Month: February 2015

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Central High Robotics Teams Head to State and Regional Competitions

Contact: Michael Johnson, RoboLancers Coach, RoboLancers@gmail.com, 267-666-0246.

PHILADELPHIA, FEBRUARY 23, 2015 — Central High School’s two FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) robotics teams will join hundreds of students from across Pennsylvania, ranging from 7th–12th grade, at Millersville University on February 28th for the 2015 FTC Pennsylvania State Championship Tournament. In this year’s exciting game, “Cascade Effect,” 36 teams will face off against each other in an alliance format. Winners of the FTC Pennsylvania Championship will advance to the Eastern Super-Regional — and finally to the World Championship. Off the field, teams will also compete for the Inspire Award and other judged awards.

Five Philadelphia teams that competed at the Philadelphia League Championship at Central High School on February 7th qualified to go on to this state championship. These are the Central High School RoboLancers Gold and Crimson teams, the Northeast High School N.E.R.D.S, the Edison High School Robo Owls, and the Freire Charter School RoboDragons.

For months, the robotics teams have been hard at work designing, building, and programming their robots from scratch. The robots are remotely operated and are constructed by students using robotics system kits with basic tools and equipment utilizing professional mechanical techniques and creativity. “Cascade Effect” involves 160 white plastic balls with robots seeking to score points by placing the balls into rolling goals.

The Central High School RoboLancers also compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC)—the highest level of competition offered by FIRST. The RoboLancers FRC team is scheduled to compete at three district-level events:

  • March 13–14 at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, 500 W Willow Grove Ave, Philadelphia

  • March 28–29 at Upper Darby High School, 8201 Lansdowne Avenue, Upper Darby, PA, and

  • April 3–4 at North Brunswick High School, 98 Raider Rd, North Brunswick Township, NJ

FRC teams had just six weeks, starting in January, to design and build their robots to play this year’s game, “Recycle Rush.” Objectives of the game include stacking large plastic totes, placing recycle bins on top of those stacks, and placing pool noodle “litter” in the recycle bins. During the first 15 seconds of each round, robots operate autonomously, following commands that the students have pre-programmed. Then for the remainder of the match, students operate the robots in real time via remote control.

All FIRST tournaments are free and open to the public. For more information on the FTC state championship see http://www.ftcpenn.org/. For more information on the FRC district tournaments, see http://www.midatlanticrobotics.com/event-schedules/.

FIRST (For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an organization founded by Dean Kamen which seeks to inspire students from K-12th grade to pursue and lead STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields. Competitions such as FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition), FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge), and FLL (FIRST Lego League) blends the engagement of science and technology and the value of teamwork through friendly competitions with other FIRST teams while giving students rewarding experiences that follow them to whatever field they choose to pursue.

 

The Central High School RoboLancers is a FIRST Robotics Team founded in 1999. Starting with a small classroom of students, the team has now has grown to over 100 members. In addition to competing in multiple levels of competitive robotics events, the RoboLancers have helped mentor many teams across the Philadelphia region, including Girls High School, Independence Charter School, G.W. Carver High School for Engineering and Science, and Martin Luther King High School to raise awareness for the need of STEM education and occupations within Philadelphia and around the world. The RoboLancers have won many awards such as the Engineering Inspiration Award and traveled to the 2013 FIRST World Championship in St. Louis, Missouri.

 

Special thanks to our wonderful sponsors: The Associated Alumni of Central High School, The Central High School Home and School Association, McKean Defense, Comcast, PTC, P’unk Avenue/Ignite Philly, Bresslergroup, and Johnsonville.

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Crimson FTC Philadelphia League Championship

Today, I watched and also participated in the Philly FTC Championship, where 17 teams came to Central High to compete for the chance to advance to the States Competition. I never was that into robotics and I only thought of it as a hobby. However, I was drawn back in when I saw this year’s game, which was extremely interesting. Additionally, I was also placed as a temporary coach  for this competition, so that was an interesting experience as well.

