iRaiders of Melrose MA (2713)

Youtube video action from Boston

Video from one of the final rounds shows how exactly how much jostling goes on: Check out the action at the following marks:

• 22 sec. gripper wobbling back and forth in the up position.
• 1'3" check out the bend in the gripper when the blue square takes an impact from the red alliance
• 1'23" Excellent defensive driving to keep the gripper out of harms way as the red alliance mounts their defense.
• 1'42" Very prudent decision to not try to pickup the blue square pinned against the wall.
• 1'52" check out the bend in the gripper as the robot rotates after

 

Minbot gets a complete redseign

On the last day of competition Adam and Tom became single mindely focused on the task of redesigning the iRaidres minibot. The initial design suffered from several problems:

• Unreliable deployments - it was going to take a perfect handoff, a perfect alignment with the pole to ensure that the minibot would deploy.
• The minobot itself was unreliable. As we experienced last year a chain drive mechanism needs to maintain very good alignment. The chain on this minibot was even smaller then the #25 chain we used on last year's robot, and the minibot itself was relatively flexible given the "C" shape design that was required to allow it to wrap around the pole.

 

The new version picked up on a technique that many of the other minibots were using ... magnets to hold the bot to the pole, and drive wheel(s) to provide the drive. Adam proudly displays the new version below. Adam and Tom completely rebuilt it and tested in in 2 hours on Saturday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

by what they were seeing in some of the other minibots at

Minibot Works In Tests at Boston University Regionals

As minibots goes ours is probably one of the most original designs. With our design comes a whole bunch of complexity. That being said it does climb reliably well, and can stop and hold a position at the top without falling off. The video below shows it working in the staging area in the first day of the Boston Regionals. Key to success and stabalization were:

• Tightinging things up so that the bot wasn't twisting as it as it went up the pole.
• Squaring off all the gears along the chain drive train
• Adding, and tuning a ratchet to prevent roll-back.
  
   

 

 

Three Days to Ship

19 February 2011, we are painfully close to completion. Almost all vehicle components are assembled, with only a handful of parts left. Remaining is the mini-bot deployment system, as the singular sliding mechanism is unfitting for the full weight of the mini-bot. The drive configuration needs to be resolved, for the current setup undesirably leaves each side of drive wheels moving in opposite directions. Until remedied, this will leave the vehicle to spin in circles in perpetuity.

The project is wired and bolted down however, so any improvements left are few compared to what has been completed thus far. Our construction process has been hugely beneficial considering the frequent interruptions due to snow days and school cancellations. The team's cyclic build process places our electricians and encoder people, who are essential for the functioning of the robot, at the forefront of the construction and inseparable from any progress. Every 30-45 minutes of construction is immediately followed by 15-20 minutes of an all-electric vehicle functionality test. This enables us to rapidly identify mechanical and wiring flaws and correct them before advancing beyond a point where remedy of the discovered problem is of any convenience to us. This system of constant updates and tests, even as we complete construction, will hopefully allow the team to meet its deadline for shipment.

All things considered, on vital question remains, with a full integration of all systems, will the robot work?

Jake Landry

2011 FRC Build Season Well Underway

The 2011 FIRST Robotics Competition season kicked of on January 8th. Most of the team attended the regional kickoff at Northeastern University, then we immediately got to work brainstorming and then designing the robot.

This year the game includes bonus points for deploying a pole-climbing Minibot at the end of the match. The award-winning Middle School Team agreed to design and build the Minibot.

The robot has to be crated for shipment on February 22nd, so we are almost halfway through the build season! Even with all the snow days we are in much better shape than last year. All of the component designs are almost complete and assembly has begun on all of them. We should be able to drive the robot chassis in a few days which is two weeks sooner than last year.

We've all been too busy working to take pictures, but a few have been added to the 2011 Build Season photo album.

8th Grade Team Wins State Championshp

The MVMMS Vex Club won the following at the Middle School State Championship in Worcester.

