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FIRST
Chief Delphi
FIRST Topsite

In 2008 having a FIRST Robotics Team in Rutland County started out as an idea, and with a number of people working hard to breathe life into this idea, it became a reality. As a result, team iBots 2370 was born. Over the past few years we have gained many new members, each possessing certain qualities that help keep our inspiration, (the spark that makes us who we are), alive and well. And although each year we lose experienced members as they go to follow their own dreams, the newer members always share their own traits of determination, enthusiasm, and willingness to learn that make our team a success. On a broader note, the team as a whole is an inspiration for students to take on challenges, not just on the team, but in life too. Whether it be the decision take harder courses in school or to gain confidence to go on to college and achieve their dreams, everyone embellishes the fact that having a passion for knowledge is a great thing. The students also get the opportunity to work on a team and gain the skills that they'll need to succeed not only in the present but in the future as well. Being on the team can also help many young adults to determine their career path. Even if students join the team in ninth grade, it can help them determine whether their interested in an engineering field or in the sciences. The iBots are always on the lookout for new team members. New tactics for promotion included showing off our own robot at the annual Rutland County Halloween Parade (one of the largest Halloween parades in the continental U.S.). We decorated the robot in green Christmas lights and used speakers to play loud techno music. Members of the team also handed out candy and buttons. However most of the kids at the parade gave us sour looks when we gave them buttons instead of candy, a snafu not to be repeated. We quickly realized that handing out buttons at the parade was the equivalent of handing out apples on Halloween. At the end of the night, we had no candy left, but on the bright side, we did have about 200 buttons to use for this years competition. Furthermore, to get the word out about our team, Robots that have been previously built have been toured at different schools in the Rutland County area. In addition, we put up posters in Mill River High School and other high schools in Rutland County to promote our team. Our first meeting of the year was held at Mill River Union High School. Old friends got back together and new friends were made as Paul C. and Jeff S. (the head mentors) explained the protocol to the new members. Then we started the year like usual, by doing the first round of CTQs (which we have come to realize are an excellent way to compile all of our thoughts into a plan of action). After much deliberation, we decided we wanted our robot to be a defensive robot that could drive fast and possibly have an arm or a kicker. When the kickoff day arrived, we spent the entire day in a General Electric conference room. After the kickoff video was over, we started right away on the second round of CTQs. Since we now knew the game, our final plan was to build a robot that was defensive, could drive fast, would have an arm to lift the itself, and would have a kicker. A few days later we had our final meeting a Mill River High School to designate sub-teams. There was essentially a sub-team for each part of the robot. We had a drive/mechanical team, an electronics team, a kicker team, and a team for the arm. We were ready to start building. After we had chosen teams, we went straight to work at General Electric almost everyday each week. The drive team came up with the idea of having an independent suspension on our robot. They also decided that it would be a good idea to have four large foam wheels that would easily get it up over the bump. Once that was built, we mounted the electronics onto the frame and added what many people called a "shark fin" onto our "dune buggy" robot. We called our robot a "dune buggy" because the wheels were so big and with it's shape it looked like one. The "shark fin" was the large tower we attached to our robot with the mechanism that would allow it to pull itself up. At long last we had a drivable robot. However, when we brought it up to the G.E. conference room to test it (we made a homemade "bump" out of wood) we ran it into the bump with such force that it broke the frame and caused the wheels to go cockeyed. It was as soon as this happened that everyone on the team knew the meaning of "crunch time". We decided that the first thing that needed to be done was for us to disassemble the entire robot. After that was out of the way, our first action was to build a tougher frame. It was a unanimous decision to make the robot a "tank". To build the frame, we used a much stronger metal and we decided to swap out the large foam wheels we had for wheels we could change the pressure of. This way, to get over the bump we could simply decrease the pressure in the wheels a bit. We also decided to use a chain drive to work the wheels, a risky decision but one that had to be made to get our robot to work (since we're still building, we might change the chain drive to a belt drive if we have time). The kicker was then interestingly made. So far we're sticking with our plan to use surgical tubing and a motor on a pivot to get it to operate correctly. The team has done an excellent job on recovery, but there is still much work to be done, so we wish all of the other teams good luck and we'll see you at the competition!

*I would like to give a special thanks to Paul Cipriani, Jeff Stewart, and all of the other mentors and parents, without whom none of this would have been possible.