Category: FRC

FIRST Robotics Competition blog post

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St. Louis and Worlds

The World Robotics Championship is where the best robotics teams from around the world compete against each other on the grandest stage of all.

The journey to St. Louis was tiring but exciting at the same time. To be honest, I had underestimated the bus ride. I estimated it would take from 13 to 18 hours of travelling but I didn’t think much of it. Luckily, I survived, but I came out of the bus with a sore and aching body.

I was relieved once we arrived at St. Louis. We finally had the chance to escape the cramped spaces of the bus and enjoy some breakfast. Before we went to our hotel we stopped by the City Museum. The place was bursting with creativity and excitement.  There were slides in every corner (one of them was 10 stories high), staircases to climb, smalls spaces to crawl through, and objects to hang from. The place was packed with kids of all ages. Adults were having fun too. The RoboLancers weren’t the only robotics team in the building. I saw plenty of other teams having fun before the start of the competition.

The next day was the start of the qualification matches. I’ve been to many robotics competitions in Philadelphia but they were nothing compared to the World Championships. Everything was bigger, better, and more exciting. Teams from all over the world such as Australia, Mexico, and Israel arrived to compete. The stands were filled with people rooting for their teams. The team spirit I witnessed during Worlds was unbelievable. People were chanting, yelling, and dancing around the place.

While we were at the Edward Jones Dome/America’s Center, I got to roam around for a bit with my friend. While we were travelling to the Pit area I saw a bunch of people crowding around someone. Curious, we went over to see who they were talking to.

It was Woodie Flowers.

The first time I came close to a famous person was last year during the summer. In my mind I knew that this was a rare opportunity and that I shouldn’t let this chance pass me by. People were getting his autograph and taking selfies with him. My friend was anxious to go to the pits since we were on a tight schedule but I absolutely refused to leave until I got a signature from Woodie Flowers.

And I did.

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I met Woodie Flowers and got his autograph. This was something I never thought would happen in my life. I went on to brag about this to my other team members but I stopped when two of my friends met him the next day and took a selfie with him.

We later then went to the pits where we went crazy hunting for team pins, wristbands, and other cool toys. We were at Worlds and we wanted to experience everything as much as we could.

Later in the day the opening ceremony began. It was a paper airplane extravaganza. That’s the best way I can describe the opening ceremony and the rest of the competition. Never in my life have I seen so many paper airplanes being thrown in the air. They were quite impressive.

The competition continued for the next few days. Finals were around the corner and we competed with all we had. We ranked in 54th place in the end. Unfortunately, we didn’t get picked during Alliance Selection so we couldn’t compete during the Einstein Playoffs. However, we didn’t let that dampen our mood. The ending ceremony arrived with a concert and everyone enjoyed themselves during our last day in St. Louis.

Going to the World Championship was an experience I’ll never forget. I got the chance to meet people from all over the world, go to the Gateway Arch, meet Woodie Flowers, and collect team pins in the pits like a madwoman. I want to thank all of our sponsors for supporting the RoboLancers and helping us with our trip to St. Louis. This would never have happened without your support.

We went to the World Championship twice already.

I’m hoping for round 3.

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What Worlds Weans to Me

It’s purposeful don’t worry, alliteration.

It’s been a couple years since I lived in the basement of Central High School. I am Ben Ehrlich, graduated in 2013, and I was president when the RoboLancers won 3 Engineering Inspiration awards in a year and were invited to world champs for the first time in a long time (I was never good at History.)

To say the team changed my life would not give it justice. The role that the RoboLancers, it’s members, it’s leaders (past and present), and the people and events it brought me into, was the single most influential subject in my development in becoming a young adult. Besides it giving me confidence (I was pretty narcissistic, ask anyone) it gave me the opportunity to grow in tech experience, public speaking, and leadership. With these tools, at only 18, compared to my classmates at Drexel University, I was prepared for anything.