1. Middle School Tournament Champions.  After going 6-1-1 and placing second overall in the qualifying rounds, the iRaiders went 6-0 in the eliminations rounds on the way to the championship, soundly beating the #1 ranked team in the finals.  All team members drove the robot in at least one match.

2. Programming Champion.  The Vex squad won the programming award from a combined field of all middle school and high school teams at the state championship.

3. Middle School Excellence Award.  Ironically, you almost HAVE TO have some serious problems along the way to win this award, which we did.  The team attacked a couple of hardware and software problems with a vengeance, quickly bringing their robot back to championship form.  The award definition -

This is the highest award presented in the VEX Robotics Competition. The recipient of this award is a team that exemplifies overall excellence in building a well-rounded VEX robotics program. This team excels in many areas and is a shining example of dedication, devotion, hard work and teamwork. A strong contender in numerous award categories, this team deserves to be recognized for their accomplishments building a robot and in building a “team” committed to quality in everything they do.

Vex Team #2713 wins at Boston University Academy

MVMS Vex team of Colin Hagerty, Joe Valente, Matt Mroz, and Kyle Yee gained a first place out of a field of 18 robots at Boston University Academy on Friday December 3rd. The team also won the best programming trophy based on the work of Colin Hagerty.

The MVMS teams' robot had two significant advantages over other robots in the field. First, it could pickup multiple objects and score all of them at the same time.  Secondly, in the 20 seconds of the match the team was able to score a perfect 23 points by picking up, scoring and winning autonomous mode. Autonomous mode is where the robot does all the work itself with out being driven by the student.

The Youtube video clip below shows the iRaiders robot competing in a winning round.

 

The squad was helped by the Tufts University Robot team of Jeff Arena, Max Goldstein, Matt Coke, and Will Langford  and Industry Mentors Dick McConville and Jeff Zajac. Coach Kevin Hagerty and Principal Brow provided the guidance and vision to use the Vex competition as a stepping stone between the Middle School's Lego League program and the high schools FRC robot.

8th Grade Squad Gets Ready for Vex competition

The Melrose Veterans Middle School Squad of Collin Hegarty, Matt Mroz, Will Robbins, Joe Valente, Kyle Yee, and Abe Zimmerman practiced with their Vex robot entry into the Round Up competition to be held this Friday, December 3rd, at Boston University Academy.

The students tried multiple design ideas before finally settling on this final design, which has the ability to pick up a stack of field objects and place them on one of the field stakes. Each object placed will earn the team 5 points.

 

The squad was helped by the Tufts University Robot team of Jeff Arena, Max Goldstein, Matt Coke, Will Langford  and Industry Mentors Dick McConville and Jeff Zajac. Coach Kevin Hagerty and Principal Brow provided the guidance and vision to use the Vex competition as a stepping stone between the Middle School's Lego League program and the high schools FRC robot.  

iRaiders at Victorian Fair

This year the iRaiders were joined by Congressman Ed Markey and mystery man and their booth at the Melrose Victorian Fair.

 

Summer Speaking Engagements

Summer 2010 saw two speaking engagements for the iRaiders team. Co-captains Mike Groark , and Cam Peterson were joined by Brendan McGonagle at the North Shore Technology Council's July breakfast meeting on "STEM Education - The challenge to have a terminologically competitive workforce!".  They presented their robot in a show-and-tell setting before the meeting to a rapt audience of NSTC members.

Paul Gudonis, former President of US FIRST, spoke to the audience on the importance in building a strong workforce, and and the necessity to inspire students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics curricula. The students sat at the front of the meeting room in a demonstration of inspiration in action.

In August the students attended a  Society of American Military Engineers meeting in Newton. They with other recipients of sponsorship from SAME gave a brief presentation of the iRaiders program. Jacob Gordon took the stage and spoke to the 70 people in attendance about his experiences on the team.