Previously, I always had an foolish impression of myself being a tyrannical leader but I learned that being a learned being a leader wasn’t about giving orders and such. Being leader meant that you had the listen,understand, and learn. Between me giving terrible advice to giving amazing pep talks that brought everyone’s morale up, I picked up on my team members’ patterns and strengths. With that information a leader has to divide the problem into jobs for different people based on their capabilities. For example, Diego, not one for the limelight but a hard worker, Michael, perky and full energy, or Viwing, careful and precise are split based on their abilities. Diego mans the pit, which is where we maintenance the robot in between matches, Michael works as a spirit coordinator, and Viwing controls the manipulators on our robot.

As temporary coach you have to be patient and able which I’m neither most of the time. Being the temporary coach was unpredictably stressful because not only does the bestowed responsibility of the coach lie on your shoulders the team’s fate does to. In the first few rounds we hadn’t perform too well and dropped to 15th place. Our servo fell off, there were problems with our battery, and there were other technical difficulties. Each of those mistakes lead to a crushing defeat every time.

In the last match I told my teammates, “Guys I know I’ve said this many times and it sounds really cheesy but I want to tell that you that you guy did me some proud no matter defeat or victory. This is our last match and our last chance chance to them what we’re made of. I want you to give them your all this match.” In the last match we were paired with 5505 Frankford team and through our teamwork we scored 200 to 100 against our opponents. As result they selected us in an alliance during the semifinal matches, followed by so much cheering that our voices went hoarse. In the end, we advanced on to states, so we still have a long way to go!

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Get Ready for PRX!

Robots are taking over Philadelphia yet again!

Central High School’s RoboLancers will unveil the newest and most exciting advances in the field of robotics at the Philly Robotics Expo hosted by the RoboLancers and the GRASP Lab of the University of Pennsylvania. You don’t have to be a science geek to have a blast playing with real robots and learning from local business people, engineers and students who are transforming science fiction into science reality! Kids, parents and professionals can all be a part of this exciting look into Philadelphia robotics. Children of all ages are invited to attend our hands-on workshops on topics ranging from autonomous programming to real robot driving lessons. Last year, organizations such as Boeing, LEGO Education, Society of Women Engineers, the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, and high schools from the region captivated Philadelphia with their achievements in cutting edge technology. The event will be a part of Philly Tech Week which runs from April 17th to April 25th.

This year’s PRX will run from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.  Highlights will include FIRST robotics demonstrations from Jr. FLL, FLL, FTC, and FRC teams; tours of the GRASP Labs including Flying Robots, Humanoids, and “Upennalizers” Soccer Robots; presentations by professors and graduate students; and activities and demos from exhibitors. The event will be held at four locations on Penn’s Campus: Singh Nanotechnology Center, Skirkanich, Levine, and SEAS Hall.

Date: Monday, April 20, 2015

Time: 8:00 am  – 3:00 pm

Location: Singh Nanotechnology Center, 3205 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104

Web: http://phillyroboticsexpo.com

Contact: roboticsexpo@gmail.com

Media

NBC 10

“What the Tech?”:  http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/video/#!/news/tech/What-the-Tech—Philly-Robotics-Expo/148589895

“Philly Gears Up for a Tech Takeover”:  http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/politics/Philly-Gears-Up-For-a-Tech-Takeover-148266155.html

Philly.com

Jeff Gelles, Inquirer Staff Writer, “Shooting Hoops at the Bot Expo”: http://articles.philly.com/2012-04-26/business/31410922_1_homemade-robots-robocup-human-shaped

Short video:  http://www.philly.com/philly/video/BC1581321397001.html

Jeff Gelles, Inquirer Staff Writer, Philly Robotics Expo seeks to inspire a new generation of robot-builders:  http://articles.philly.com/2013-04-24/business/38765935_1_first-robotics-competition-central-high-school-springside-chestnut-hill-academy

