Robots in the D
 

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Ill definetly mention this to my team an maybe we'll go and demo our teams robot! We're only a few minutes away from the border so it isnt a huge trip :D

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Sounds awesome! :)
I'll tell the team, but most likely we wont go.

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Thats a 10 hour drive for you, I HIGHLY doubt you would come here for a baseball game to show your robot ;)

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While too far to attend myself, I am curious, which robot are you using to throw the pitch and how are you accomplishing it? Valuable information for us who may be interested in doing something similar locally ;).

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The game is Detroit Tigers v Toronto Bluejays ... Any bets on Karthik in the house? :)

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I doubt it, but if he's that big of a fan he would make the 4 hour trip :) It wouldnt be that hard to make it, and that would be really cool to see him there. Is there any othe teams/robots that we should expect?

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I really would drive 10 hours to go... if I could ;)

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I think there is a possibility that this robot throwing out the first pitch makes it on to ESPN (SportsCenter, Baseball Tonight etc) since it occurs before an MLB game. They accept suggestions for their nightly Top 10 plays via twitter using #SCtop10, and I've seen off beat things like this on it from time to time. I think a wave of tweets from the FIRST community might be able to get this on national television. Sound like a challenge?

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I think it's definitely possible for the FIRST community to get this on the top 10, especially considering that we get #omgrobots trending during Champs pretty consistently. I, as a huge fan of both FIRST and sports, would love nothing more than to see robots on sportscenter. #SCtop10, we can do it!

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I'm in! I'll be sure to get it tweeted from myself, the team account, and anyone else on the team who has twitter!

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YES! That'd be awesome. I bet the robot would beat out Josh Beckett in a pitching duel, so why not? :p

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what robot are they going to have do it?

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It says team 503(frog force) in the advertisement

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Oh okay cool! I wonder how its going to throw the baseball!?!

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My thoughts exactly! Its shooter appears to be a regular 2 wheel shooter, maybe they made some sort of modification.

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At first I thought they might be using an FTC robot! The only thing I could think is if it was a catapult... apparently not :confused:

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I'm not sure but I heard they might have made a custom robot for this purpose.
That would suffice the baseball/RR ball size difference, but it sounds like quite a bit of work for this application.

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Ah, that would make more sense, because I can't see how they would modify their current robot. seems like allot of work though! :)

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But it would definitely be worth it! I'd personally like to see it throw a 200 mph pitch, and then see Verlander try to one up it.

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Just hope they don't make it on the Not Top 10 :yikes:

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Haha, yeah that would be pretty awesome! I wish I could go, I want to see it :)

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Now if they could only make the robot be able to help Papa Grande figure out what's wrong with his splitter...

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I e-mailed them for more info on the demo and such. We'll see what happens now :D

By the way, team 234 made a frc bot to pitch a baseball last year. I believe it is on thier website somewhere. Or maybe Chris can chime in on this. The ball definitely didn't go 200km/h ;) lol

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If someone involved from Frog Force would like to post how teams can help with online promotion, Team 341 would love help promote this event.
Best of luck to everyone involved.

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Will I be able to watch it on tv? or streaming online. I just have to see it! :]

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There most likely will be a video made after the pitch and put on youtube. Im gonna guess Frog Force will make a video about the event. Not sure if it will be on TV or LIVEstreamed.

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Even 200 km/h would be impressive, but 200 mph is 61% faster...

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The game will be on Fox Sports Detroit and MLB.tv, and they usually show first pitches.

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oh yea lol good point. Sorry for being Canadian ;)

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Darn... I guess I'll just have to watch it when it comes out on youtube! :rolleyes:

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We're making a robot specifically for throwing baseballs and tee shirts. It will have a pneumatic cannon powered by a scuba tank. There is a 2 gallon reservoir which we can fill up to 125 psi (we will normally use 60), and then we will close the valve to the scuba tank and use it to fire the ball. As for the online promotion, you can email the flyer (it's the same one we've been giving out), we also have a group order form on our website (frogforce503.org). Please use the special order form if you buy tickets so the tigers can see how many FIRST people come (you also get a slight discount).

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Very cool design! Could you take a video of it when it happens and post it here? I unfortunately don't get MLB network or fox sports Detroit.

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Yeah, I think that we are going to try to get the actual file that's broadcasted, but we will also be videotapiong it ourselves.

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The robot is being designed and constructed by a collaboration of teams from Southeast Michigan. It is sponsored by Magna Seating, with contributions from Autoliv & AndyMark. In addition to throwing the first pitch, the pitching robot will have some time in the Speed Pitch cage, where humans can compete with it. Also, teams will be welcome to borrow the robot after the game to have it pitch balls (or T-shirts or hotdogs!) at their local events.

There will also be demos of FRC (partial field), FTC & FLL (full field) robots, beginning at 5:30 when the gates open. While participation in the FRC demo is limited due to space concerns, there are still plenty of opportunities for your team to demo their FTC and FLL robots.

For more information about purchasing discounted tickets, and how to join the Google group created for discussion about the robot and demos (includes sketches and CAD), please visit www.frogforce503.org. Email frogforce503@gmail.com with questions or to volunteer for the demos.

