Summer 2012

In our hiatus from Blogger we have been meeting every Friday night.  We've been working on building a demo-bot, in addition to learning SolidWorks and LabView.  We have been reviewing our technical skills focusing on engineering terminology and GDT.

We drove the robot in the NorthWest Hills 4th of July Parade, leading the local area Girl Scouts down the parade route.  We took the robot to JCPennys, IBM, the Austin Microsoft Store, and Austin Community College.  We taught the GSCTX LEGO Mindstorms Summer Camp and assisted the GSCTX LEGO Waterbotics Camp.  Yes, we were making the robots swim but don't try this without the specific waterproof parts.  I think LEGO is still developing this system but it was extremely cool watching LEGOs swim (think propellers from a boat).

We are extremely excited for this upcoming year and are looking forward to the next FRC challenge.

Thanks for Reading!
the Lady Cans
PS we are sad to see our seniors go but are actively recruiting.  If you are interested in joining, contact us!

2 weeks until Summer, 35 weeks till kickoff '13

             The last couple of Fridays we have begun lessons in Solidworks.  So far everyone seems to be picking up the CAD software pretty easily.  Since we aren't building anything at the moment we've begun to draw up the Minion, from Despicable Me, in Solidworks.  It will be quite an endeavor but we're all looking forward to learning more in Solidworks.  Our robot finally came back from St. Louis.  We uncrated it in the first rainstorm Austin has had in a while.   We stored the robot in the house.  The crates are outside protected in the bag & tag bags.  As soon as things dry out, we will move the crate to the storage unit.  Right now we are all taking End of Course tests, IB tests, AP tests and then finals.  

In regards to demos,
      Microsoft opened a new store in Austin.  Girl Scouts of Central Texas asked us to demo our 2012 robot along with the robot from the Girl Scout Waco team, #4335 the Metallic Clouds.  The robots were in the Microsoft store for a combined total of 4 hours.  At the end of the day, we decided to have a little fun and drive the robot to the car, effectively drawing quite a large crowd.  We are looking forward to working with Girl Scouts of Central Texas' new sponsor, Microsoft.

thanks for reading
graduating captain Allison
PS We would like to welcome our new sponsor, Duck Tape, to the world of FIRST.

Championships Update 3

Continuing where I left off...

Friday
     Well things didn't go quite as planned because we lost all of our matches on Friday :( .  All of our matches were very weird and nothing went as planned, but we still had a blast and managed to learn a lot from all of the teams in our division.  Since we only had 4 matches on Friday there was a lot of down time and I spent alot of the day wandering the pits and taking pictures of cool robots, pit displays and everything in between.  Mostly I was curious how teams displayed their outreach/Chairman's information.  There were several clever ideas (like #1114 Simbotics Chairman's Museum poster) that our team can run with for Chairman's next year.  In the evening we went to the Girl Scouts reception and had a nice chat with some of the Spacecookies (the other Girl Scout sponsored FRC team....they're from northern california).  We ended the evening with a St. Louis Cardinals Baseball game.  The baseball game was a different exerience for all of us because Austin doesn't have any major league professional sports teams, just minor league.  We were all kind of shocked how fake the fans cheering sounded from the outside of Busch stadium (the noice sounded like the stereotypical roar on a TV/radio program).  The game was a blast, but it was freezing (well for us Austin girls) and not quite as exciting as the atmosphere of a Texas High School Football game.  We left during the 8th quarter with the Cardinals winning 12-1. 

