Quick Questions
 

I have a few questions to help our team to prepare for this year (we'd love to get any help you can give)

1. Do you know of websites with videos of competitions from 2000 or earlier

2. Have you used pneumatics in what you felt was an unusual or innovative way? If so how?

3. Do you know where to find the rules and pictures for the games from 1992 - 1995?

4. Many teams have begun to buy the things on the BOM was there anything that was hard to find or in short supply?

PS this list may have questions added to it before the kickoff

Here's a link to an archive of competition videos from 1999-2001. http://robotics.arc.nasa.gov/b_webcast_archive.htm

and here too: http://robotics.nasa.gov/b_archive_FIRST.htm

Pneumatic Arms
 

My team (RoboDox Team # 599) had a fully pneumatic arm to manipulate balls, a type of arm that was certainly in the minority last year (though more had some pneumatic components)

A few facts about a multi-jointed fully pneumatic arm:

When everything is pneumatic, you take advantage of the speed of these devices, and their easy controls: Grabbing a large ball (If you're familiar with last year's comp) involved driving up to one and flicking three switches in quick secession, so this was a very speedy and very easy operation.


Picture

I hope that helps.

Our team (31) also had a pneumatic arm as well as a pneumatic arm/claw on the back of our robot to move the goals, its as close as we’ve gotten to a weapon in FIRST, and it wasn’t ever intended to be that way :) im not quite sure where a picture of it is, if i get the link ill post it also

No clear picture of it, but we used the pneumatics to make a Low-Rider. :-) Of course, we never went under the bar, but we could have.

Our team has pictures from 1992-1995 all around the shop...its just that we have to find them all....if i can get my hands on good ones, Ill have them scanned and uploaded

Here is what you should get first from BOM
 

get the flanges super important and get the nipplets too... thats about it

hmm...our driver used our bridge reset arm to lift the bridge off of the barrier (before any of the other bots got over it). that was not the original use for the arm, but it was pretty impressive ;)

Time for question 5
 

How do the parents on your team take an active role?

They take a few roles:
some help us with design and constuction
others help us organize fundraising and PR type stuff
while others bring in food :)

Re: Time for question 5
 

The parent voulenteers are invaluable to our team! Since they have much more experence in the "real-world" then any of the students, they often help us to find ways to implement ideas we have. Technically-inclined parents help to explain mechanics, and make those really really difficult cuts. Marketing types help us prepare presentations, and come up with intresting ideas for rasing funds. Basically there are jobs for every parent who wants to play an active role. Some are very very involved, and a few just pitch in a little when they can. Of course any one can donate their cullinary skills to us when we are in dire need of it during the six weeks! ;)

LoL, our parents smile, nod, and give us food. ;) Don't get me wrong - I think that everyone on our team is happy with it that way. My parents realize that this is my thing, and they treat it like I were playing a varsity sport, say Football. They don't come to the practices but will come to games that are in town and do support the team where they can.

~Tom Fairchild~, who likes the setup that it his team has.

The last two (I think)
 

What is your team doing this week since it is the last week before the kick off?

what does your team do the night before the kick off?

Re: The last two (I think)
 

Catch up on sleep. If you're on the west coast... you'll need it that much more!