2014 Build Blog Release

Team 254 is proud to release its 2014 Season Build Blog. This year’s release contains day by day updates along with in-depth discussions into strategies, prototypes, build decisions, and other Team 254 projects.

For technical discussion along with detailed pictures on various robot systems please refer to the 2014 Barrage Technical Binder.

Our robot ran Java this year as it did in 2013. To develop Barrage, we added a bunch of new features like waypoint navigation that drives smooth splines, an internal web server for debugging controllers and modifying robot constants, Cheesy Vision, single threaded autonomous scripting, and more. Check it out!

NASA Robotics Alliance Celebration

On Tuesday, June 10th, Teams 254s, 971 and 1868 met with NASA Ames’ Director Dr. Simon P. Worden, to celebrate the accomplishments of the teams and thank Dr. Worden for the center’s generous sponsorship over the years.

The 3 teams were recognized for their success in the FRC, VEX, and Botball competitions this past year and all the students were given certificates. The teams thanked NASA, their mentors, and their parents for all the support they’ve received throughout the lifespan of the team.

Members of the audience also got to re-watch some of the exciting Einstein finals matches and relive Team 254’s World Championship win.

A dessert reception hosted by Team 1868 and socializing took place after the event.

2014 World Champions!

{“data”:[{“type”:”heading”,”data”:{“text”:”Overview”}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”Team 254 just returned from the 2014 FRC World Championship held in St. Louis. The team went undefeated in the qualification rounds of the Curie Division and paired with teams 469, 2848, and 74 for elimination matches. After a hard fight through the elimination rounds, the team was crowned the champions of the 2014 FRC season after winning the Einstein finals.\n”}},{“type”:”heading”,”data”:{“text”:”Great Food!”}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”The team had some awesome meals while in St. Louis. On Wednesday night the team had BBQ from Pappy’s Smokehouse, on Thursday 254 ate with Team 1114: Simbotics, and on Friday and Saturday the team enjoyed local St. Louis eateries. \n”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/88540781-image-294×300.jpeg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/88540781-image.jpeg”},”text”:”BBQ from Pappy’s Smokehouse was a team favorite”}},{“type”:”heading”,”data”:{“text”:”Great Fun!”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/8fd7079c-ej_pit-169×300.jpg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/8fd7079c-ej_pit.jpg”},”text”:”Team 1538: The Holy Cows pranked our pits on Friday morning with a ridiculous poster of Holy EJ.”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/97f807e6-ej_volunteers-225×300.jpg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/97f807e6-ej_volunteers.jpg”},”text”:”EJ also greeted all of FIRST Friday morning.”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/97f807e0-Qx1h7xS-400×225.jpg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/97f807e0-Qx1h7xS.jpg”},”text”:”On Friday morning Teams 254, 1538, and 16 played against Teams 111, 67, and 103 in a Hall of Fame match that the Weather Channel recorded to promote the FIRST Championship. Team 254’s alliance won with a score of 616 to 441 in this 4 minute long match.”}},{“type”:”heading”,”data”:{“text”:”Curie Qualification Matches\n”}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning, 254 competed in the Curie division qualification matches \\(the other divisions being Archimedes, Galileo, and Newton\\) and held a match record of 10\\-0, seeding first among the 100 teams in the Curie division, 400 in the Championship, and about 3000 current FRC teams in the world.\n”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/8ff807b3-14041347241_f8c696ec80_o-400×266.jpg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/8ff807b3-14041347241_f8c696ec80_o.jpg”},”text”:”The drive team consisted of Operator Christopher Sides, Driver Christian Jimenez, Human Player Brandon Wui (not pictured), and Coach Travis Covington. “}},{“type”:”heading”,”data”:{“text”:”Alliance Selection\n”}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”After a night of intense strategy talks on Friday, 254 made its alliance selections on Saturday after the last qualification matches. For its first pick, 254 chose Team 469: Las Guerrillas from Michigan. The team was excited to get to work with such a strong, compatible, and versatile alliance partner, who could play hard defense and strong midfield during the tele\\-operated period. In addition, it successfully played the role of autonomous goalie, a rarity in the competition field. 254’s alliance strategy talks the previous night had operated on the goal of creating an alliance for winning Einstein, the \”Final Four\” competition among the division champions, as opposed to winning just the division. As a result, teams were ranked and chosen by virtue of their versatility, since the winning Einstein alliance generally proved the most unpredictable. 254’s second pick was Team 2848: The All\\-Sparks, from a fellow Jesuit school in Texas, for inbounding and defense on powerful opponent finishers. Finally, 254 chose its fourth and backup alliance member, Team 74: Team Chaos from Michigan, to be switched out with 2848 for defense and inbounding.