What are teams doing in the summer?

We're building serveral projects, and also spreading robotics to other cities around our state.

There`s a big project, called the Hexapod, we call it "big dog", because it's big, but it's short.

We`ll start fundraising in September, because we have to take care of other things.

[Veselin Kolev]

Team 115 isn't doing much...
I got a few people together and we're making a cool motorized cart for next year's robot. It's supposed to be a secret, but very few people from 115 surf CD, so their chances are slim. Otherwise, I'm taking an Autodesk Inventor class, and I know our programmer is taking some programming classes.

Simply put, we aren't doing anything major as a team.

[Veselin Kolev]

Oh yeh, forgot to mention it, but I'm also working on a cool drive train.

Cool cart and cool drive train?! I need a vacation

[kristy343mim]

we are probably going to make a new cart for our robot. we've been using the same one since we 1st started which has been only 4 yrs now! we thought about putting a radio in it. how cool! thanks to all you guys who do have radios in your's for giving us a idea!

[Veselin Kolev]

Originally posted by kristy343mim
we are probably going to make a new cart for our robot. we've been using the same one since we 1st started which has been only 4 yrs now! we thought about putting a radio in it. how cool! thanks to all you guys who do have radios in your's for giving us a idea!

Wow, same one for 4 years? I guess it must be pretty sturdy. The one I made this year was interesting. It broke down if you unscrew 8 bolts, and it had huge 8" castors. By the way, if you can, I highly reccomend that you motorize this cart. If you went to nationals at Houtston, and had the pleasure of pushing your robot up the ramps to the competition area, you'll know perfectly well why this kind of cart is a must.
And by the way, most teams that have music on their carts have cd players, not radios.

[Jeff Waegelin]

Originally posted by Veselin Kolev
Wow, same one for 4 years? I guess it must be pretty sturdy.

We used a cart from 2000 for four years. It was a real piece of junk, too. The only robot that ever fit on it was the 2000 bot. Every robot after that was about an inch too wide at the wheels. But... it did the job, I suppose.

[Veselin Kolev]

Originally posted by Jeff Waegelin
We used a cart from 2000 for four years. It was a real piece of junk, too. The only robot that ever fit on it was the 2000 bot. Every robot after that was about an inch too wide at the wheels. But... it did the job, I suppose.

Yeh, our team's old cart was like that too. It was just a really big platform on wheels, so every year we would bolt on the wheel stoppers in a different place. People are lazy.

I don't even know how old that cart was. Last year we used a dolly. This year I made a new one, because we needed the cart to be hollow so we could get at the bottom of our robot to tighten all the bolts. I'm currently making next year's one. All aluminum extrusion, powered by 2 van doors, 20" wheels, 200 watt sound system. And it folds!!! I made it so we can take it to Nats. Sic!

[kristy343mim]

our cart has been very sturdy! its great and still is! all of our robots we have bulit has fit on top of it. we have made them to fit! its black and silver (of course) and has all of our sponsers on it. it has worked very well!

[scuba_sm]

There's been some action out at Lightning Robotics, and all of it good. We've kept most of the people meeting through the summer, and are working on a R&D project which I am not authorized to discuss here . We've held a team BBQ, organized a car wash, and developed our Parent booster club, called the RPMs (Robotics Parents and Mentors). In the near future, we've planned another car wash, and are looking into some electrical/mechanical community service. I don't know if it'll pan out, but we'll see. So, could somebody explain what this "off season" is?

[Anthony Towne]

This summer and this coming fall a bunch of young engineers from Hamilton Sundstrand (including myself) are organizing a miniature FIRST competition for the students when classes start. We have created our own game and built a playing field measuring 8' x 12'. Using extra budget money, we bought 6 customized robotics kits and will hold classes in the fall to teach kids about robot construction (machining, software, electronics, design, etc). We designed a game as close to FIRST as we can so when the design/build phase hits us in January, the students know how to build a robot and know what to expect when we start competing in regionals. One of the bigger problems I noticed, at least on our team, is that students aren't confident of themselves when it comes to designing and spouting off ideas. They have great ideas, but don't voice them because there are too many older people (mentors & engineers) around and some feel intimidated, hence why us young engineers are coordinating the off-season. The students seem to feel more comfortable around us than the older members, since we are closer in age to them.

[Elgin Clock]

<Shameless Plug>

If anyone is in the area of Watertown or Oakville CT this Saturday and wants to get their car washed, stop by Bradshaw Jeep on Main St. and have your car washed by the Sie-H²O-Bots for a donation of $5..

Cause hey, If we can build robots, we can surely wash your car!!!

</Shameless Plug>

Oh, BTW, Fundraising and more fundraising to answer the original question posed by this thread!!!

[blueWarrior]

Well most of our team (including myself) are on vacation. I was in Italy for 2 months so things are being planned slowly in forum conversations, but we will be completely done by the start of school.

Our team is working to revamp EVERY aspect of the team. We are changing the name, motto, team outlook EVERYTHING. So far I have a 26 page outline which describes our fundraising plans all the way down to how every little aspect of the team will be carried out.

Its taken me and 3 other students almost 2 months to complete the document because we wanted to build it off ideas we had written down from the 2003 competition and ensure that it is pragmatic and self explanatory. I must say that this truly is a revolutionary document for us! People say that things dont always work as well as they are written down on paper, but I plan to make sure that everything is followed as closely as possible.

So basically, thats it! Massive planning which we plan to carry out very soon. As soon as school starts in the first week we will begin to assemble and recruit new members, then we are competing in the NEW Toronto Lego League with our newly assembled: St. Michael's Jr. Robotics Team.

BTW in a meeting we held 1 month ago team members agreed on our new team name. We have named ourselves the: St. Michael's ArchAngels or ArchAngel Robotics. Under the bigger team we have two divisions: ArchAngels Sr. Team and ArchAngels Jr. Team. We have our new logo and our website is nearly completed the planning stages.

I hope to see everyone again next year healthy and prepared for yet another year of amazing robotics!

Cheers!

[Alaina]

The Megaforce thought and thought all summer long...But now that school is back in session we can put our thoughts to action. *sigh* We're gonna have to work hard. =|

[BandChick]

1089 is looking into a car wash this weekend, which hopefully will work. other than that we've been thinking about what to improve on from this year for next year, and mostly i've just been trying to sort out my schedule so i can plan time to come back and help with these guys. i know erik and i have been discussing the drive train and some of the changes we want to make for next year and i know that we are also going to be ordering more shirts to raise money (since they were so popular).

that's all for now, but i'm sure once school starts we'll all be more active.

[Arefin Bari]

we are most likely organizing this summer... since our team has a new team leader and couple new officers... when the school starts back up... i think our team is going to compete @ Robot Rodeo @ kissimmee...... looking forward for another exciting season... lata days....