Reminders

Reminders

I would like to congratulate Jessie Grabowski for winning The Booster Club Scholarship this year.

Additionlay Thanks to Dan Chefetz for sponsoring us this year. We presented him with his UL Industrial Safety Award from the LI Regional at the last Board of Ed meeting on June 8th.

Additionaly on Monday we will be in the parade. We will be meeting at 9:00am on Gerick, it is off of Udall by Westbrook. Wear Blue shirts.

Second next Saturday May 27 We will be having a Highway Clean up. All team members are encouraged to attend.
I would also like to remind all Seniors that the Scholarship Applications are due this friday May 19th

the Prices are as listed:

$1 - Spectator

$8 - DDR Tournament
$8 - DDR free play
$10 - Both DDR Tournament and Free play

$3 - Melee
$3 - Halo
$5 - Both Halo and Melee

$12- Everything

If you have any question please email team871@gmail.com

The FIRST Robotics Competition puts together young people and professionals to solve an engineering design problem in an intense and competitive way. The program is a life changing, career molding experience which shows students that the technological fields hold many opportunities and that the basic concepts of science, math, engineering, and invention are exciting and interesting.

The West Islip Robotics Booster Club was founded to support and foster a student's interest in science and technology. To continue FIRST's philosophy on a local level, the Booster Club will award a scholarship to a West Islip graduating senior. Applicants should have been a member of the West Islip High School Robotics Team 871 for at least one year, and be continuing their education at a 2 or 4 year college in the area of science or technology.

One scholarship will be granted each year, the amount determined annually by available funds. The scholarship will be made as a grant directly to the student and payable upon demonstration of registration at a post secondary institution in the field of science or technology.

2006 Scholarship Application (PDF)

2006 Scholarship Application (DOC)

After 3 days of intense competition, our team ranked 27Th out of 39. Fortunately, our efforts have not been all in vain. We were able to win the Underwriters Laboratories Safety Award. We would like to thank Mr. Dan Chefetz from DC Safety for donating the Safety kits. Further more we would like to thank M.DeBlasio Head of Safety. In Addition we would like to congratulate M.DeBlasio on winning the Safety of the Day award on Friday and for winning the team M.V.P. award.

I would like to thank all the mentors, college mentors, teachers, and team leaders for all the hard work they have done this year.

Good job team, take a few days off, there is still a lot to do this year.

On the bright side, we have helped four other teams with programming problems, Robert helped rewire Team 1358's robot pretty much all day, our safety kits were a big success, and, amoung other things, the team seems to be having a good time and has been operating smoothly. The program is being worked on tonight, tommorrow we are going to re-allocate some weight, but other than the technical issues I can only hope that the next two days run so smoothly.

We are meeting at the same time and place tomorrow for the bus, but make sure that you wear your blue shirts. As a team we would also like to add that anyone who wishes to come and show support would not only be welcomed, but most definately appreciated. We gaurentee that you will have a good time.

I'll see you all then!

The team submitted an entry this year for the Autodesk Inventor Award. You can check out our submission here.

When you see Trevor give him a big pat on the back! Trevor put in over 100 hours into the design and drawing of this year's robot. As you know every part we fabricate gets draw in Inventor. Finally, after three years of trying to get all those parts assembled in one drawing, Trevor did it. Take a minute to check it out, it looks AMAZING. Nice job Trevor.

This Saturday March 18Th is our Community-wide Highway Clean-up and we will be meeting in the back of the High School at 8am. In addition we will be working on “Shop in a Box”

Also that night we will be meeting at R. De Francisco’s house for some team bonding of watching the back to the future movies while making buttons.

In the end, these three days working in the remote shop was a success. It was also a time where from being in tight quarters, freezing temperatures and united by few hours of sleep the team bonded.

At the end of the day we realized we need some more time so we decided to move the robot to the remote shop…AKA the Stephenson’s house

Thursday we worked a lot on getting everything finished and together so that we could start to do programming. We then weighed the robot and discovered that we were at 120lbs on the nose so we needed to shave off some weight. Thusly, the entire robot was disassembled. But we did get to practice driving up the ramp before the night was done and we were capable but you really need a skilled driver to get it done.

Friday: Now we were at endgame so we worked throughout the entire school day, being excused by understanding and supportive teachers. Everything was finalized mechanically (for after weight removal) and we got to start programming. We could not stay after however so it is all up to our meeting tomorrow where everything has to get done. This is because we can not get into the school over the break this year and must pack up the robot tomorrow. So let's finish 'er up!

Shirt money MUST be handed in tomorrow!

