It's First Robotics Season!

[jbolt]

I have been helping a high school team since 2012. Between moving and Covid I haven't done much for them for a few years. This year I was asked to help with some of the more challenging parts.

The stock: 5", 7" & 8" diameter aluminum round tube



Turning the 8" parts







7" parts:





Completed Turned Parts:

 

[Weldingrod1]

Ok, I'm a FRC mentor too... what the heck are you making?!? That's big for the bots!

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[jbolt]

Ok, I'm a FRC mentor too... what the heck are you making?!? That's big for the bots!

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I can't comment on their purpose until the team makes it public. I will post a picture once they do.

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[ErichKeane]

Thats neat! I mentored a few years back before I had my shop, but life got in the way I would have loved to have a machine shop to worth with back then!

WeldingRod1's picture is interesting! It is nice to see how other teams do their rapid prototyping. All the teams I worked with (including the team I was on in 2004!), used angle-aluminum + pop-rivets. We found that it was strong enough for our testing, then when we were happy with the design, getting it welded was pretty easy, just get all the electronics off the frame, and a welder can just tig it together.

Though, none of those 3 teams really had any machining capability, so files, drills, and hacksaws were about all we had to work with.

 

[jbolt]

I meant to follow-up earlier. Here is their robot reveal video.

The parts I made are part of the large main circular joint. The three different sized parts I made are joined together by large diameter radial bearings.

The team was second seed and the San Francisco regional winners. Their third alliance member blew a drive motor during the semi-finals and it could not be repaired in time for the final so they went into the final rounds 2 on 3. Despite the disadvantage they pulled off the win.

 

[RJSakowski]

These FIRST kids are amazing. A number of years ago, a friend of my wife was the regional director of the program and we went to several of the competitions, including the regional finals. After I retired, I entertained the idea of acting as a mentor. I went to one of their weekly work sessions and concluded that there wasn't much that I could add. I asked the director what I would be expected to do as a mentor and was told, mainly set on the sideline and offer morale support.

After observing the group, the Badger Bots, in action, it was apparent that they were quite capable of dealing with all aspects of the project, from project management and budget control to manual and CNC machining to writing software. Having spent the last sixteen years of my professional life in product development in the biotech and medical device sectors, what these kids accomplished in six weeks would normally take a professional team a year or more.

 

[jbolt]

These FIRST kids are amazing. A number of years ago, a friend of my wife was the regional director of the program and we went to several of the competitions, including the regional finals. After I retired, I entertained the idea of acting as a mentor. I went to one of their weekly work sessions and concluded that there wasn't much that I could add. I asked the director what I would be expected to do as a mentor and was told, mainly set on the sideline and offer morale support.

After observing the group, the Badger Bots, in action, it was apparent that they were quite capable of dealing with all aspects of the project, from project management and budget control to manual and CNC machining to writing software. Having spent the last sixteen years of my professional life in product development in the biotech and medical device sectors, what these kids accomplished in six weeks would normally take a professional team a year or more.

The whole program is amazing. I am honored be able to be a part of it. I love the fact that it is a collaboration of students, parents and professionals working together.

I was very intimidated by how smart these kids are when I first started and most of the other mentors were high level engineers and business professionals. Not having the same educational background I wasn't sure what I could contribute but soon discovered I brought a wealth of real life practical mechanical and problem solving skills. Most of these kids had never used tools before.

I remember one time talking to one of the students in the programming team. He was very excited to show me what he was working on and trying to explain it to me in great detail. The math was WAY beyond my comprehension. He enjoyed that a lot. Later he was interest in helping with some of the manufacturing. At that time I was doing the lathe training. Because there is so little time to train students I developed a system where we made a couple of parts that encompassed the majority of operations needed to make most parts they designed that could be made on the lathe. The parts are drawn in decimal but designed to use collets which are in fractions. I purposely made the part dimensions close to the collet size but not exact. Fractions can be difficult to do in your head so it was great fun him squirm when I would send him to the collet drawer to find the appropriate sized collet without using a calculator!

It has been very rewarding to watch these kids grow, graduate, move on to college and then come back as mentors themselves.

If any of you are familiar with Battle Bots, Arron Hill, whose team Tantrum won the championship last year. He came up through First and was a mentor for our team for a while. He is one of the most creative engineers I have ever met.

Fun times!

 

[pdentrem]

Co worker mentors a HS team and they are pretty good. Here is a video of the match last weekend. Bot # 1114