Ann Kowalczyk
Coach, FIRST Team 503, Frog Force

Re: Robots in the D
 

I sure hope we can get in to the Demo. I will try and contact our FLL team soon about it.

Regarding tickets: IF we are demoing our team would we still need tickets into the game? And would we be able to watch the game? Though i personally dont like baseball im sure there would be some people on my team that would like to watch it :)

Btw im the one who e-mailed you already :)

If there is anything you need help with for the robot or any future events I'm sure my team would be willing to help anyone in michigan out :) it isnt hard for us to cross the border, its only a few minutes away from our school.

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You do need tickets even if you are demoing. If you can put together an order for 15 or more tickets, they are discounted at $12 each, see the group ticket order form on www.frogforce503.org

All teams demoing will take a block of time, and will be able to watch the game the rest of the time.

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FACEBOOK EVENT HERE: https://www.facebook.com/events/496027607089660/

Also, we will be tweeting from @FrogForce

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Just out of curiosity, where in Comerica is the FRC demo taking place? Even fitting a partial field in there has to be a stretch.

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The side of the field will be against the 34' brick wall inbetween gates A & B. I uploaded a photo of the area but need to wait for it to be approved. The field will have one section removed along the player's station wall, and will be about half-length. We will have one bridge on the field for demo purposes, and only one or two robots. Hey, it just occurred to me -- it would be nice to have a triple-balance demonstration. We'll have to see who is interested in bringing their robot.

Tom Nader is in charge of setting up the field so I know it will be great! We do need carpet if anyone has any to donate. Also this area is somewhat exposed to the elements. There will not be any field electronics installed but demo teams will need to provide a covering for their robot in the event of rain.

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We have enough carpet for 1/4 of the field, but im not 100% sure we can get it from our school at this time.

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Here is a photo of the wall where we are setting up the partial FRC field: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/38073?

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Cyber Blue threw out the FIRST (LOL) pitch at an Indianapolis Indians game last August (Minor League Team). The media coverage was excellent, with local news and the local newspaper.

Let me know if you want any details of our design. We used 4 CIMs powering two pneumatic tires and had speed control to dial it in.

Remember that pitchers mound is higher than home plate, so you have to adjust for the elevation differences.

And, find out who will be catching the pitch. We had capability of about 90 MPH, but knew that the mascot, Rowdie, would be catching. Rowdie has very limited visibility and movement, so we slowed the pitch down to about 60 MPH so he could see it and catch it.

Here is a picture of "Lefty".

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/38087

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Two questions that seem kind of silly to me but have not been addressed yet.

1. Will the pitching robot be drivable?

2. Will it have bumpers (with 503 on them)? If so, will they be blue/orange?

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Yes it will be driveable, no it won't have bumpers.

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I did stop by and talk to a couple of your mentors at IRI... our design is a pneumatic cannon. We will pitch from in front of the mound, per the Tigers' request. Paws will be catching so we will have to dial back the speed also. HOWEVER, the robot will move to the "speed pitch" cage after the first pitch where it will redeem itself!

Here are a few photos of the robot under construction: http://goo.gl/6ag1s

Go to www.frogforce503.org to find a link and instructions for joining our Google group for discussion about the robot, marketing, and demos. The latest thread is asking for robot name suggestions... also welcome here!

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We have about 15 $14 tickets left for purchase, please see the frogforce503.org site for more info. Once those tickets are sold, you will need to get your tickets directly from the Tigers website.

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We just purchased a block of 64 tickets for the game. They are left-field tickets with an obstructed vew -- but the only obstruction is the skinny yellow foul pole. Let Karen Barnhart (karenbarnhart@twmi.rr.com) know ASAP if you need any tickets, they are $15. Aside from that group, there are NO groups or pairs of tickets left at ANY price level in the whole park, only single tickets.

FYI, robotics groups purchased over 1,000 tickets which are located in sections 144-149, 210-218, 334-336, and 338-344. You are welcome to buy single tickets near those sections from the Tigers website. Possibly pairs or groups of tickets are also available from third parties.

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You guys made it onto Drudge.

"Robot To Throw First Pitch At Baseball Game..."

Congrats.

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So who gets to throw the first first pitch? Cy-ber Young or Jordan Wieber??

http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/in...iver _default

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They actually have several first pitches... thanks for all the tips/links! Maybe we can get Jordyn to sign the robot!!

Would really appreciate anyone posting links to any other media here, or email to me at amkowalczyk@gmail.com

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Here's a link to photos Dan Ernst took of the event: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniele...7631208371912/ These are of the pitch only, he has more of the demos, etc. that he will upload later.

Here's an article in WIRED: http://www.wired.com/playbook/2012/0...aseball-robot/

Article on MLB.com: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...s_mlb&c_id=mlb

Oh, and we DID get Jordyn to sign the robot!!!! :D

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I am so jealous, I'm a huge fan of the Tigers! :$

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We had a small run of navy blue shirts made with a Robots in the D logo on the front, and a sponsor list on the back for the game. Many people asked about them, so we are making them available for anyone to order at $12 each. Please use the order form at http://frogforce503.org/sites/defaul...torderform.pdf

Orders due September 4. Questions to frogforce503@gmail.com.

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Chris Conway did an excellent job shooting and producing this video about Cyber Young and the Robots in the D event, check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC0a8ex3LJU