Saturday
     We only had one match on saturday which we lost by 3 points but we fell over within the first 30 seconds of the match.  We were crossing the bridge to play defense but in the process I drove over a ball and ended up with one wheel off the bridge;  I didn't do a very good job of saving it and soon the robot was on it's back.  We packed up shortly thereafter and headed to lunch, sad that we didn't get picked for an alliance yet glad that didn't have the stress of the elimination bracket (there were so many good teams it was hard to predict which alliance would win).  We spent lunch eating in City Garden, which is a cute little interactive garden in the middle of downtown St. Louis.  We made it back to the dome in time to catch the last of division awards and to go find a seat infront of the Einstien field.  THE EINSTEIN MATCHES WERE CRAZY!!!!!  The red side of the field was having comms. issues so the first two semifinal matches were replayed.  To make a long story short #1114 Simbotics walked away with a Chairman's win (they truely deserved the win; the impact that this team has made across the FIRST community is remarkable), The Galileo Champs beat the Curie Champs for the Championship title.  So Congrats to teams #16 (Bomb Squad), #25 (Raider Robotix) and #180 (S.P.A.M.).  We ended the day with dinner at the resturant in our hotel, set our alarms for 4:45am and passed out in our respective hotel rooms.

The Conclusion of our Amazing Trip
         We might not have walked away with a top 10 finish or a trophy but we did walk away with a lot of knowledge.  We learned how important our mentors are; not just for all they do during build season but for all the effort they help during competition.  We went to Championships with with no engineering mentors and we held our own, but our mentors were truely missed.  We recognize that our team is heading in the right direction and learned ways to expand and improve.  We've begun to build a stronger relationship with our major sponsor Girl Scouts of Central Texas and are working on getting more Girl Scout teams started across the country.  We've set a schedule for off-season meetings and as I type this the team is getting a lesson in Solidworks.  4 of the 7 graduating Seniors are pursuing careers in STEM, a field that none of us would have even thought about had we not joined FRC.

Thanks for reading
Allison
graduating team captain

Championships Update 2

Wednesday
        Since Championships fell on TAKS week (stupid statewide testing) only the 6 seniors could get out of school.  Wednesday by 8am the Girl Scout van dropped the 6 seniors and our 2 Girl Scout Leaders/Mentors off at Austin Bergstrom International Airport.  We hopped on our Southwest flight and were in St. Louis by around 2pm.
       We drove downtown and found the Dome and Convention Center easily, we didn't have enough time to check into the hotel so we began to look for lunch.  We found a cute 50s looking diner and had an amazing lunch. 
       By 4 were were in line waiting for the pits to open so we could uncrate and get inspected.  3 hours later we had a working robot, a set up pit display (a modified version of our usual pit because we had to fit everything in 2 suitcases), and had passed inspection (although the Inspector did not seem to understand that we didn't appreciate his since of humor o_O). 
        We threw our stuff in our hotel rooms and began looking for food.  The search for food was harder than we thought, apparently most of the restaurants near our hotel were lunch only.....finding a restaurant that could feed 8 people at 9pm seemed to be a problem that we weren't anticipating.  We had an amazing Italian dinner (St. Louis is such a sports town, you couldn't go anywhere without seeing someone in a red Cardinals shirt).

Thursday(we were on Curie Division)
      The first half of Thursday was practice matches.  We did a couple of practice matches and everything seemed to be working.  Our first match was Q#2 we lost 14-36 but our alliance mates didn't quite live up to what they said they were gonna do. Our second match Q#19 was a win 33-12....I don't remember the specifics of the match but everything went as planned.  Our third match, Q#49, was a win 66-49 but our robot lost power shortly after the match started so we didn't help much.  The field tech guys were very puzzled by our power loss so they told us to change out the breaker (the on/off switch).  We changed it out but the robot still wasn't turning on, turns out the battery was the issue all along.  Our last match on Friday Q#60 was a loss 3-41......we were against some bad-a** teams and our shooter bands kept popping off so we didn't score anything that match :( .  We found an old Brewery/Restaurant in Old St. Louis and had a delicious meal complete with desert (the chocolate cake was to die for).



