Xerox Award Winners

FIRST General Forum
1

Posted by ChrisH at 03/27/2001 1:13 AM EST

Engineer on team #330, Beach 'Bots, from Hope Chapel Academy and NASA JPL, J & F Machine, Raytheon, et al.

I would like to put together an article on the robot features that won the Xerox creativity awards. The purpose would be to try and get it published in a national engineering magazine and showcase the innovation that happens in these competitions.

While I can find out from the FIRST website WHO the award winners are, it does not cite the features of the robots that impressed the judges enough to make the award.

I realize that there are many innovative features that were included in most of the robots. Even some robots that do nothing but limbo sometimes have innovative features. But with a 4 or 5 page (or paragraph) article I just can’t cover them all. So I thought that limiting the list to award winners would keep things down to a managable size. (14 robots is still probably too many, but it’s easier to manage than 500)

So IF your robot won a Xerox Creativity award AND you remember what feature the judges cited in presenting the award would you please e-mail me? I have some questions I would like to ask. Also if you have some pictures of your feature(s) you could send it would be helpful. Or I can talk to you in FL

We could just hope that the engineering media will come to us, but if one of us who understands the game starts things, it’s much more likely that things won’t get garbled by the time they reach print (or electrons). Even if my version doesn’t get printed and I just hand it over to some reporter, at least I’ll know that the facts were straight when they got it.

Chris Husmann
Team 330 the Beach’Bots
(Who got a Xerox Award for our lift that picks up two balls simultaneously and rotates them into scoring position)

2

Posted by Rob Zeuge at 03/27/2001 9:03 AM EST

Coach on team #121, Rhode Warrior, from University of Rhode Island and Naval Undersea Warfare Center.

In Reply to: Xerox Award Winners
Posted by ChrisH on 03/27/2001 1:13 AM EST:

This is an excellent idea, and I strongly urge the award winners to participate.

If I may make a suggestion…

Why not make this a sreies of articles devoted to the design award winners. FIRST has several design awards, antd there are many wonderful feats of engineering that could be showcased.

Or maybe I just want our machine to get published…
(we won the industrial design award for our steering/suspension mechanism)

Either way, this is a wonderful way to get publicity and credibility for first, and better yet, more sponsors!!

Thanks ChrisH for this great idea!

Best of luck
Robert Zeuge
[email protected]

3

Posted by Wayne Cokeley at 03/27/2001 7:57 PM EST

Coach on team #25, Raider Robotix, from North Brunswick Twp. H.S. and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

In Reply to: Xerox Award Winners
Posted by ChrisH on 03/27/2001 1:13 AM EST:

: I would like to put together an article on the robot features that won the Xerox creativity awards. The purpose would be to try and get it published in a national engineering magazine and showcase the innovation that happens in these competitions.

: While I can find out from the FIRST website WHO the award winners are, it does not cite the features of the robots that impressed the judges enough to make the award.

: I realize that there are many innovative features that were included in most of the robots. Even some robots that do nothing but limbo sometimes have innovative features. But with a 4 or 5 page (or paragraph) article I just can’t cover them all. So I thought that limiting the list to award winners would keep things down to a managable size. (14 robots is still probably too many, but it’s easier to manage than 500)

: So IF your robot won a Xerox Creativity award AND you remember what feature the judges cited in presenting the award would you please e-mail me? I have some questions I would like to ask. Also if you have some pictures of your feature(s) you could send it would be helpful. Or I can talk to you in FL

: We could just hope that the engineering media will come to us, but if one of us who understands the game starts things, it’s much more likely that things won’t get garbled by the time they reach print (or electrons). Even if my version doesn’t get printed and I just hand it over to some reporter, at least I’ll know that the facts were straight when they got it.

: Chris Husmann
: Team 330 the Beach’Bots
: (Who got a Xerox Award for our lift that picks up two balls simultaneously and rotates them into scoring position)

Hi Chris- Our robot Robo Kong got the award in NJ (2nd year in a row)for our arm mechanism for jumping the midfield wall. You can visit our site at the link below to see the features. Or, better yet, drop by our pits in Orlando and take a look.
I took a look through the web pages of all the teams listed by FIRST as the winners of the award and was saddened to see that only one of them had a picture of their machine on their site and only a few even had sites at all!

Interestingly, we considered building an arm with a double pickup and placement mechanism similar to yours but by the time we got the wall jumping mechanism built our weight was too high. It seems like every year we discuss a bunch of possible designs for the robot and every one shows up somewhere in the competition. It’s nice to see the creativity.

WC

4

Posted by Wayne Cokeley at 03/27/2001 7:57 PM EST

Coach on team #25, Raider Robotix, from North Brunswick Twp. H.S. and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

In Reply to: Xerox Award Winners
Posted by ChrisH on 03/27/2001 1:13 AM EST:

: I would like to put together an article on the robot features that won the Xerox creativity awards. The purpose would be to try and get it published in a national engineering magazine and showcase the innovation that happens in these competitions.