As week 6 is rapidly concluding, don't forget to post in the week six thread.

But as far as the robot is going it looks like all the final parts are going on now. Mechanical was working on finalizing all the parts and Electrical improved the board. We unfortunately did not have time to weigh the robot.

Tomorrow we will get to do more than usual because the meeting has been extended until at least 9:30PM. Bring money for dinner because we are eating it at school.

Speaking of money, shirt money is still due Saturday.

Week six thread.

Don't forget to hand in your shirt money by Saturday!

Keep posting in the week six thread.

Shirt money is still due Saturday. Make sure you hand it in.

Week six thread.

Don't forget to fill out a shirt order form and return it with money NO LATER THAN next Saturday, February 18th. If you don't buy at least a blue and black shirt, you will not be attending regionals.

This is the end of week five. ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT!

We have received new sprockets and the work on completing the robot mechanically has begun. Today we used orange construction fence materal to work on the hopper and also developed and idea for using it as a belt. Electrical has been accommodated with the amount of space they need for a board. Programming and Mechanical worked together to come up with the safest place to mount the camera. The pieces are starting to fall in place.

Tomorrow we will be having a meeting. Our goal is to finish all the mechanical work on the robot tomorrow (Friday) and then finish all the Electrical on Saturday. Then we will have one week to test and program.

Shirt order forms were handed out today. You must fill one out and return it with money NO LATER THAN next Saturday, February 18th. Get one from Lena if you do not have one.

I will see you all after school tomorrow. Please post in the week 5 thread, we need to keep track of what gets done.

In Electrical, they have designed their entire system in two boards that run parallel to each other. The lower board is now complete and work must begin on the upper board.

The rookie programming members are still working on their EDUrobot project, but the Veteran members have done all the theoretical code they can and now must wait for the robot.

We have changed the policy about the shirts: you must now buy both blue and black to go to regionals. The price is still unconfirmed.

Well let's hope we get the robot finished soon. Don't forget to post in the the week 5 thread!

Today in a nutshell:

If you haven't been checking the media section every week, you have been missing out. I have been updating the galleries every week during build season with new pictures and sometimes even video. I usually update at the beginning of every week, and I figured I would tell everyone about the updates because it was brought to my attention that not everyone was already aware.

Well, that is it for the school day meetings this week, I will see everyone on Saturday. Be at the high school bright and early, ready to work! And post in the week 4 thread with whatever you accomplished so far this week.

Keep posting in the week 4 thread. I think I have given the aim chat enough publicity to not have to mention it in every update anymore.

Great job giving feedback in the week 4 thread, keep at it. I hope that discussions are going on in the aim chat still as well.

New week, new forum thread: week 4 posts go here. The aim chat is still room "team871" if you wish to use that as well.

Saturday's meeting is the same as usual, come before 9am because at 9 we start work. I, unfortunately will be at a college so it is super important that you post all your progress in the week 3 forum thread so I can write the Saturday update. The aim chat is fine too.

You know the drill. Meeting at 2 tomorrow, week 3 forum thread, and aim chat for communication until then.

The meeting deal is the same as yesterday, starts at 2 but stop by at any other time if you have a job to do. Aim chat should still be up and post things in the week 3 forum thread when you complete them.

The real meeting starts at 2 tomorrow, but if you are at the school and have some job to do for the team, check to see if the room you need is working and go to work. Otherwise, we will see you at 2 and in the aim chat and week 3 forum thread.

Thursday there was no real "meeting" so to say, but the team was there in force for the 8th grade orientation. We had last year's robot, Impulse, running as well as the prototype ball launcher. We also had the 2005 team video projected on the wall, and we had people explain the different projects we do in robotics as well as the technology department as a whole. And we make quite a cut of profit on our bake sale as well. Thanks to everyone who baked or bought, and to the school administrators who let us hold the sale and demonstrations.

But, of course, everyone wants to hear about the robot :). Well we have started bosching the frame in mechanical, worked on the board prototype in electrical, and have the camera working in programming. Definitely good considering we still don't have our parts in yet. The rookie programmers were taught more about the code, and I taught R.Stephenson all the html he should need to get the FLL site up and running (so expect that to be populated soon). And, last but not least, thanks to the Santospirito's for lunch.

I also want to quickly mention that we had a few volunteers from our team at the SBPLI Lego League regional today, and even though neither of our FLL teams received any awards, everyone seems like that had a pretty good time. Congratulations to all FLL teams who participated!

Don't forget that we are working through midterms this week. I'll see everyone tomorrow, but until then... we still have the "Team 871" chat and the week 3 forum thread.