Keep reading for more
allison

Championships Update 1

I know that I'm late in posting this but life got a little crazy and this is the first chance I've had to talk about our experience at the 2012 FIRST Championships in St. Louis.  Let me explain a little about how Championships works:

• there are 3 seperate compeitions going on: FLL, FTC, and FRC
• There are 3 ways to attend Championships (for FRC)
• FRC Teams are eligible to register for the FIRST Championship if:
• They are a "Pre-Qualifying" Team; 
• FIRST Championship Chairman’s Award winners in prior years;
• Original and sustaining teams from 1992 on;
• 2011 FIRST Championship "LOGO MOTION" winners (3);
• 2011 FIRST Championship Engineering Inspiration Award winner (1)
• Become a Merit Based Qualifier during the 2012 FRC Season
• Chairman's Award winners
• 2012 Regional -1 per Regional
• Engineering Inspiration Award winners
• 2012 Regional -1 per Regional
• Rookie All-Star Award Winners
• 2012 Regional-1 per Regional 
• 
  
   2012 Robot Competition Winners
• 2012 Regional-3 per Regional
• Have Veteran Team Status and register during the open enrollment phase.
• Veteran FRC Team - Open Registration = A selected number of FIRST Championship slots will be available for this open registration.
• Wait List - A wait list will be maintained for any openings that become available.
• There were 400 FRC teams in attendance
• the teams are divided into 4 divisions
• Archemedies
• Newton
• Curie
• Galileo
• each division is essentially a regional, each of the 100 teams compete in 9 qualification matches over the course of Thursday 1pm-8:15pm, Friday all day and Saturday 8:15am to 10:30am
• Saturday at 10:30am division alliance selection happens
• 12pm quarterfinals begin
• By 3:30 each division has a winning alliance
• the winners of each division move on to Einstien to compete for the World Championship title

In my next post I'll get share more about our experiences at Championships

thanks for reading
allison
team captain

Thursday afternoon, we took the 2011 robot "Tubey" to Concordia University in Austin.  We showed them what girl scouts do when they have the chance to use their math and science.  The CEO of Girl Scouts of Central Texas introduced us and we spoke about our experience and how FIRST had made an impact on our lives.  We shared the robot demonstration with our sister robot team "Metallic Clouds"  from Waco.  There were 50 professional women in attendance.

Lone Star Regional

Well folks, we competed last weekend at Lone Star Regional in Houston, TX and boy did we have fun.

• Thursday
• The pits opened at 8:30am and we immediately set up our pit, made some minor adjustments to the robot and sent our drivers off to the driver meeting.  
• By 11am we had passed the height and weight part of inspection.  After an hour of filing and waiting anxiously we finally passed inspection.  
• The rest of Thursday consisted of 2 practice matches, tweaking of code, and adjusting our lifting mechanism's tension.  
• Thursday evening back at the hotel we got in a game of 3 on 5 basketball (yes we know it's not even but the team of 3 actually plays basketball in school) and helped our Chairman's team prepare. 

