First Robotics

Overview
The 2006 FIRST Robotics (FRC) competition was named “AIM HIGH”. Two alliances of three robots each were formed in order to play this game. The blue alliance and red alliance each received a side of the field. The rules and general concept of the game take after basketball and hockey. A total of three goals were located on opposite sides of the playing field. A highly placed circular hole marked the center goal. Two rectangular goal areas were mounted on either side of the center goal, each intersecting the ground. Beneath the center goal was a slightly elevated ramp. At the end of each match, alliance teams would receive a greater share of points if their robots were either stationed or touching their alliance’s platform. FIRST competitions tend to be rather violent in nature, robots must be built robust since there is often blocking and pushing involved as part of the strategy.

Timeframe
The FIRST robotics competition has a completely different stance than other competitions. FIRST only allots six weeks for teams to design and build their machines. Due to the limited time frame, teams must be very organized. The governor simcoe team 1114 included several GM Engineers, and university students as mentors.

Contribution
While on the team I was assigned to several tasks including machining, and electrical assembly. While completing the machining process, I was able to make the move from a three dimensional autodesk inventor part file, to autocad. Once this conversion had taken place, the autocad drawings were ported to mastercam and toolpaths were added. Before the machining took place, I set up the CNC mill, and verified that there would be no collisions. This process was repeated for several parts over many iterations. I was able to learn the basics of the lathe by producing tolleranced shafts. In addition to producing mechanical components, I took charge of wiring the operator’s control interface. Since the robot requires two personnel, one is designated the driver, and the other the operator. The operator controls all functions not related to driving, thus the operator control interface included fine position adjustments, an array of indicators and manual overrides.

Competition
During the 2006 competition team 1114 visited three regional events: The Great Lakes Regional, Waterloo Regional, and Greater Toronto Regional. Simbotics 1114 were regional champions at all three events. At the Great Lakes Regional, we received the Innovation in Control Award. This award recognizes a team who exemplifies an outstanding degree in machine features and automation. In this particular case, the award focused on our robot’s supremacy in the autonomous mode. The Waterloo Regional provided the team with the Chairman’s Award. Of the awards, the Chairman’s award is the most sought after. The award recognizes a team which is deemed an example to other teams in regional competitions. The recipient of the award must be worthy of emanating the core values of FIRST. The championship event held in Atlanta proved team 1114 as finalists in the Curie Division.

Competition Summary:
Great Lakes Regional: Regional Champion
Great Lakes Regional: Innovation in Control Award
Waterloo Regional: Regional Chairman's Award
Waterloo Regional: Regional Champion
Greater Toronto Regional: Regional Champion
Championship Event: Finalist (Curie Division)