My friend Nadia recorded our reactions when the MC read out their punny poem leading to our award and place at Worlds 2 years ago. To say we were livid would be a gross understatement. It changed everything in the minds of people on the team, it was possible. In only 2 years we have now done it again. The students, the young talent that this team has collected over the years, has brought the largest award in FIRST, from regional competition, and the “blue banner” thereof to Central High School.

To me, this means “we made it.” We have gone from a few members doing our best at local competitions, to a World Competing team with 100 members. I’m glad I had the opportunity to attend the team meetings leading to our success. I’m even more happy to see that the young men and women to take me and my graduates place on the team have not only done as well as us, but by far surpass us. They say raise your kids to be better than you could ever be. We are the RoboLancers, I’m not just proud to have been involved, I’m proud of what we have achieved without my team presence.

It’s taken a little over a decade but in FIRST, mark my words, the RoboLancers, team 321, have arrived to the dance floor and we’re ready to kill it.

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Road to St. Louis

The Central High School RoboLancers — the student-run robotics program of Central High School in Philadelphia — is urgently seeking your financial support to attend the Robotics World Championship in St. Louis from April 22 to April 25. Here is a link to our gofundme campaign: http://www.gofundme.com/robolancers2015

The RoboLancers champion science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in our public schools and have become a shining example of what students in a challenging urban setting can do when given the opportunity. Since its founding in 1999, the RoboLancers have grown from five students to a multi-faceted program of more than 112 students. It is now the largest extracurricular activity at Central High School, one of Philadelphia’s most academically rigorous public magnet schools.

This year, the RoboLancers were one of two teams selected from the 122 teams in the Mid-Atlantic Region to win the Chairman’s Award, the FIRST robotics organization’s highest honor. This award is given to the team that most exemplifies the spirit of the organization and in recognition of its work promoting science and technical education among high schoolers. In addition to the Chairman’s Award, the team has won four Engineering Inspiration Awards over the past three years, which further recognizes our outreach and educational activities.

The RoboLancers’ membership is drawn from Central High School’s extremely diverse population. Of the more than 2,200 students who attend the school, 30 percent are African-American, 33 percent are Asian, 9 percent are Latino, and nearly 60 percent come from families that are classified as “economically disadvantaged.” The RoboLancers mainly compete against suburban and private schools with significantly more resources, yet the team thrives despite significant financial adversity. Our outstanding performance has made us eligible for the FIRST Robotics World Championship, one of the most challenging high school robotics competitions in the nation.

Teams around the world had six weeks to design and build a 120 pound robot from scratch that competes with other team’s robots by performing a variety of tasks. The design, construction, programming and operation of the robot provide students with critical hands-on experiences they can’t get in the classroom. The opportunities afforded by the robotics competition spark student interest in engineering and help prepare them for college and careers in STEM fields.

Yet the RoboLancers are much more than a competitive robotics team. At a time when Philadelphia public schools have suffered devastating budget cuts involving the layoffs of thousands of teachers, the shuttering of dozens of schools, and drastic program and classroom cuts, including the defunding of robotics programs throughout the city, the RoboLancers have stepped up and become the lynchpin of STEM education in Philadelphia. The team mentors other robotics programs across the city, providing technical support, physical space, and tools for other teams.

The RoboLancers also host several critical robotics events, including workshops and competitions for elementary, middle, and high school students from around the city. The RoboLancers also partner with the University of Pennsylvania’s GRASP Lab to host the Philadelphia Robotics Expo, an all-day event to promote engineering and science education to more than 400 children through student-run workshops, demonstrations and programs. Supporting the RoboLancers does not just benefit students at Central High School, but thousands of students across the city who participate in the RoboLancers’ outreach program.

Our annual budget of more than $30,000 has been raised exclusively through an aggressive student-run sponsorship campaign and the support of the Associated Alumni of Central High School and the Central High School Home and School Association. Yet the RoboLancers’ selection for the World Robotics Championship means the team must raise an additional $25,000-$35,000 to pay for event registration, hotel accommodations, meals, and transportation of students and equipment to and from St. Louis. And we must raise this money in less than two weeks.