•  Friday 
• we were in the pits by 8:30am and ready for opening ceremonies to start 
• Match #8: Loss 10-12 ; a set screw came out on one of our drive shafts so we couldn't go left.  This match wasn't quite as successful as we wanted but it was only our first match
• Match #15: Win 27-12 ; I believe that we scored most of the points in this match.  Our autonomous was lined up correctly and we scored both balls.  This was by far our best match on Friday
• Match #20: Win 9-0
• Match #34: Loss 30-49 ; This was a good match even though we lost.  We were against #359 the Hawaiian Kids (they won the Hawaii Regional) so it was an expected loss.  However our one of our alliance partners, #1477 Texas Torque, balanced with #359 on the Coopertition Bridge so we shot up in rankings
• Match #42: Loss 4-22 ; This was also an expected loss because we were against #364 Team Fusion (another powerhouse team).  We could have scored more but Team Fusion ball starved us, so for most of the match I had nothing to score :(
• Match #47: Loss 22-35 ; We lost this match but overall our strategy went as planned.  We were hoping to get a double balance for the other 10 points but that didn't work so we single balanced on our own bridge for 10 out of the 22 points.
• Match # 59: Win 43-25 ; This was an expected win because we were pared with #118 the Robonauts and #57 the Leopards.  The only downside was that we were ball starved again :(
• We were a little disappointed Friday evening because we ended 29th out of 55 and our prospects for getting picked for the elimination bracket were very slim.  We hoped that our unique design would set us apart.
• Saturday
• We were the first match on Saturday so we had to be on the field by 8:40am.  However we got to the pits at 8am so we could work with our alliance partners #2587 the Discobots. We added an autonomous mode so that we could drop our 2 balls into #2587's hopper.
• Match #67: Loss 21-46 ; Our end of the autonomous code worked but Disco didn't run their collection roller long enough so all 4 balls didn't get shot :( .  Even though we lost this match we balanced on the coopertition bridge with #1477 to get extra ranking points.
• Match #74: Win 20-0 
• Match #84: Win 16-2
• Saturday was an awesome day, so much so that #364 Team Fusion (who was ranked 3rd) approached us about being on their alliance for the elimination bracket.  We were ecstatic because we had never been approached by a powerhouse team before.  That being said they also wanted Discobots as well.  So here's how alliance selection was supposed to work: #364 was going to pick Discobots first because #57 also wanted Discobots, and then #364 was gonna pick us on their second turn around.  (Alliance selection works so that robots are picked by alliance captains 1 through 8 and then 8 through 1 so each alliance has 3 robots) We weren't really worried about being picked by someone else because we were ranked 29 on Friday and 18 at the end of qualification matches
• Alliance selection:  #364 picked Discobots and everything was going as planned until the 6th seed alliance captain, #647 Cyberwolves, picked us.  We were disappointed that we didn't get to work with #364 and the Discobots but this did give us the opportunity to work with Cyberwolves and #3103 Iron Plaid (also an all girls team).  But being on 6th seed alliance meant that we would have to play against the alliance that was originally going to pick us :(
• Quarterfinal Match 4.1 = Win 29-28 ; This was an UPSET!!! we scored both our balls in autonomous and Iron Plaid scored both balls in autonomous.  The real time results showed that we were tied 28-28 at the end of the match but since there are no ties in Quarterfinals the tiebreaker is the most points in autonomous.  We squeaked out a victory but it was more than any of us could ever ask for.
• Quarterfinal Match 4.2 = Loss 21-55 ; this match went more as expected but since elimination is best 2 out of 3 there was still one more match to play
• Quarterfinal Match 4.3 = Loss 32-40 ; we lost but it was still a close match.  If we had scored both balls in autonomous or if we had double balanced (instead of single balanced) on the bridge we would have won.  

We might not have made it past quarterfinals but we are still proud of what we have accomplished.  We also might not have won Chairman's but we got amazing feedback from the judges.  We have learned alot from competition this year and are planning on getting Girl Scout Council more involved in the activities that we do so that we can expand FIRST and Girl Scouts of Central Texas at the same time.  We are headed in the right direction and  have ideas on how we can expand and extend our reach in the future, after all we're only a 4 year old team.

Competition was a huge success and I thank you for reading through our defeats and triumphs at Lone Star Regional 2012

Thanks for reading
Allison Rich
Team Captain and Driver

oh, I forgot to mention that I am 1 of 2 Dean's List Finalists from Lone Star Regional :)

 

March Update

A lot has happened since I've last posted.  Here is what we've been up to:

