Twilight Star  FIRST Robotics Invitational Mini-Regional Competititions  All new teams are welcome.

Saturday  10AM Preliminary Rounds Begins                                              Where:  Eagan High School-Student Commons, 4185  Braddack Trail,       Eagan MN 55123

Thursday Nov 20  started building VEX, picked co-captians for team.

Monday Dec.1  PTA meeting for parents and volunteers featuring a session at 7:30 in Room 210 for the Robotic team.  FIRST Robotics  Promo video.  Introductions of  Team Advisors:  Ms. Kathy Audette and Mr. Keith Hardy.  Conversations around first year expectations and parent involvement and determine ways of transporting students and robot ro and from events.

Email addresses for the Advisors:

keith.hardy@spps.org        and   kathryn.audette@spps.org

Thursday Dec 4  Start in 210 at 2:10 to 3:30

Compact RIO and LabVIEW

Team 2129 is giving a seminar on the new cRIO robot controller and programming environment on Thursday, Dec 4th, at Washburn High School from 6:30pm - 9:00pm.   Directions: Goto 201 W 49th St, 55419. Park in the lot on the corner of Pleasant and 50th, and enter through door #8. Room 134 will be you first door on the left. You can call the classroom at 612-668-7495.  You do not need to register for this event.

Highland Park Team members You must complete a NASA survey to comply with the NASA grant we recieved:  Our team number is # 2823.  Please complete before 1-02-09. Students please go to this link.

https://frc-grants.arc.nasa.gov/survey/entrance.php

Thursday December 4

Saturday December 6:  Team Leaders, the MN FIRST Robotics program is continuing to grow with over 20 new teams this year.  Welcome to all the new teams! 

With the Kickoff just 6 weeks away,  it's time to start planning for the 2009 competition.  To help teams, old and new, get started, the veterans are once again holding the MN Splash event.  For the new teams, this is an opportunity to find out what it takes to build a robot, what happens at the Kickoff, how will you survive the regional competition, and what are all the other cool things that the program offers.  For the veteran teams, it gives the new team members a chance to get up to speed with their peers.  For existing team members, this will be a chance to learn many new things including lots about the new cRIO robot controller.

The event will be held on Saturday, Dec 6th, from 8:30am to 12:30pm at Anderson Hall on the U of MN campus (http://www1.umn.edu/twincities/maps/AndH/).   No need to register, just show up with mentors and team members.  We have 7 rooms (with plenty of capacity) that will be holding concurrent presentations on all sorts of topics.  Each session will last 1 hour so there are lots of opportunities to learn.  And, for a chance to "kick the tires," some of the veterans are bringing last year's robots.  I'll send out the full agenda next week.

December 8

Students meet briefly after school to check in on controller,  take survey and work on VEX.

December 11

TEAM Members are encouraged to visit and revisit the FIRST Robotics website to read information:  http://www.usfirst.org/  pull down menu Already Involved >Documents and Updates

Get familiar with the controller and upcoming Kit of Parts we will receive at the Kick-Off January 3.

NOTE:

The encrypted sections of the 2009 FRC Competition Manual (sections 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10) will be available for download after 8PM EST today (Monday, Dec 29, 2008) via the following link:

http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/content.aspx?id=452

Consent and Release Forms

All team members (students and adult contacts) attending a Kickoff are required to have a signed Consent and Release form. These forms will be collected at the registration area prior to the Kickoff broadcast.

You can download and print copies at: http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Community/Asset/2008-2009%20FIRST%20Consent%20and%20Release%20Form.pdf

Our webmaster is busy collecting the PowerPoint presentations and video recordings from Saturday and will be posting them soon to the Minnesota Regional website (http://www.mnfirstregional.org/). 