\n”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/907e07be-14045108755_cc33b045e0_o-400×266.jpg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/907e07be-14045108755_cc33b045e0_o.jpg”},”text”:”254 and the rest of the number one alliance after the Curie division alliance selections”}},{“type”:”heading”,”data”:{“text”:”Curie Elimination Matches\n”}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”In the Curie division elimination matches, 254 faced stiff competition and was said to have had the most difficult elimination bracket. The alliance had a tough quarterfinal match against a surprisingly powerful offensive 8th alliance, comprised of Teams 624, 987, and 3476, who had already played a nearly unstoppable strategy together in Qualification Match 26, which saw a score of 320 \\- matching 254’s high score. 254’s alliance won the quarterfinals in two matches and faced an even tougher semifinal round against a defensive alliance of Teams 118 \\(another NASA House Team\\), 359, and 4334, and lost a very close and hotly contested first match. 254 eked out victory in the next two matches and advanced to division finals. 254 won in two matches and became division champions for the first time since its 2011 World Championship victory. The team also won its first ever Innovation in Control Award for its creation and open sourcing of Cheesy Vision, the hot goal detection system used during autonomous by an estimated 50% of teams at the Championship.\n”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/97a607e2-14065098983_07bb930042_o-400×266.jpg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/97a607e2-14065098983_07bb930042_o.jpg”},”text”:”254 used the 3 ball autonomous during Eliminations and had 469 use their goalie pole.”}},{“type”:”heading”,”data”:{“text”:”Einstein Eliminations and Finals\n”}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”Having won the Curie division, the alliance went on to the Einstein field. The scouting and strategy team particularly feared the Newton division champions Team 1114: Simbotics \\(254’s rival in blue banners, friends from the Waterloo regional, 2008 World Champions, and the 2012 Championship Chairman’s winner\\), Team 1678: The Citrus Circuits \\(the finalist team from 254’s home event, the Silicon Valley Regional and with back to back Einstein appearances\\), Team 1640: Sab\\-BOT\\-age \\(division champions from previous years\\), and Team 5136: The Mechapirates \\(one of our favorite rookie teams from the Central Valley Regional\\).\n\n254 first faced the Archimedes Champions 1477, 2590, and 1625 in the Einstein semifinals and won in two exciting matches, scoring 320\\-235 and 261\\-245. The Curie alliance went on to face the formidable Newton alliance in the finals. Undaunted by the supposed \”Curie Curse,\” the fact that the Curie Division winners have never won the World Championships, the Curie alliance won its first match 361\\-236, celebrating madly as 254’s 3\\-ball hot goal autonomous scoring bypassed 1114’s attempts to block it by driving a rarely seen autonomous path that drove 254 out to the wall to shoot over the low goal to prevent goalie interference. In the second autonomous match, 1114 pushed Barrage, and 254 hit only one of three autonomous balls. The match was lost from the outset and was scored 240\\-153 for the Newton alliance. The crowd immediately attributed this sudden unlucky loss to the Curie curse, and the various song\\-and\\-dance numbers thrown in by FIRST did little to raise the spirits of the shocked supporters of the Curie Champions. In an intense third and final match, 254’s autonomous was successful thanks to 469’s foregoing the use of its goalie pole and instead blocking 1114’s movement. Some observers compared the Einstein finals autonomous battle to that of two chess grandmasters. In teleoperated mode, the two alliances went back and forth, but the Curie alliance’s incredible defense on the opposing finisher 1114 picked up momentum and resulted in a close 280\\-250 victory when 254 scored a last\\-second shot under heavy defense. The crowd exploded in cheers as 254 became World Champions for the second time in four years and simultaneously broke the Curie curse. Cheers included \”Curse goes Poof\” and the ever\\-popular \”Yeah buddy!\”\n”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/8874077c-14021429666_b73fb091e9_o-400×266.jpg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/8874077c-14021429666_b73fb091e9_o.jpg”},”text”:”254 used the infamous 3 ball autonomous even against 1114’s goalie pole”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/984307f0-14041809891_325a5f4c2f_o-400×266.jpg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/984307f0-14041809891_325a5f4c2f_o.jpg”},”text”:”The Team’s excitement after the final match”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/981d07eb-14041843352_7bb1826c2a_o-200×300.jpg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/981d07eb-14041843352_7bb1826c2a_o.jpg”},”text”:”EJ’s roar after winning was heard throughout the stadium”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/902f07b2-IMG_20140426_190225-400×300.jpg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/902f07b2-IMG_20140426_190225.jpg”},”text”:”Travis’ selfie with the team”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/98d807f0-10001099_655852797819277_7487597249566466903_o-400×266.jpg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/04/98d807f0-10001099_655852797819277_7487597249566466903_o.jpg”},”text”:”The Team on the field after the awards ceremony”}},{“type”:”heading”,”data”:{“text”:”Thank you!”}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”Team 254 would like to congratulate its alliance partners 469, 2848, and 74 for their invaluable contributions to the Championship victory and Teams 1114, 1678, and 1640 for the most intense matches that 254 had ever played. 254 also welcomes Team 27: RUSH into the Hall of Fame.\n”}}]}

