Center in Elkton,

Oregon

In Attendance: Coach Cynde, Sean, Tristan, Liam, Connie, Lilly

Note Taker: Connie

Tasks: Community Outreach, Mentor recruitment, FIRST Robotics support for students, Show the artistic ability used in engineering for robotics, new member recruitment

Reflection: Fort Umpqua Days is always a great event for us to talk with the community about why robotics is important to us. We get to show our robot to other community youth and, hopefully, inspire them to pursue robotics education. We show that anyone can be involved, not just computer nerds, ad how important it is that we have a team of diverse individuals who have different ideas. We need artists, engineers, business leaders, team leaders, math wizards, innovative builders and creators who like to design and create and play with robots! 

Umpqua Valley Summer Arts Festival 2019

Date: Friday thru Sunday, June 28th - 30th
Agenda: Umpqua Valley Arts Summer Arts Festival in Roseburg, Oregon
In Attendance: Coach Cynde, Sean, Tristan, Liam, Connie, Aidan
Note Taker: Sean
Tasks: Community Outreach, Mentor recruitment, and new team member recruitment, overall support  for FIRST Robotics for students
Reflection: We talked to hundreds of community members and visitors at the event over the 3 day weekend. We shared flyers about FIRST Robotics. We did our best to show that there is an art to engineering and robotics and that innovation = creativity = art! We offered to connect families with teams near them. We invited businesses to support FIRST Robotics in Oregon and in Douglas County and consider becoming mentors for local teams. We explained that being a Mentor is a small commitment that means a lot to Robotics students and helps them be better prepared for life and success.
We paid $100 to have the Non-Profit booth space for the weekend. We invited all the other SOAR FTC teams to share the booth for outreach, and were joined by Biobotz 2.0 and the Mini Maniacs. We got to use the Harvard Avenue stage to demonstrate our robots and talk to the public. We taught some young audience members how to drive our robot, and we had fun reconnecting with some of our League mates. It was a great day!