This Thursday, January 19th, is 8th grade orientation. As always we will be present, but on top of that we will be having a bake sale. See Lena for details.

We are working as best we can without the parts (they haven't arrived yet), but we still have tons to do. Keep up with the "Team 871" chat and the week 2 thread in the forums.

Saturday's meeting: we built a basic chassis and the green lights for the field. More work was put into the shooter. Most of the programmers were sent to the workshop, notes of which are available on the forums. But some of the programming for the camera was worked on back at the school at the same time. (We hooked the camera up to an old electrical board.) Some documentation work was done and the design for this year's shirts was worked on as well.

Thanks to the Rielly family for lunch.

Obviously no meeting today because of the holiday (the school is closed so we can't get in). On Tuesday we go back to work!

The "Team 871" chatroom is doing very well, but the forums needs more attention. Everything should be documented so we don't waist time explaining things over and over again, and so we don't forget. So we did anything, please have the courtesy to post it.

No meeting tomorrow (as with most Fridays), but come between 8 and 8:30 AM on Saturday because we start working at 9. Programmers be ready to leave for the workshop which Mr.Luchen is driving to at 9:15. Targets for Saturday include field construction, basic drive train construction, ordering all parts for the rest of the robot, some programming work, Making a CNC program for our gears, and having the CAD design finished.

Keep up with chatroom "Team 871" and the week one thread in the forums. I'll see you bright and early on Saturday!

Aim chatroom "Team871" is still open for business and I am happy with the number of visitors we have been getting. Don't forget the forums are still the best place to ask a question if there isn't someone in the chat who can help you.

The Aim chat is still running very well in room "Team871", but there is a lack of activity in the week one discussion thread in the forums. Everyone needs to participate if they want their voices heard.

This year's game is called "Aim High", a game that surprisingly features projectiles! Yes, in order to score in the center goal it will be necessary for the robot to throw Poof balls. But a detailed walkthrough of the game will be put in the 2006 Game section soon.

More importantly, today was the first day of our real build season, the first day of meetings Monday through Thursday and Saturdays! Every day with a meeting will have an update, and some days without meetings will have updates as well (for media, content, etc.). Today we started to design the robot and seem to be pointing in the direction of a six-wheel drive system and a firing mechanism using compressed air. We really got a lot done, and there was tons of involvement by both veteran and rookie members. More than likely, we will continue the design process until Saturday; that is when we will start to build the 2006 robot: Flux.

Everyone should come to meetings as frequently as possible, read the forums, and join our newly created Aim Chat. Yesterday we created the chatroom "Team871" so that we could discuss the game in real time. It will hopefully remain open all of build season so if you have a quick question, ask there. This section of the forums will also be used for discussing items pertaining to Week One.

Update again tomorrow, read the rules and keep brainstorming! :)

Now, to recap what has happened since the last update...

   
   

It was a blast. There was definitely some recognition from the crowd, and we had fun showing off our creation as we blasted music from the golf cart (Thanks Shane :) ). After the great time we had, we are looking forward to a chance to do it again.

But in the meantime...Anyone want a sweatshirt or polo?

I also want to note that the first team feature has been up if no one has checked yet. The team for this week is Deer Park. Please give me ideas on who to ask for next week.

Tomorrow our team will be attending an off-season competition at Deer Park High School. Everyone is invited to attend. We will be leaving our school at 7:30 AM and the competition should be over at a bout 5 PM. Thanks to all the team members who helped set up today.

Sunday we will be attending the West Islip Country Fair for its duration. Come check us out.

That is all for now, I'll update when I get more information.

Discussion in the forums.

We will be discussing upcoming events that we need to prepare for.

After the cleanup, all team members are invited to Mr. Luchen's house for hotdogs and swimming.

After that everyone is invited to Lena's Block Party.

It is shaping up to be busy Saturday, the last meeting before the school year. I hope to see you all there!

For addresses and whatnot, just post and I'll send them to you. Or email team871@gmail.com . I can't just post them to the public for obvious reasons.

Wow. Looks nice, huh? This is the 2006 West Islip Robotechs website. As you can see, there are many more sections this year for you to enjoy. The First Lego League section has even become it's own page. Not all of these sections have content yet, but that is just because we haven't had a meeting yet this year. They will all become full with time. Now this year we are going to make feedback a whole lot easier. Whenever Mr.B, myself, or another person makes a news update, the post will end with a link to a topic in the forums where you can discuss the post. So, let's try it out.

Discuss this post.