Pre-STL Day 4: Lighting Up

by Nathan Duong ’16

Competition Preparation: Transportation Crate

The second layer of paint has been applied to the transportation crate and is now finished!

Field Construction: 1 Point Goals

Members of the team have continued to construct the two wooden 1\-point goals to mirror the left side of the field.

Pit Lights

The pit lights are being restored by soldering the wires after previously being burnt out. In addition, the HTML and CSS for the lights added “knightrider,” “rainbow,” and custom color effects.

Bumper Fabric

The new, extra layer of fabric is being applied to the bumper of the robot, therefore removing the drawback of being “T-boned.”

Wheel Hubs

The team continued to work on and improve the CAD of the future wheel hubs that will also expel drawback time from “T-boning” by increasing the width of the center wheel.

Web App

The web app is being worked on and members of the team sought to include FRC/VEX hours, the directory, and blog. Also, the logo for the app is being designed. Ideally this app will be available on iOS with open access to the students on their iPads and mobile devices.

Action Items

• Bumper fabric testing
• Rebuild bumper frames for competition
• 1-Point Goals
• See board

Pre-STL Day 3: Boxes and Boxing In

by Nathan Duong ’16

Transportation

The 5’ x 5’ x 5’ wooden crate that will be used for tool transportation in the St. Louis trip is being worked on. The first of two coats of blue paint was applied to patch the blank patches in a lighter color.

Scrimmaging

Scrimmaging is continually being conducted in preparation for worlds.

Reducing Cycle Time

Testing Bumper Material

In addition, new bumper fabric is being added to lower the coefficient of friction and time “T-boned.”

Wheel Hubs

The team cut six solid metal 2’ x 4’s for wider wheel hubs. This will create more traction on Barrage’s wheels to lessen time “T-boned.”

Field Construction: 1 Point Goals

The team has been brainstorming to create two more wooden 1-point goals based on the measurements from the CAD. These are being constructed in order to have balanced coverage of goals on the left-most side of the field.

Action Items

Pre-STL Day 2: Robot Repairs

by: Brenden Farrer

Today at the lab, other FIRST teams, such as Spartan Robotics, came to practice with our field. The primary focus was on fixing the practice robot and Skystalker to continue driver practice with the other teams.

Skystalker

A “hat” was built for Skystalker that allows it to block and carry a ball. The wheels were retreaded, as the previous ones have worn down. Hopefully these new defense capabilities will provide more practice for the drive team.

Practice Robot

Today students began discussion and planning of future projects. However, a second ball settler was attached to reduce the motion of inbounded or caught balls to increase accuracy when shooting. Adding a powerslide wheel was discussed, no changes were implemented today.

Prep for World’s

For the trip to St. Louis, all of the tools will be shipped in a 5’ x 5’ x 5’ wooden crate. Using the measurements from the CAD designed yesterday, the wood pieces were cut and assembled.

Action Items

• See board

Pre-STL Day 1: Going Forward

by Dan Ngo ’17

Tasks

Today, the team started with a discussion about our performance in SVR, between all of the mentors and members at the lab. During that, the team addressed most of the issues that the robot had during the tournament, which mainly consisted of getting stuck by T-boning from an opponent, which would cause too much friction escape, as well as improving and testing new autonomous, to cover new possibilities and better reliability. The other issues include general fixing, testing, and making of parts and possible ways to improve our alliances.