Your assistance is urgently needed to ensure that this extraordinary team of high schoolers will have the chance to compete in the FIRST Robotics World Championship from April 22 to April 25. Thank you in advance for your support of STEM education in Philadelphia.

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Central High Robotics Team Honored for Educational Outreach Work

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

UPPER DARBY, PA, MARCH 29, 2015 — The Central High School RoboLancers won the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) District Chairman’s Award at a competition at Upper Darby High School over the weekend, the most prestigious award given at that competition. The award identifies the RoboLancers as a “model team” that has worked over the last five years to grow the robotics program within Central High School from 10 student members to over 100 while also inspiring thousands of students of all ages throughout the region to explore STEM fields.

In a school district hard hit by budget cuts that have resulted in sharp reductions in science and engineering classes and programs in recent years, the RoboLancers have worked continuously to foster engineering and science education by mentoring younger teams in the city and hosting events for all levels of the FIRST program, from elementary to high school. They also host the annual Philly Robotics Expo (coming up on April 20 at the Singh Nanotechnology Center at the University of Pennsylvania), where hundreds of schoolchildren take robotics classes taught by the RoboLancers students and have the opportunity to meet and interact with other robotics teams and companies who come to exhibit their robots.

To compete for the Chairman’s Award, teams submit an essay and a short video explaining the impact of their team, then they make a presentation and are interviewed by a panel of judges. This year’s presentation team is comprised of seniors Stanley Umeweni and Maria Shayegan and junior Evan Aretz. You can view their video at: http://youtu.be/MgiFTv7zwWM

The RoboLancers FRC team will compete at one more district-level event on April 3–4 at North Brunswick High School in North Brunswick, NJ, before joining other qualified teams at the Mid-Atlantic Robotics Regional Championship on April 9–11 at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA.

In addition to presenting before a panel of judges in hopes of winning the Chairman’s Award for the whole mid-Atlantic region, the RoboLancers will continue to compete in the robot competition itself. The RoboLancers, like all 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 FRC district tournaments and regional championship, 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 at 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 previous awards such as the Engineering Inspiration Award and traveled to the 2013 FIRST World Championship in St. Louis. The RoboLancers are growing, not only in their team but in their impact in the community; this Chairman’s Award is proof.

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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Justin Glazman, Jonah Getz, and Mechanical Lead Kamal Carter in the pit

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FRC Springside Chestnut Hill Academy

On March 13 to March 14th, the Robolancers competed at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. The unique thing about this year’s game was that the human players could slide silver totes (boxes used in the game) through a chute for the robots to grab. Stacking these silver totes into a specific white zone gave teams point. There is also a green recycling trash can that could be placed on top for even more bonus points. Robots can obtain totes and recycling trash cans through the huge assortment of silver totes near the center of the field.

Furthermore, the gold totes, if stacked in the center by both sides, would grant “coopertition” (cooperation + competition) points to both sides. The most unique thing, though, was the fact that human players could toss “litter” (pool noodles) over the wall of the field, as if they were gold Olympic medalist javelin throwers, into the opposing side for extra points.

Overall, the robot designs at the event were impressive. For example, Techfire, team 225, had a robot that allowed it to create two sets of two-stack tall totes (the boxes) at once. MOE, team 365, had a robot that resembled a forklift truck. Our team, team 321, had a series of hooks on a belt that rotated. This allowed our robot to snag on several totes at once.

However, we did encounter several issues, including parts falling off during matches. Despite all of these setbacks, we still ended up becoming the 8th seeding captain for the event, which meant we would be going to the semi-finals. We were paired with team 484, Roboforce, and team 3637, The Daleks. With their help, we landed in 2nd place by the end of the quarters-finals matches. By the time we reached the end of the semi-finals, we ended up in 4th place, which was a great accomplishment for the entire team.

