Build Year 2025: Image Blog
The Second Season
Build Year 2025: Image Blog
The Second Season
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The Second Season
Week 1
Team members working on the transmission assemblies.
A finished transmission assembly and electric motor.
Students creating potential solutions in CAD.
Assembling the wheels.
Students tightening bolts on the drive base.
The wheels and transmission are installed on the robot drive base.
Week 2
The team had a productive week preparing the eight pieces of the aluminum frame for drilling all of the holes. One of the pieces had twenty holes in it! Students had to read the diagram, accurately measure the location of the holes, accurately mark the center of the hole, drill a pilot hole, use the drill press to drill the hole evenly through both sides, and then clean off the burrs so that the bolt will sit flush.
Nathaniel removing the transmission to make an adjustment to the internal bolts.
Cutting polycarbonate is a messy job!
Tools are organized, drawers are labeled, and we are ready for the season.
Kaleb marks out the aluminum in order to locate the pilot holes.
Rachel skillfully uses the drill press to put bolt holes in the aluminum frame.
Slow and steady as Landon also puts bolt holes in the aluminum frame.
Week 3 -- "The COLD Week"
Life requires flexibility, adaptability, and perseverance. Hopefully, this is one of the lessons that our students will learn through this process. Valley did not have school on Monday because of a teacher conference. Tuesday and Wednesday were "cold days" and we did not have school. Our normal build days have been Monday and Wednesday, so we had to adapt. Also, in the process of my preparing for the build, I realized that we did not have one of the needed parts and had to debate what to do. We ended up ordering the part instead of trying to adapt the build to make it work with the part we had.
While we did finish up drilling the holes for all the superstructure and polycarbonate, we did not make significant progress in the build. We did use some of the time to practice driving with last year's robot and the students were introduced to the Java programming language which is what we use for programming the robot. We also did some research into possible adaptations/additions to the robot kit that we are building.
Robot in 3 Days is a college-level online competition among FIRST alumni and engineering students to take the high school game requirements and design, build, and test a fully functioning robot in only three days. These are some of the schools that submitted videos. Many high school teams use these to generate ideas for their builds. The top two teams' robots (Cranberry Alarm and Penn State) are definitely worth the look. You can see them starting at about 33:45 in the video.
Week 4
This week we put the pieces together (literally). The structure of the robot is finished and now we turn to installing the electronics. One roadblock that we encountered late in the week was that I did not realize that the electronics did not come with the KitBot parts. Last year, since we were a rookie team, the electronics were included, but since we are now a "veteran" team, they are not. I only wish I would have known that four weeks ago since one of the main pieces (the onboard computer) is out of stock. So...we are somewhat in a holding pattern until that becomes available.
There were a lot of holes that needed to be drilled! Overall, the team did a great job of "measuring twice and drilling/cutting once" so that the pieces almost always lined up.
Once the holes are drilled, then the students had to install bolts and nuts in each hole. Here Blake and Landon work at it by hand. We learned to use the drill driver for most bolts in order to save time.
These rubber wheels are "compliant" or "squishy" which means that they will deform to allow the game pieces to pass under them when the shaft is turned. Tape is applied to the polycarbonate to give a bit of tackiness so that the game pieces don't spin.
Kaleb practices driving with last year's robot. The game consists of "cycles" where pieces are repeatedly picked up (simulated by the two cones on the right) and taken to the scoring area (simulated by the cone at the far end of the hallway). The faster the cycle, the more points scored in each game.
Rachel practices some coding. The robot is controlled with programs written in the Java programming language. I encourage the students to become more familiar with the language so that they will better understand the code when the time comes.
The wood boards will be used to attach the electronic components. The main components are the onboard computer, power supply, and motor controllers.
Week 5 -- "Supply Chain Issues"
Other than attaching some of the electronics to the board, we did not get much accomplished this week because we were not able to secure a key component of our robot because it was out of stock. To be continued...
In addition, welcome to our newest sponsor, Fullerton Tool. Thank you to all sponsors for your generous support.
A HUGE shout-out to Annette Murray and our friends at Team 2619 "The Charge" out of Midland Dow High School. Annette heard about us not having a RoboRio (onboard computer) for our robot and generously lent us one of their spares until we could get one of our own from the supplier.
This is an example of the great spirit of "Co-oper-tition" (cooperation + competition) that is an integral part of the FIRST robotics community.