Programming

During the present team meeting, concerns were raised about possible robots blocking the goal autonomous, so it was decided that another autonomous would be made to suit this situation, shooting immediately instead of waiting for a hot goal. Before we could do this, however, Skystalker had to be fixed, with the router unable to connect to our computers.

Maintenance

Thus, Skystalker had to be fixed up and made taller to test the new autonomous that accounted for goal blocking. For practice, the practice Barrage was also updated and fixed, to catch it up with the competition Barrage at SVR. Then autonomous testing began.

The team additionally had to unpack and reorganize all the parts brought back from SVR, as well as general reorganization of the shelves.

With a large amount of untested batteries, the team also decided to test all of them in preparation for Worlds. This was done by hooking the batteries up to a computer, drawing current, and and calculating the condition of the battery once the current drops in value. Additionally, leads were added to new batteries.

Public Relations

Returning from SVR, the team flyer had to be updated to be current with the SVR version of Barrage. The technical binder also had discrepancies and errors to be fixed.

Action Items

• Continue autonomous testing
• Continue upgrading Skystalker
• Continue testing batteries
• Build new bumpers
• See picture and/or whiteboard

2014 Silicon Valley Regional

Team 254 rounded out its regional play this past weekend with its annual attendance at the Silicon Valley Regional FIRST Robotics Competition.

The team won 10 of its 11 matches in the qualification round, losing match 47 against the top-seeded team, 971, who had gone and continues to go undefeated in all of regional matches this year. At the end of qualifications 254 was seeded 3rd behind 971 Spartan Robotics and 1678 Citrus Circuits, with the highest accumulated score in Teleoperated Mode. 971 chose 254 as its first alliance partner and the two teams chose 1662, Raptor Force Engineering, as the third.

This alliance went undefeated in eliminations, setting the tournament high score of 325 in its second quarterfinal match and winning its quarterfinal matches by margins of 100 to 200 points. It semifinal and final rounds were closer and more exciting, narrowly edging out the finalists 1678, 368 Kika Mana, and 4171 Bay Bots by 40 points.

In the awards ceremony, 254 won the Gracious Professionalism Award for its extensive support of other teams in the tournament and model behavior, exemplifying the ideals of FIRST competition. Specifically, 254 sent Robot FIRST Aid teams around the pit area to discuss strategy with its alliance partners and provide assistance to teams who needed it.

This Silicon Valley Regional victory marks 254’s 15th in the 16 years of its and the regional’s existence. Congratulations to alliance partners 971 and 1662, finalists 1678, 368, and 4171, and Regional Chairman’s Winner 604, Leland Robotics.

254 is now ranked #1 in the world on FRC Top 25 for its three regional victories.

Pre-SVR Day 8

by Brendan Farrer ’17

This lab day was mainly dedicated to preparing for the SVR tournament and finishing up the Chairman’s binder and Technical binder.

Pit Display

The final touches were made to the pit display, including fixing the remote light controls and adding a carousel effect for when it is inactive. While programmers edited the code, other members finished the content for the display, such as re-writing the technical page.

Machining

To assist in collaborative gameplay, a polycarb backing was created to mount on the hood. This allows the human players from other teams to inbound more accurately.

Practicing

To continue driver and human player practice, the pinniped pistons were added back to the robot and the modifications were finished to the catching system. These modifications allow the robot to catch balls thrown by a human player without opening the intake. Several team members were also trained to be human partners for the robot.

Writing

Several team members contributed to the completion of the Tech Binder along with the Chairman’s Award Binder. Although the majority of the work was completed, they continue to format and edit the content.

SVR Packing

With only two days until SVR, the necessary tools and materials for the competition were prepared to be packaged for travel. Mentors and students went through travel crates, re-labeling and organizing for the optimal set up.

Pre-SVR Day 7

by Samuel Buxton ’16

Scrimmage

Today was an eventful day at the lab. In preparation for the SVR (Silicon Valley Regional) our drivers trained against some of the best teams in the region, including 1868, 971, 192. and 776.

SVR Prep

Upstairs the team fixed “Barrage’s” intake, and a separate project using some colorful LEDs light up the pit.