Additionally, we also won a creativity award for our hook design, and for our extensive use of sensors. As one Robolancer member generously commented, we had a “bucket of sensors”.

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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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Saturday at Springside Chestnut Hill

Today, Saturday January 17, the Robolancers were given the wonderful opportunity to work with Springside Chestnut Hill robotics team, 1218 Vulcan Robotics. Today we just wanted to test out our mecanum drive, something the Robolancers have not used since 2010, out on regulation FIRST carpet. Mecanums have a bad reputation, for not being the greatest if you do not practice often. We came to Springside just to test out our drive, and 1218 helped us out the entire time. First, they gave us the opportunity to explore their amazing machine shop. We were instantly amazed; they had a lathe and even a CNC mill and they told us that we were allowed to use it whenever we needed to. Next they showed us their swerve drive that a few of their kids worked on for their senior design project, and it was truly inspirational knowing that students designed and built a fully operational swerve.

Talking about the swerve, we were able to gain insight on mechanical design, FRC sensors, and even programming expertise. Everyone on their team was extremely welcoming, sincere, and graciously shared advice for this current build season. This was probably one of our best days in the build season because we got to see our drive work and had the opportunity to work with one of the best robotics team in MAR. Thank you Springside Chestnut Hill for allowing use to work with you guys!

(1218 Beautiful swerve drive we got to see)
(1218 Beautiful swerve drive we got to see)
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Chestnut Hill FRC Regional

Hi all, it has been a while since my last blog post.

The RoboLancers recently participated in the Springside Chestnut Hill FRC District competition on the 14th and 15th of March. I have previously been a part of the drive team for off-season events – Ramp Riot and Duel on the Delaware, however it was my first time being part of the drive team for an actual qualifying competition. My position was the coach of the drive team. This experience was exciting and a little stressful. Being able to strategize with other teams and being up front and watching the robots competing on the field was amazing. After this competition, I am very looking forward to the Lenape-Seneca regional this week. Hopefully the team will be able to yield better results this competition.

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Chestnut Hill District Competition

On March 14th and 15th the RoboLancers attended the FRC Chestnut Hill District Competition. In the previous year I was able to attend this competition, however, this year was my first time as a member of the pit crew. I had the opportunity to work on the mechanical aspects of the robot, repair various complications that had occurred with the robot, and prepared the robot to compete in the field.

Last year I was able to see the competition from a different perspective. I witnessed the different teams and robots compete out on the field and the illuminating spirt that was rendered through the teams. This year I was allowed to participate in the action that occurs behind the scenes. Pit crew was chaotic, everyone scampered to ready the robot for the matches. The mood was high paced and stressful. When in the pit, one is able to ultimately understand that the robot is never thoroughly complete.

Although our robot did not function to its full potential. I have to admit that being a part of the pit crew was one of the most extraordinary experiences I was able to be a part of. I am optimistic about the improvements that our team has decided to make on the robot and am excited and looking forward to attending next week’s Lenape-Seneca Regional Competition.

– Melissa

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FRC Competition

On March 15th, we headed to Chestnut Hill for the FRC competition with our FRC counterpart of the team. Some of us had to carpool to get there, but when we got there, we were excited for the things to come. Our team worked hard for our robot, and the Robolancers had a great time interacting with other teams, from mascots to chatting during lunch and down time.

Our robot played defense with it’s speed as it tackled robots and denied points for the other team. However, we dropped to the lower ranks as other teams overcame us. Although we are not the best team, we are rapidly improving and even as we dropped down, we still saved face and cheered for the other Alliances and finalists.

Overall we had a great time together, and it was a great event. Together with our teammates, we cheered, laughed, and collected a ton of pins and badges. We won the Judges award, and so Callan, Stanley, and Etienne will be presenting for Chairman’s again next week at Lenape. We’ll be looking forward to things to come, and learning from our mistakes. Some of us are really good dancers too.

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