• Feb. 25th = we took our 2011 FRC robot to University of Texas at Austin's Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day.  We let all of the girl (who wanted to) drive our FRC robot.  They also got to build a car out of Kinex. 
• March 3rd =  we drove down to San Antonio to watch the Alamo Regional.  We cheered on our fellow teams from Austin and also learned how important the bridge balancing was.  A quick shout out to our brother team #2158 for getting Volunteer of the year, Woodie Flowers, Dean's List and Chairman's Awards!
• March 12th = SXSW! I got the opportunity to speak on a panel at SXSW called "Building the Next Generation of Innovators"  We also got to unbag our 2012 robot to put on display at the Meet-up Pavilion for Dean Kamen's Beer & Bots Reception.  For more information on the panel follow this link: http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_IAP8947
• March 15th = We, unfortunately, had to move out of our awesome 12,000 sq ft warehouse.  It took all day but we divided and conquered all of our stuff to 3 different locations.
• March 22nd = We took our 2011 FRC robot to demonstrate at the Rosedale School's Silent Auction.  Rosedale is Austin ISD's school for students with disabilities.
• March 23rd = We showed our 2011 robot to the students and teachers of the Rosedale School.  We also let the students play with the two adaptive robots that we built.
• March 23rd = We demonstrated our 2011 FRC robot at an Austin Torros Basketball game.  We also built and competed a VEX robot for Austin Regional Clinic's VEX competition.  We earned $10 for every basket that we scored up to 15 baskets.
• March 24th = We set up our tent at the finish of the Rosedale Ride.  The Rosedale Ride is an annual bike ride to raise funds for the Rosedale school.  We let the riders drive two VEX robots, play with our 2 Adaptive robots and also build a car out of Kinex.  In addition we had our 2011 FRC robot on display.  For more information on the Rosedale School follow this link: http://archive.austinisd.org/schools/website.phtml?id=117

Well, that's what we were up to in March.  Stay tuned to learn about Lone Star Regional.

Thanks for reading!
Allison
Team Captain

End of Build Season

Well, sorry for the hiatus but build season got a little crazy.

We have officially finished the robot and it's locked in the competition approved bag.  Our robot weighs in at 119.2lbs (we have a 120lbs limit).  It took several late nights but we had a working robot in time for Austin Robot Round Up (a pre-ship scrimmage) that took place on Sat. Feb. 18, 2012.  We have a successful autonomous and are able to drive the robot by Kinect (although I have to admit, it is a little terrifying).  We have several demos lined up before we go to competition in April.

Pictures and video will be posted on our website shortly.

Thanks for reading!
Allison
Team Captain

Week 2.... I'm soooo behind!!!

Good day readers,

It is now Week 2 of the 2012 FIRST season and we have finally built things! This week The Lady Cans have started assembling the frame of our robot, pulled out that awesome Kinect we got and began program our hybrid mode. By the end of the week we now have bits and pieces of every part of the robot started from the animation challenge to the mascot costumes. And a completely put together programmed and drivable six wheel tank drive robot!

Week 1

Why hello readers,


So the 2012 FRC season has begun, and it seems like just yesterday we're were sitting at kick-off eager to find out the new game, but no week one is over and it's time to start our weekly blog updates. This week we took our new members through the first couple steps of the engineering design process. We set goals, organized a strategy for the game, and started brainstorming robot designs. After a long week of talking things through and prototyping with cardboard and vex, we are ready to move from talking in the living room to building in the workshop.

Hey everyone, what's up?

Before I start posting about this year's build season and our progress on Rebound Rumble I thought it would be a good idea if I told you a little bit about the team and about myself. Hi, I'm Kori. I'm a fourth year member of The Lady Cans, starting in 2009; the team's rookie year. I'll be running this whole shindig! I apologize in advance for any mistakes, I'm new to this.

On to the team!

Now for a brief and speedy history of FRC Team #2881 We are an all girl, Girl Scout sponsored team from Austin, TX. Our rookie year was 2009, that year we were a team of 7 slightly confused, very passionate girls. In the four years since Lunacy our small, dedicated team has grown to 20 girls ranging from sixth grade to our first class of seniors.

To learn more about the history, current and past mentors, sponsors, FIRST, and the team members go to our website www.frcteam2881.com