The “Minion Project” reached a milestone with the completion of a mini mascot costume, which was unveiled this weekend. The costume is based on the original “Cheesy Poof” costume from South Park.

Work continued for the pit display and drivers got the opportunity to sharpen their skills for the upcoming tournament.

Pre-SVR Day 4: Preparation

by Nathan Duong ’16 and Josh Fluegemann ’17

Pit Display

The programmers of the team worked on the pit display; they primarily sought to improve the quality of the display through cleaning up the HTML and CSS of the web application. Today, they added lightbox capabilities to the web box.

Pit Lights

In addition, notches were made in the pit lights tubing for soldering.

Chairman’s Binder

Research is being done for the chairman’s binder; members are compiling a list the alumni’s colleges.

Intake

The intake is being put back together after individual parts were sent back from Waterloo. To do so, the plate, motor, and intake roller were reconnected with the skeleton of the intake.

Action Items

• Manufacture above parts and install on robot (all McMaster parts required have arrived) – Travis/ Colin
• Finish shooter redesign (SDP and VEX parts are on order) – Paul
• Prepare sponsor welcome packets for when sponsors come to SVR – Stephen
• Work on pit-lights and finish assembly – Ken
• Cut/install vinyl labels on hinged-lid totes (light blue, dark blue and black all need new vinyl) – Travis/Mani
• Test LCD mounts – test installation on trussing – Travis/Ken
• Finalize video banner – Ryan
• Improve Pit Display and test with new monitors and projector – Ryan
• Design projector mount for video banner – Travis
• Finalize video banner mount – Travis
• Fix/create hand sanitizer mount – Mani
• Design/build new bumper hangers for truss – Travis/Mani
• Improve technical binder – Andrew
• Improve Chairman’s binder – Jeremy/Andrew
• Improve Chairman’s video – Jeremy/ Kevin
• Re-print all binders and sponsor packets with correct bleeds and page splits – Jeremy