: While I can find out from the FIRST website WHO the award winners are, it does not cite the features of the robots that impressed the judges enough to make the award.

: I realize that there are many innovative features that were included in most of the robots. Even some robots that do nothing but limbo sometimes have innovative features. But with a 4 or 5 page (or paragraph) article I just can’t cover them all. So I thought that limiting the list to award winners would keep things down to a managable size. (14 robots is still probably too many, but it’s easier to manage than 500)

: So IF your robot won a Xerox Creativity award AND you remember what feature the judges cited in presenting the award would you please e-mail me? I have some questions I would like to ask. Also if you have some pictures of your feature(s) you could send it would be helpful. Or I can talk to you in FL

: We could just hope that the engineering media will come to us, but if one of us who understands the game starts things, it’s much more likely that things won’t get garbled by the time they reach print (or electrons). Even if my version doesn’t get printed and I just hand it over to some reporter, at least I’ll know that the facts were straight when they got it.

: Chris Husmann
: Team 330 the Beach’Bots
: (Who got a Xerox Award for our lift that picks up two balls simultaneously and rotates them into scoring position)

Hi Chris- Our robot Robo Kong got the award in NJ (2nd year in a row)for our arm mechanism for jumping the midfield wall. You can visit our site at the link below to see the features. Or, better yet, drop by our pits in Orlando and take a look.
I took a look through the web pages of all the teams listed by FIRST as the winners of the award and was saddened to see that only one of them had a picture of their machine on their site and only a few even had sites at all!

Interestingly, we considered building an arm with a double pickup and placement mechanism similar to yours but by the time we got the wall jumping mechanism built our weight was too high. It seems like every year we discuss a bunch of possible designs for the robot and every one shows up somewhere in the competition. It’s nice to see the creativity.

WC

5

Posted by Geli Donut at 03/28/2001 10:03 AM EST

Student on team #141, WO-Bot, from West Ottawa High School and Johnson Controls Inc…

In Reply to: Xerox Award Winners
Posted by ChrisH on 03/27/2001 1:13 AM EST:

Team 141 won it in Ypsilanti for our fast changes and overall design. We changed our entire robot in 72 hours after the West Michigan Regional. We scraped our elevator and over half the robot. We made several improvements, such as goal lifters, and bridge operators and changed the suspension. I will e-amil you a lot more info. Thanks for the recognition. The website only contains pictures of the old WO-Bot, we haven’t had time to update yet, I’m sure you understand.

6

Posted by Crouching Tiger at 03/28/2001 10:29 AM EST

Other on team #111, Wildstang, from University of Illinois.

In Reply to: Xerox Award Winners
Posted by ChrisH on 03/27/2001 1:13 AM EST:

I know that Wildstang Team 111 got 2 Xerox awards this year. One at the great lakes regionals and the other at midwest regionals. I would assume it is for their multiple detachments…If you would like, you could go to the website at http://www.wildstang.com, or read a post by Raul under the initial heading “Question for 111”

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Posted by Libby Ritchie at 03/29/2001 12:20 PM EST

Coach on team #393, Full Metal Jackets, from Morristown Jr/Sr High School and NASA/KIPT, Inc…

In Reply to: Xerox Award Winners
Posted by ChrisH on 03/27/2001 1:13 AM EST:

We won the Xerox Award at the Lone Star Regional in Houston, TX this year. The judges liked the modularity of our robot so that more than one thing could be worked on at one time, we created a spreadsheet that aided in the direction of the design efforts, the adaptation to the needs of the competition (the ramp tipping arm and the ramp supporting braces, which we added half way through the competition), and the robot’s rugged good looks! (I must admit we have a beautiful robot made of mostly diamond plate.)

If you want more detail, talk to my lead engineer, Paul Osborne at [email protected] Our robot, Spyke, is on our website as well.

Thanks for you help!

Libby Ritchie
Team 393
Morristown/NASA/KIPT, Inc.
Full Metal Jackets
Morristown, Indiana

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Posted by Libby Ritchie at 03/29/2001 12:23 PM EST

Coach on team #393, Full Metal Jackets, from Morristown Jr/Sr High School and NASA/KIPT, Inc…

In Reply to: Xerox Award Winners
Posted by ChrisH on 03/27/2001 1:13 AM EST:

We won the Xerox Award at the Lone Star Regional in Houston, TX this year. The judges liked the modularity of our robot so that more than one thing could be worked on at one time, we created a spreadsheet that aided in the direction of the design efforts, the adaptation to the needs of the competition (the ramp tipping arm and the ramp supporting braces, which we added half way through the competition), and the robot’s rugged good looks! (I must admit we have a beautiful robot made of mostly diamond plate.)

If you want more detail, talk to my lead engineer, Paul Osborne at [email protected] Our robot, Spyke, is on our website as well.

Thanks for you help!

Libby Ritchie
Team 393
Morristown/NASA/KIPT, Inc.
Full Metal Jackets
Morristown, Indiana

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