Archives for December 2008

Robotics Update

Hi guys!

Sadly, we did not have a meeting the week last week or this week because of the stupid snow! However, we got a longer break at the expense of spring break (YAAAAAY, not). Anyways, about Robotics again…

You guys should already know about the kick-off that is happening on Janurary 3rd. This is the most exciting part of the year apart from the competition itself, and it is where the game will be uncovered in front of more than 100,000 other students like you and me. Starting on that day, we will have around 6 weeks to build the robot, which is not a lot of time. The kick-off is being held at Interlake High School, which means that it will be really close to us and you wont have to balltravel for three hours like some people will have to to get here. Because we are hosting the kick-off this year, we will need to organize everything. The officers have been working on that very hard, but we will need volunteers on Friday January 2nd to help set up chairs in the gym so we can seat everybody on Saturday. So, on January 2nd, come to Interlake from 5PM to 9PM to help us set up for this huge event. On Saturday January 3rd, i recommend you come around 6 AM at Interlake High School (no I am not crazy, for I will be there at 5 AM) so you can be there to welcome other people from other teams and do any last minute preparations. The presentation, broadcasted from the east coast, will start at 7 AM and will last until probably around 10:00 AM, maybe 10:30. After that, we will have breakout sessions where we will discuss this year’s game and the possible robots that we might build.

Because this is such a huge event and we need you to be here, it is now MANDATORY for you to come on Saturday. Unless you are not in the state, you have no reason NOT to come. This is really the beginning of one of the most fun periods in high school and you have to be there to find about the game, see 1200 other FRC students, and have a really fun time. Don’t come telling me you have homework cause you have had WAY too much time to finish your homework due last Wednesday and Thursday…

Anyways, remember to come to the kick-off because it is going to be huge. If you can, drop by on Friday to help.

Thanks!

P.S. Wear school colors at the event, since our team t-shirt is not here yet. Send me an email anyways if you cant come.

Technicians and staff controlling presentation at kickoff.

Kickoff

Since we are hosting kickoff, volunteers are needed for the following times.

  • Event preparation the day before : 5pm-9pm Friday the 2nd
  • Early morning setup: 5am-6:30am Saturday 3rd

Kickoff

January 3rd, 6:30am-12:00 pm

Interlake High School (16245 NE 24th ST Bellevue, WA 98008)

Please attend for as much of this event as possible.  The challange itself will be announced around 7:00am.  This is the most important part of kickoff, so if you can only be here for part of the time, try to make it then.  We will have a meeting afterward to discuss build designs.

Friday Meeting Summary

This Friday, we completed the construction of the omnibot.  All that is left is programming, which we hope to complete soon.

This robot has a two-tiered design, with four motors and four omniwheels on the first tier and electronics on the second tier.

We ordered pizza to celebrate.

Wednesday Meeting

Today about twenty people attended to work on our almost-completed robot and on website content.  It is important that everyone pays their dues and orders T-Shirts before Friday because we will be ordering shirts soon.  Website team worked on writing various articles and uploading and organizing photos.  Build team has successfully attached all four wheels and plans on completing assembly by next week.  Public relations is working on planning kickoff, which will be in January.  We also discussed the game hint, but came to no conclusion.

sdsc_0033b.jpg

First Game Hint Released

The first hint for the 2009 competition has been released here.
An Opah Fish

An Opah Fish is this year's game hint

It was identified to be an Opah fish by this Chief Delphi thread, which is the largest discussion about the hint. The Wikipedia article on Opah fish is here.

As always, the hint is very obscure, so there is no certainty overwhat it means.

-Some first thoughts were “Water Game!”, which has been anticipated for a while, but setting up an arena with water in it would be difficult.  Personally, I doubt this because if it was a water game, the hint would not be so obvious.

-There is some text in the background that can be seen with increased contrast, but that may be the other side of the page from which this picture was scanned from.

-Someone mentioned that the colors of this fish are the same colors as the FIRST logo, so this could be a connection, but means nothing.

-The image was taken from this site, which is the first thing that comes up when one google image searches “moonfish”.  That is a site that sells fish, and it says that moonfish weigh 30-50kgs. This is 66-110lbs, which is reasonable for a weight limit on the robot.

-It could also just be a red herring….

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