2014 Waterloo Regional

{“data”:[{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”by Andrew Torrance ’15\n”}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”This past weekend, Team 254 had a great time competing at the Waterloo Regional in Ontario, Canada. We traveled all the way from San Jose, California to compete against some of the best teams in the world and made some new friends along the way. In the end, the team seeded second, picked Teams 2056 and 865 and went on to win the tournament, the Quality Award, and the Gracious Professionalism Award.\n”}},{“type”:”heading”,”data”:{“text”:”Summary of Accomplishments\n”}},{“type”:”list”,”data”:{“text”:” – Tournament Champions with Teams 2056 and 865\n – 17\\-2 Win\\-Loss record through Quals and Elims\n – Number two seed\n – Quality Award\n – Gracious Professionalism Award \n – Set the current world record score of 350 without penalties\n – 34 blue banners, more than any other team\n – Highest scores Autonomous and Assist categories over first\\-seeded team\n”}},{“type”:”heading”,”data”:{“text”:”Travel and Extra Fun\n”}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”The team flew from San Francisco airport to Chicago and then to Buffalo. We drove the rest of the way to Waterloo. On Thursday night we had dinner with our friends from Team 1114, the SimBots, and had the chance to meet and make new ones. After elimination matches, all the students ran outside and had a huge snowball fight with Teams 1114 and 865. Most would agree that the Canadians won. On Saturday night, all 16 students hung out in the hotel and had fun talking and bonding. On the way home, we also stopped briefly at Niagara Falls for some more great memories! \n”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/03/966307d6-1779099_737078946331830_615133729_n-400×300.jpg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/03/966307d6-1779099_737078946331830_615133729_n.jpg”},”text”:”The snowball fight resulted in frozen hands but was a lot of fun!”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/03/8eb907a2-10151919_737483919624666_141238645_n-400×224.jpg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/03/8eb907a2-10151919_737483919624666_141238645_n.jpg”},”text”:”It was very cold when we visited Niagara Falls”}},{“type”:”heading”,”data”:{“text”:”Qualification Matches”}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”The team set up the pits on Thursday and participated in practice matches, including one with powerhouse teams 1114 and 2056. On Friday we presented Chairman’s, spoke to judges, and played 10 qualification matches. Throughout the entire day, a group of mentors and students constantly ran around the pits to discuss strategy with our partners. Oftentimes we would help temporarily modify our alliance partners’ robots for a specific role in a strategic cycle we had planned. We frequently helped them fix autonomous code and intakes so they could inbound and pass the ball more easily. On Saturday the team won its remaining 3 qualification matches, allied with 2056 in one match and against them in another. Finally, we were seeded second behind Team 4039 and in front of 2056.\n”}},{“type”:”heading”,”data”:{“text”:”Alliance Selection”}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”During alliance selection, the first\\-seeded team, 4039, chose 1114. To counter this, we chose team 2056 and later 865 to help inbound and play defense. Other powerful alliances formed included Team Dave \\(3683\\) and 1241. Even with our small group of students and limited scouting team, the mentors and students worked hard and believed they had picked a winning alliance.\n”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/03/8ec507a7-1383663_736970153009376_1917831583_n-400×300.jpg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/03/8ec507a7-1383663_736970153009376_1917831583_n.jpg”},”text”:”254, 2056, and 865 formed the second seeded alliance”}},{“type”:”heading”,”data”:{“text”:”Elimination Matches”}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”The elimination matches saw some of the fiercest competition. All throughout the quarter and semi finals the robot faced heavy defense and was getting some nicks and scratches, but still managed to hold up well. In the second semifinal match we managed to run the \”Go for Gold\” cycle nearly flawlessly, scoring 60 points each cycle when 2056 caught our truss throw. This match put up a new current world record of 350 points without penalties. On the other side of the bracket, Team 4039 and 1114 were defeated by the number 4 seeded alliance with Team Dave and 1241. The Simbots lost two of three matches specifically through technical fouls \\(50 points each\\) that shifted the favor to the blue alliance. In the finals against Team Dave’s alliance, we managed to edge out a victory in just 2 matches running the \”Omaha\” cycle and playing defense on Team Dave. The exciting finish was celebrated with a huge snowball fight outside with members from 1114 and 865.\n”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/03/963a07cc-1557591_737044533001938_1710069045_n-400×300.jpg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/03/963a07cc-1557591_737044533001938_1710069045_n.jpg”},”text”:”The current world high score without penalties of 350 points.”}},{“type”:”heading”,”data”:{“text”:”A Great Finish!”}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”During the awards ceremony, Team 254 ecstatically received the Quality Award for their beautiful robot with a 3 ball autonomous and clean pit. We also received the Gracious Professionalism Award for helping so many teams at the tournament with everything from repairing electronics and drivetrains to fixing their code. We are so grateful to have participated in this regional and extremely thankful to all the Canadian teams, volunteers, and others, who were extremely welcoming and friendly. We had a great time making new friends and a lot of the team discussed the possibility of returning to the regional next year.\n”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”//media.team254.com/2014/03/8eb107a8-1925177_736038989769159_1133013955_n-400×300.jpg”,”full”:”//media.team254.com/2014/03/8eb107a8-1925177_736038989769159_1133013955_n.jpg”},”text”:”The judges recognized us with the Quality Award for inspiring others with our pits, displays, and robot”}}]}

Pre-Waterloo Day 4

by Jose Moreno ’17

Machining

Today several students were machining several tubes and rods to be made into multiple extra intakes.

Most of today, the team focused on making a new hood extender, which is now able to reach the third bolt hold, and extends an extra inch for a new shot angle.

Writing

Today students edited the Madera articles for the Carillon Online News Source, the Cardinal Newspaper, the Bellarmine Website, and others. They also edited the script for the Chairman’s Award Video.

Pre-Waterloo Day 2

by Ford Hooper ’17 and Brendan Conaway ’17

VEX State Championships

Since much of the team is busy preparing for the VEX state championships, the number of team members attending was below average today. Even so, the team was able to make critical improvements in working towards becoming prepared for the Waterloo regional.

Technical Binder

Today, most of the members at the NASA lab were focused on reconstructing the technical binder. This binder is the summary of the robot and the steps the team has taken to design it. The binder is a large part of the judges’ decision on the winners of the Quality Award.

CAD

Other members were working on designing a new CAD for the hood piece of the robot.

Post Madera

Several members wrote 7 articles about the team’s experience at the Madera Robotics Tournament this past weekend.

Action Items

2014 Central Valley Regional

by Jeremy Tanlimco ’15

At the Central Valley Regional First Robotics Competition (FRC), Team 254 earned an outstanding victory. Seeded first place out of 45 total teams and winning 10 out of 11 matches in qualifications, the Cheesy Poofs excelled on the field.