Technically Philly

Brian James Kirk, “Philly Robotics Expo hosts more than 700 students, teachers at second annual Tech Week event”:  http://technicallyphilly.com/2012/04/24/philly-robotics-expo-hosts-more-than-700-students-teachers-at-second-annual-tech-week-event

WHYY / Newsworks

Robot Expo Aims to Prove Philly More than Sports, Cheesesteaks: http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/arts-and-culture-everything/item/37414-robot-expo-aims-to-prove-philly-more-than-cheesesteaks-sports

Zack Seward, At Philly Robotics Expo, students inspire students to think STEM [photos]:  http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/onward/53867-at-philly-robotics-expo-students-inspire-students-to-think-stem-photos

thenotebook.org

“At Philly Robotics Expo, students inspire students to think STEM”:  http://thenotebook.org/blog/135912/philly-robotics-expo-students-inspire-students-think-stem

 

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First Lego League Volunteering

On the Saturday of January 31, the FLL Qualifier was hosted in the gymnasium of Central High School. The event was rescheduled from the week before because of the previously predicted snow.

Around 8’o clock, the volunteers had begun to arrive, including many familiar faces among the crowd. The alumni of the team had returned to lend their helping hands. Mr. Ueda was back to coordinate the event. Members of both FTC teams Crimson #6676 and Gold #5320 also volunteered in many positions throughout the event.

As a robot game queuer, the games didn’t start until the afternoon, so I had spent my time helping out with miscellaneous tasks that needed to be done. Eventually, I settled myself down with telling the teams to get ready for their judging session, seeing that it fits with my original job. Thus with every 15 minute, 6 teams must be informed of their judging and be brought up to the correct room.

The game started after the lunch break, with everyone trying to finish up their pizza slices and hoagies. The rounds of game were back to back, and unforeseen delays messed up our schedule again and again. Although one might call it stressful, it was worth it for the successful completion of the event as a whole.

We, the volunteers, lined up and await for the high-fives of the awarded teams. There were cheers and excitements with each announcement of individual winning teams, accompanied by the pun-filled comments from the judges. And there we ended this day of a successfully carried out event.

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FLL Fun

What is more fun than working with robots?

Working with kids and the robots, of course. My job was to make the sure the rules were being followed, not to make the kids cry.  The scariest thing that happened to me in the morning when I overslept the clock, and came out with my ID, and toothbrush in my mouth. As I got off of the Broad Street Line, I met up with XYZ, former member of RoboLancer, as I dashed down the hill to get to the Event.

As I walked into the GYM, I was automatically reprimanded by Sabrina for being late, and not being aware of the rules. As I grabbed my referee shirt, I listened to the head referee, Jim, explain the rules to the referee. As I was half listening, I quickly analyzed the  arena. I noticed automatically, the arena there was more fun, and interesting object. As my job did not start until at 1:30, I  ran around as an errand boy, and casually officiate some of the practice games. As an errand boy, I learned each teams core value, and hopes were often were very different because one might to be score as much as possible, while the next team over might not want to score as much, but to act as a strong building block for the future to come and overlay on.

As the clock neared 1, I was almost constantly sent about to find this team, or relying messages as to what, and where something is happening. To make it even more comical, I even called somebody to inform them of the situation instead of walking up the stairs. When the clock dawned 1, I knew it was either make or break time because if I was not ready before the practice matches, I knew I sure won’t be ready right now. The first match was a mix of fun and nerves for not only the kids, but me also because I knew if I screwed up a game in this line up, it might mean whether they will be able to go to States or not, and I do not want to be the cause why they could not go to States.  However as the game progressed, I noticed either A) the teams wasn’t there or B) the referee watching over the game was somewhere else. As it was my duty to monitor the games, I picked up many games here and there, but lost some of the games here and there also. As the day dragged on, I began to feel increasingly tired, but I knew it was worth it, and the kids will be appreciative in the future.