Well, the build phase is now in it's third week, and I have quite a few days I have to make back dated posts for. I'll combine the first week there into this one single post, since the week kind of ran together anyway.
(Monday, Jan 11 - Thursday)
The robot kit had been picked up on the 9th. Monday was an unofficial team meeting, with Tuesday being the official begin date for the build and design. I was surprised with how many students were there on Monday alone, since it wasn't a mandatory meeting. Over the next couple of days I kept meeting more and more students that I hadn't seen the day before though. This is a HUGE group that decided to be part of the competition(30 in total).
A lot of rule reviewing took place this week, as well as the competition demo video. Of course we also started brainstorming once the guidelines were understood. I got to witness a new type of chaos that week. Just imagine a large group of young students, (ages14-18), being instructed to be as creative as they can in coming up with multiple design ideas for the competion, while also be organized and structured in both discussion and documentation. It just doesn't work like that!
It was obvious that one of the key things they were going to have to learn from this competition was the process's in which designs evolve and come to fruition in an industrial/commercial/real world setting. This is still a work in progress. As for the robot design, it won't be until week 2(the next post) that anything substantial gets decided upon.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Introduction to the competition
Well, it's currently 8:30pm, so good evening!
My name is Steve Warholak and I work for the prototype division of Weiss-Aug co inc. In the past I've had the privilege of working with the students of Jefferson Township High School on their "F.I.R.S.T." robot. For those unfamiliar, "F.I.R.S.T." robotics is an outstanding organization started by Dean Kamen which gives students of varying ages a great education, challenge, sense of accomplishment and experience. To learn more about the organization and competitions, visit www.USfirst.org .
This year I will be working with the students of Jefferson High School again, also as a representative of Weiss-aug. (to learn more about precision stamping and injection molding, visit www.weiss-aug.com)
2010's competition Involves 2 opposing alliances of 3 and 3 in a robotic soccer match called "Breakaway". The students have the challenge of designing and building a robot that must perform certain tasks in an effort to score more points than the opposing teams. Over the course of the 6 week design and build period, I will be making updated posts about the accomplishments that the students have made, and how the robot is shaping up. Keep an eye on this thread, and tell others about the competition! It is a truly excellent program for the students, and should be available to any willing to participate and learn. There are students out there that need your sponsorship though! Businesses of any size, please visit the FIRST site and see if there is anyway that you can contribute to the education of our youth!
My name is Steve Warholak and I work for the prototype division of Weiss-Aug co inc. In the past I've had the privilege of working with the students of Jefferson Township High School on their "F.I.R.S.T." robot. For those unfamiliar, "F.I.R.S.T." robotics is an outstanding organization started by Dean Kamen which gives students of varying ages a great education, challenge, sense of accomplishment and experience. To learn more about the organization and competitions, visit www.USfirst.org .
This year I will be working with the students of Jefferson High School again, also as a representative of Weiss-aug. (to learn more about precision stamping and injection molding, visit www.weiss-aug.com)
2010's competition Involves 2 opposing alliances of 3 and 3 in a robotic soccer match called "Breakaway". The students have the challenge of designing and building a robot that must perform certain tasks in an effort to score more points than the opposing teams. Over the course of the 6 week design and build period, I will be making updated posts about the accomplishments that the students have made, and how the robot is shaping up. Keep an eye on this thread, and tell others about the competition! It is a truly excellent program for the students, and should be available to any willing to participate and learn. There are students out there that need your sponsorship though! Businesses of any size, please visit the FIRST site and see if there is anyway that you can contribute to the education of our youth!
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