At the final tally, we had 490 total assist points (the second-highest score was 370) and 536 autonomous points (second-highest score being 468). To top it off, 254 was given the Motorola Quality Award for a well-designed and efficient machine.

As first seed after qualifications, we were given first choice in alliance partners for the elimination matches. We chose 973 from Atascadero High School, the team with whom we won the 2011 World Championships. Their robot had been inoperative and inconsistent for the majority of the qualification matches until the end, when their robot began working and performing well. As a result, they were seeded 43rd out of 45 teams in attendance, and 254’s scouting team stunned the crowd by skipping over the 41 teams seeded above them. Our second alliance partner was Team 2135 from Presentation High School, our sister school in San Jose. With them we went on to win our quarterfinal and semifinal rounds in two matches (each elimination match is scored best out of three) and prepared for our finals matches against 1671, 3970 (from Duncan Polytechnical), and 1323 (from Madera High School).

Our alliance formulated its finals strategy: the Poofs would implement our thus far highly successful 3-ball autonomous routine, and 973 would implement its defense routine in autonomous against the accurate 1323. During the driver-controlled period we would attempt as many assists as possible to edge out the other alliance by sheer number of cycles per game; such a cycle involved the Bellarmine human player throwing the ball into the Presentation robot to pass to 973’s robot, which would then launch the ball over the truss for our robot to chase down, retrieve, and score. Unfortunately, due to an unlikely combination of what our competition director called “everything that could possibly go wrong,” we lost our first finals match by a close 130 to 136. The Poofs staged a comeback by winning our next two finals matches 244-158 and 148-109 to take the Regional, setting the tournament high score of 280 on the way.

We are proud of our performance and would like to congratulate our alliance partners 973 and 2135, for their contributions to this alliance victory, and finalists 1671, 1323, and 3970 for a round well played. Furthermore, 254 would like to commend 1671 for its Regional Chairman’s Award win, the highest award in a FIRST Regional.

The Poofs look forward to the upcoming Waterloo and Silicon Valley Regional competitions.

Day 59: Pre-Madera T-1

by Brendan Conaway ’17

Testing

Today the team did some driver training for Madera by driving around the field, scoring some goals, and practicing passing over the truss. Skystalker functioned as an opponent bot for driver practice. The air was refilled on Barrage several times and the wiring was fixed once or twice.

Awards

A few of the members worked on the Chairman’s Award binder. The presentation is done and awaits finishing touches. The presenters will be the head of competition (human megaphone), the programming director, and the director of outreach. It is highly encouraged to nag them to practice the presentation. Team members should know who they all are.

Madera

Madera is this weekend! There was a shipment of supplies that came in, and it was packed into the black boxes that will be brought to Madera. Those going will be leaving on Friday, March 7th, right after school and returning on March 9th later in the evening. Be ready for a 2 hour drive. Let’s win this!!

Pit AV

Some students worked on making the pit display for use at competitions. Other students worked on the touchscreen display to be used in the pit.

Day 58: Competition Homestretch

by Dan Ngo ’17

Competition Preparation

Driver practice continued today in preparation for Madera, with the same format as before. One driver controlled with practice Barrage, while the other driver played defense with Skystalker.

Members worked on attaching power cables to fresh batteries, to be used as soon as possible.

In addition, competition materials were packed, including the custom-made drill holder, various tools, and spare parts.

Awards

Today, the team also worked on crucial parts of the Chairman’s Award, including the binder, video, and presentation. Progress was made on the binder’s graphic design, and finished in time for the competition. The video was filmed beforehand at school, and one of the members will work on the editing. The presenters practiced the Chairman’s presentation to get feedback from the mentors.

Pit Display

The video team crammed work on the competition pit display on the 20″ screen. Next week the team will receive a 42″ monitor.

Action Items

• Technical BinderBill of MaterialsChairman’s Binder: History, Images
• Chairman’s Video EditingDriver PracticePrepping BatteriesPacking Materials

Team 254 Presents: Barrage

Team 254, NASA Ames Robotics “The Cheesy Poofs”, proudly presents our 2014 robot: Barrage.

Barrage will compete at the Central Valley Regional, Waterloo Regional, Silicon Valley Regional, and FIRST Championship.

