Robot Updates
March 6, 2010 - Traverse City District Regional
Live from the Traverse City Regional! The Knights decided to take the day off today and venture down to observe the Traverse City Regional and cheer on our friends from across the border. This is yet another exciting year for FIRST Robotics although the new game is not as action packed as its predecessor, Lunacy. We have seen many excellent robots and are prepared to take on the challenge at our first regional on March 24 in Waterloo.
March 3, 2010 - Practice Bot
The Knights' demo at Station Mall on Saturday was a huge success. We had a wonderful turnout and it was great to see all the young minds who were interested in engineering. Click here for news coverage. During the next few weeks before our first regional, we have been developing a practice robot to train the drivers on in order to get them accustomed to the new Mecanum drive system. We are still working hard, getting prepared for competition.
February 26, 2010 - Mall Demo Saturday
The Knights of Alloy will be at Station Mall on Satudray (Feb. 27) for the PEO Engineering Week. We will be there from 9-5 in front of Sears. Come out and see last year's award winning robot, "Holly the Wickett Bot" and get a chance to operate this amazing machine.
February 23, 2010 - Ship Date
The robot (yet to be named) has been officially sealed away and ready for transport to our first competition on March 24th. The Knights had a late night working all the bugs out of the robot before they had to wrap it up. The kicker works almost flawlessly and ball control works much better than in previous testing. Now it is up to the programmers to put the finishing touches on the Mecanum driving logic and we are ready for competition!
February 21, 2010 - Final Push
The Knights have been working hard today to get the robot ready to bag on Tuesday (2 days to go). All mechanisms are fully functional and the final tweaking process has begun. Electrical and programming teams have finalized the wiring and code for this machine. Mecanum wheels allow precise and full control over the ball. The revamped kicker proves more powerful and capable of kicking the ball great distances if required. Once the programming is fully operational, this year's bot should prove to be a powerful competitor.
February 4, 2010 - Robot Progress
Establishing connection... Mission status uploading... Stand By. Knight4 here, reporting from Sault Ste. Marie, bunker 1535. The Knights have been working hard. This week, mechanum wheels and new gear boxes have arrived. Current status: utilizing wheels to attempt to manipulate the game pieces with ease. Currently looking at a self-lifting arm and four-wheel drive train. The camera is tracking perfectly with live feedback. Chairman's due date coming, team is working hard as usual. Knight4, over and out.
January 9, 2010 - Kickoff
This year the Knights of Alloy met at Sault College to watch the 2010 kickoff. This year's game, Breakaway, should present new challenges for the students. This game is a soccer-type game in which robots traverse the field to score soccer balls in their goals. The robots must climb over or go through 1' barriers that divide the field into thirds. To top it off, the robots can pull themselves up by a 7' tall "chin-up" bar for bonus points. Cameras will play a significant role this year for auto-tracking techniques for scoring as well as live feedback for the drivers to assist in positioning. The team will continue to assess the game and run simulations to determine a strategy for Breakaway the design phase begins.
January 1, 2010 - Get Ready For Kick-off
The FRC 2010 kickoff is almost here, only 1 week to go until our 6 week build period begins. Watch the live simulcast from NASA starting at 10am here. We are having a kickoff event at Sault College at 9am, all are invited.