"Co-oper-tition"
As in any competitive sport, during matches and competitions, obviously, everyone tries to win, but when not competing in a match, FIRST teams are encouraged (and in my experience, they actually DO live it out) to help one another to each succeed and to each be the best versions of themselves.
I think our country could learn a lot from these students and mentors about how to build communities of success where everyone "wins."
Week 6 -- "Houston, We Have a Problem."
We finished the build portion of the KitBot, but there have been some software configuration problems that did not match with the instructional videos that were available online. I reached out for help and received some tips to try, but with the winter storm that took out our Wednesday and Thursday build days, I haven't had a chance to try the fix.
It's alive!!! With the borrowed onboard computer from Midland Dow, all of the wiring is complete and the robot powered up successfully. Now the task is to configure all of the software to work with the hardware.
Rachel and Landon use last year's robot to practice their driving skills. Being an efficient and accurate driver is super important to success in robotics competition events.
The completed robot-- ready to be programmed.
Week 7 -- Kettering "Week 0"
It was a busy week with trying to iron out all of the bumps and get the robot programmed (and also learn to play the game). We went to Midland Dow's practice field on Saturday to practice driving, loading game pieces, and scoring. On Sunday, we went to Kettering University in Flint (where our first "real" event will be on March 7-8) for a practice event. The students each took turns driving and learning how to play the game and maneuver on a full-sized field.
Now that the KitBot is finished and functioning, we are turning our attention to seeing what kind of adaptions and additions we can use to make our robot even better.
There were about twenty teams at the event. Matches were 3v3 and we got into as many as we could so that we could improve our skills.
Nathaniel and Landon are in control of the robot. That is our robot on the right of the game field next to the wall. You can also see Kaleb loading a game piece (six-inch diameter pieces of PVC called "Coral") into the robot.
For what our robot is capable of doing, the goal is to place the "Coral" pieces on the "Reef" (the platform in the center holding the blue balls). More advanced robots have the ability to place the pieces on the pegs or score the balls in to their goals.
Blake holds up one of the pieces of Coral. Notice that Blake and Nathaniel are sporting their cool safety glasses. Student safety is a strong emphasis in FIRST Robotics and all participants are required to wear glasses in the pits and on the field.
Our "Pit," where we work on the robot and get it ready for matches. For this practice event, it is a place on the floor. In regular competitions, it will be a roughly 10' x 10' square. Our robot stopped working on our first match and we discovered that the power cable was not secured. Problem solved! 😀
Rachel skillfully drives the robot towards the Reef to score a Coral piece and gain points.
At the start of each match, the robot is "autonomous" (pre-programmed actions) for the first fifteen seconds. The team must design different autonomous "routines" for each starting location (center, left, and right) in order to score a point.
Mr. Samborn and Mr. Englehardt coach the students as they play the match. In an actual competition match, there can only be one "Coach" and this can be a student or mentor. There is one student "Driver" who drives the robot and one student "Operator" who does controls all of the various function of the robot.
The 2025 Valley Lutheran Robotics Team. We are looking forward to a great season full of risings to challenges, ovecoming failures, experiencing the joy of accomplishment, and making memories.
Week 8 -- Getting Ready for Competition
Nathaniel and Blake putting the last bolts in place so that our robot can be transported on the small cart. This year, we put the electronics board on the top of the frame so that meant we had no support on the bottom. Oops! Another problem encountered and solved. 😊
One of the things that is great about the FIRST robotics community is the willingness of other robotics teams to help and share their expertise and facilities. Team 5712 Gray Matter out of Hemlock High School very generously invited us to come to their wonderful facility, the Lockwood STEM Center to practice driving. The better our students drive, the more points we can score.
Week 9 -- The Kettering Competition
Well, the team did great at our first competition at Kettering University. It is always hard to judge performance in robotics since we compete equally against teams that come from much larger schools, having much larger teams, and having decades of experience. For what our robot can do, we did very well. The students drove well and we finished second overall in scoring at the lowest level. If you would like to watch some of the matches, follow this link to the Blue Alliance.
The robot must pass inspection before the team can be allowed to compete.
Nathaniel and Kaleb at the driver station before one of the practice matches.
Starting position. During the first fifteen seconds of the match, the robots move on their own according to their programming. This is called the "autonomous" portion of the match.