Team 254 is sponsored by NASA Ames Research Center, Lockheed Martin, The Mercadante Family, Ooyala, TR Manufacturing, Qualcomm, HP, West Coast Products, The Magarelli Family, The Yun Family, Google, Modern Machine, The Gebhart Family, Aditazz, Cisco Meraki, Vivid-Hosting, Nvidia, BAE Systems, Gilbert Spray Coat, Pacific Coast Metal, S&S Welding, Good Plastics, Team Whyachi, Applied Welding, World Metal Finishing, The Jimenez Family, Hy-Tech Plating, and Bellarmine College Preparatory.

Day 54: More Testing

by Ian Chiu and Tyler Cuff

Testing

At the NASA lab, the drivers have begun to practicing to operate the robot for the upcoming tournament at Waterloo. One group of students used a defensive robot to block Barrage, while the other group used Barrage to score.

Construction

The drive team decided to create a drill board to hold their drills so they could keep all their drills in one place, allowing them to keep the lab a much more organized place.

The drive team had to get off the field when the belt on Barrage broke. They removed the flywheel so that they could replace the belt.

Several members began treading the wheels for the robot, beginning by putting the treads into the tread gauge.

Awards

Some of the mentors and members were working on the screen together to create a successful scene to film for the Chairman’s Video. Soon, they will edit the filmed material to create a final product to submit for the Chairman’s Video. A few members also worked on the Media and Technology submission

Action Items

• Clean up – Everyone
• Driver Practice – Pat/Kevin/EJ
• Film the catcher – See Collin if you want to help
• Build Control Board – Cory
• Prototype catcher
• New accumulator standoffs
• Set up the BOM – Ryan/Louis/Clay/Vidur
• Film flythrough scene – Alex
• Wire batteries – Mani
• Test batteries – Pat
• New pinniped standoffs: cut, weld, powder
• Mentor castle prep – Mani
• Automate vision targets and lights – Bruno

Day 53: Rain Won’t Stop Our Excitement and Preparation for Madera

Co-Authored by Tyler Cuff and Robert Lim

Testing

The day began with students and the drive team practicing and troubleshooting the robot. The drive team traversed the field and practicing scoring goals as quickly as possible.

After Skystalker, the surrogate opponent robot, was up and running, the driver practiced scoring with its uncooperative counterpart playing defense (see image below) This accustomed the driver to moving around the field with an opposing robot attempting to block movement and impede shooting.

Electronics and Wiring

During a half hour window of robot downtime, students attended to other projects. Students installed lighting in the battery cart and added a vinyl finish. Meanwhile several other students worked on improving the wiring of Skystalker by loosening its chain for the drive train.

Parts Organization

The main piece of organization was the continued efforts on the Bill of Materials, pronounced Bom in airports, needed for Madera. The BOM will describe a list of the raw materials, sub-assemblies, intermediate assemblies, sub-components, parts and the quantities of each needed to manufacture an end product).

CAD

Several student worked on completing the SolidWorks CAD tutorial to improve their practical knowledge of CAD. The majority of them created sketches while others put together assemblies.

Awards

A team worked on the Chairman’s Award presentation PowerPoint for the upcoming Madera tournament in March. A leader began to finalize the script. Remember that our Chairman’s presentation is confidential and should NOT be shared or discussed outside of the team. Another team worked on the Media and Technology Innovation Award that is due tomorrow. Its content was finalized with approval throughout the team and the graphic design and layout format will be finished tonight.

Design

Upstairs, students had a discussion on how to improve the robot and what will definitely will happen. We will be adding the side panels for giving proper recognition to all our amazing sponsors. Two suggestions were adding triangular plates onto the side of the robot to assist in catching, and another involved the addition of surgical tubing to strengthen the catcher.

Miscellaneous

The lab received a new printer, scanner/copier, and 24″ monitors. With the recent rain, a few students noticed a small leak in roof on the east side of the lab. The team also played some pick-up volleyball with an exercise ball and the truss.

Action Items

• Driver practice
• Build control board
• Machine, anodized, and then remachined
• Print handles
• Make control board standoffs
• Prototype catcher
• New accumulator standoffs
• Drill Grommet holes on spare intake
• Set up us up the BOM
• Film fly through scene
• Technical Binder
• Wire Batteries
• Test Batteries
• new pinniped standoffs
• cut, weld, and powder
• Mentor Castle prep
• Autonomous vision targets and lights
• Make wheels
• Redesign catcher pistons