The Kickoff this year is on Jan. 3rd and will be held at Northrop Auditorium and the Great Hall in Coffman Union.  With the audience expected to exceed 1200 people, the broadcast portion of the Kickoff will take place at Northrop Auditorium. Plan on being in your seats at 8:30am for opening remarks from a couple of guest speakers. The NASA simulcast starts at 9:00am and will go until about 10:30am.  From there, teams will move to the Great Hall in Coffman Union for registration, Kit of Parts distribution, and viewing the field elements.  At 11:30am, Team 2220, Blue Twilight (Eagan High School), will conduct a Kit of Parts seminar for rookie teams in the Great Hall.  Rookie teams, you won't want to miss this.  More details will be coming your way in a couple of weeks.
Highland Park Robotics team attend the kick-off at  the University of Minnesota.  We brainstormed while waiting for the bus to pick us up. We recieved the KOP(Kit of Parts) and returned to Highland Park and inventoried the parts.    We ate pizza and dreamed up some pretty cool ideas.  Next time we meet is January 5 at 2-6 PM. 

January 5  Students viewed the game and rules on a FIRST video.  Strategies were shared and building began with downloading labview and Windriver software for the programming to begin.  Go Team Highland.

January 7 meeting in Mr. Boyum's  Woodshop room  (Rm. # 133 right below cafeteria) to lay out controller and cut pieces for chassis.  Look at rules and understand the  game.  Use usfirst.org website to find videos and schematics for building.

January 8  Put chassis together and continue putting controller together.  Team Name:  FLOWBOTS

January 10  Wheels, sprockets and chains assembled and attached to chassis.  Joystick and controler performed as planned. 

January 12  Drove chassis with joysticks.  Discussed manueveralibity.  Schedule work days for leaders and subteams.

January 14 begin reconstructing chassis wheels, ordered wheels, pool noodles, tap new set of spockets, visit Cretin Derham Hall for greet and meet our mentor team.  Cretins website for those interested is:  http://www.cretin-derhamhall.org/Robotics/Robotics.html

January 15 

January

WE will be meeting on Mondays 2-6PM,Wednesdays 2-6PM, Thursdays 2-6PM and Saturdays 8 to 2PM.  We will add more meeting times as needed.

              

February 17 shipping date for the robot. 

The Highland Park Moderators will compete at the
Minnesota 10000 Lakes Regional
Minneapolis, MN DATE 4/2/2009 - 4/4/2009
Open Capacity: 1 Site Info | Shipping & Drayage | Agenda | Sponsors |
Team List | Event Website | Team Pre-Order Lunch Option |
Team Social Info | Match Results | Standings | Awards

The kick-off for the competition is Jan 3.  Season practices will be in the evening.  Dates are TBD.

Goals for the Pre-Season:
1.  Get practice building robots (using the VEX kit)
2.  Get practice programming robots (using VEX and robocode)
3.  Figure out team member roles and responsibilities - Captains.
4.  Understand the ins and outs of the First Robotics Competition
5.  Get familiar with http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/default.aspx?id=966
6.  Get gamiliar with http://www.mnfirstregional.org/

The FIRST Robotics Competition is a national high school-level program in which teams of students build sophisticated robots that compete in regional competitions and, if they qualify, at a national championship competition.

FIRST stands for "For Inspiration & Recognition of Science & Technology," and was established in 1992 to inspire more American high school students to pursue careers in science and technology. More than 1500 teams participated in the 2008 competition.

Basic Details: 
An after school varsity team competes in a contest to build a robot within a six week period starting early January through mid-February. 
Teams usually consist of 10 to 20 students, 3 to 4 adult mentors, and a school advisor.

In the six week competition period - teams meet two to three days a week (typically in the evening) and on Saturdays.   Teams meet in the evening because mentors usually more available after work.

The team will have an organizational meeting in November.  If you are interested please fill out the sign up form and watch for more announcements.

Wanted:  Parent Advisor and Parent Mentors to assist the students with the construction and programming of a robot.  If you are interested, please contact nancy.kolb@spps.org. 

More information about First Robotics at: http://www.usfirst.org/