In the autonomous period, it is necessary to line up the robot precisely and exactly in the same spot each time so that the results are what the team expects.
Blake is busy adding some flair to the robot.
Each team (of 40) competes in twelve qualifying matches. For each match, there is a driver who maneuvers the robot on the field and an "operator" who operates all of the robot controls.
On the left, our banner flying proudly in the arena. Thank you to all of our generous sponsors!
Judges come to each of the pits in order to interview the students on how they contributed to the process of building the robot and their experience of being part of the team. Our students were nervous but they did a great job with their communication skills.
The team waits in the "queue" for their next match.
Check out this video to get a sense of the arena and the large crowds watching the event.
Week 10 -- Recharging the Batteries
After a full weekend of competition, this week was pretty mellow. With half of our team now active in spring sports and one of our mentors expecting a baby any day (well, technically his wife is expecting ), we decided to hold off on trying to do any modifications on the robot before the Midland competition and simply work on our game skills and driving abilities (both of which will benefit us in future seasons). I think next year we will have to make it our goal to complete all building before spring sports start.
We did run over to Midland Dow's practice facility to get some more driving practice but I didn't take any pictures. A Big shout out to team 2619, The Charge, for their gracious professionalism and hospitality.
Week 11 -- More Drive Time
With the decision to keep the robot as is for this year, we spent time practicing our driving and gameplay skills so that we can perform better at our next competition, March 28-29 at Midland Dow High School. A big shout out to the generous folks at Team 5712 -- Hemlock's Gray Matter, for allowing area teams to use their beautiful robotics facility.
Hemlock's facility has a full-size game field where teams can practice. We brought both this year's robot and last year's robot in order to give our drivers some obstacles and opposition.
Nathaniel is driving this year's robot (blue) and Kaleb is trying to defend and bother him with last year's robot (red).
Blake and Nathaniel swap out the old battery for a fresh one. There is a noticable performance drop when the battery level gets low. The robot controls get sluggish and the robot starts to shudder.
Rachel is having some fun and showing off her mad skills by holding five game pieces with one hand. 😃
The blue robot must take a game piece ("Coral") from the human player and score it in the center ("The Reef"). The red player can "play defense" and get in the way, but there are certain things that are not allowed. it is a penalty when the red player touches the blue player when any part of the blue player is inside the box surrounding the reef. It is also a penalty when a defender pins another robot and does not release within three seconds.
Week 12 -- Midland Competition Week
The team put all of its drive practice to good use at the Midland competition on March 28-29. Our students were given many compliments on their driving skills and their ability to quickly take in game pieces and score them. Team 9662 played in twelve 3v3 qualification matches and earned a record of six wins and six losses on the weekend. Though quantifying "how we did," is somewhat hard to identify, since there are no skill or school-size divisions. It all depends on who you are paired with or against in the matches.
Overall, we did very well for the capabilities of our robot and the fact that all of our team members were freshmen. The kids had a great year, learned a lot, and made some great memories.
Here is a video from one of our matches.
Before the competition, the students met on the field for the "Driver Meeting." Some teams have specific students who always drive in each and every match. I prefered to give each student the opportunity to "get behind the wheel."
Here is a view of the playing field from the stands. Each "alliance" of three teams competes on its own end trying to score as many points as possible on "the Reef," which is the hexagonal structure with the black base.
Kaleb and Landon in command of the team's robot. One student is the "Driver" who steers and positions the robot on the field. The other student is the "Operator" who does all of the controls on the robot. This year's robot was pretty simple with only a "launch" and a "turbo" button.
Blake and Mr. Streeter getting ready for a match.
Kaleb and Blake are ready to compete in a match. Our robot was only able to score on the lowest level of the Reef (the hexagon). Some teams with more complex robots were able to precisely place the Coral (PVC game pieces) on higher levels.
Our students had to work with the other two teams in each match to plan the best strategy. Nathaniel and Rachel are leading the discussion. This gave the students great practice with public speaking, negotiating, and advocacy.
Kaleb stands ready at the Coral loading station. Some robots were fed vertically through the holes. Some robots, like ours, worked better if the pieces were loaded sizeways. This required the loaders to think ahead and know each robot.
The robot needed to be loaded on the field and unloaded from the field with each match. The cart definitely made this process easier. Some team's carts were much more elaborate than ours.
The students relax during the lunch break by playing a card game. All of the teams ate in the cafeteria at Midland Dow.
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