Two Weeks Remaining in Robotics Build Season for Avon Students

Four weeks ago, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) released Recycle Rush, the game for the 2015 FIRST Robotics season. For the last month, the ÜberBots and other robotics teams like them have been hard at work preparing themselves for the busy competition season ahead with projects such as awards submissions, fundraising, and of course, the robot itself.

The mechanical subteam has all but finished the superstructure of the robot, and so it is just about time for the coding subteam to move in and begin their work. The code tells the robot what to do not only in response to its human drivers during the teleoperated period of robotics matches, but also during the autonomous period, in which no drivers are allowed. In other words, the robot must be prepared to operate not only with the aid and direction of human drivers, but also using only the instructions that have been programmed into it.

In preparation for competition, the team must also continue to think about game strategies. Though the team came up with an initial game strategy at the beginning of the build season, the students are continually coming up with new ideas. A key part of this discussion is the factor of scouting, or checking out the other team’s robots at competitions and through robot reveal videos, which should start rolling out as soon as the build season begins to wrap up.

Students will begin to scout at their Week Zero Scrimmage held on Valentine’s Day this year, known as Suffield Shakedown. Though there is no defense involved in this game due to the lack of contact between robots on the two sides of the field, it is still valuable to know about other teams’ robots to maximize synergy between alliance partners at competition.

While the robot is being perfected, the community subteam is still hard at work. They must complete four awards submissions in the coming weeks, including the Chairman’s award, which is the most prestigious award that FIRST offers. Teams that win the Chairman’s award are known as teams that keep themselves involved in their community and help to spread awareness of FIRST and its ideals throughout their area. The team is also preparing to submit for the Entrepreneurship Award, encouraging team stability and financial responsibility, the Woodie Flowers Award, which honors dedicated team mentors, and the Dean’s List Award, which rewards FIRST’s most involved and motivated students (each team nominates 1-2 students in either their sophomore or junior year to receive the honor of the Dean’s List Award).

In addition, members of the ÜberBots met with our neighbors, FRC Team 178 (The 2nd Law Enforcers) from Farmington. In an event hosted by the Enforcers, several teams volunteered students to teach Jr. FLL (Junior FIRST Lego League) concepts. Jr. FLL is a level of FIRST designed especially for students in grades K-3. Jr. FLL teams from around the area gathered to receive knowledge and mentoring from FRC students and to participate in fun group activities. At the end of the day, every Jr. FLL team earned an award for their LEGO creation!

For more information about FIRST and Avon Robotics, please visit the team’s website http://www.uberbots.org/o or the FIRST website at http://www.usfirst.org/.