Congratulations LCPA Graduates!

This past Tuesday was the Lincoln Prep graduation ceremony.

Congratulations to Chris, Jeremy, David and Ricardo, our four Tigerbyte graduates! We wish you the best in all you pursue and we look forward to hearing of your success in your future endeavors.

2009 KC Regional Pics

Great Job Tigerbytes!

The Tigerbytes were great at the KC Regional this weekend!

Thanks to everyone who helped out - Pictures and more to be posted soon.

Full Team Meeting Tuesday @ 3:00

We will be meeting at LCPA after school on Tuesday and would encourage everyone. We will be going over what needs to be done to get ready for the competition at the end of this week.

Please bring your FIRST consent forms and LCPA permission slips if you have not turned them in already.

See you then!

Pit Work Day on Saturday Cancelled

Because of the cold weather forecast for Saturday the work session for the Pit has been cancelled.

Schedule for Last of February

Please note the updates to the calendar for the last days of February.

The button team is meeting this week after school and in two days have almost doubled our team buttons for the Regionals. A special "Thank You" to Adrian for taking 50 with her last night and working on them at home.

This Saturday I will be working on the Pit at my house - everyone is welcome to join me. If you are interested send me an email and or add a comment to this post.

Please check the blog or the bulletin board outside the Robotics room for updates to the schedule for next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Robot in a Crate

The robot series on the Shoebox blog has a "robot in a crate" in honor of all the FIRST shipping deadline this week.

School Outing Permission Slips

On Wednesday, February 18 we will be handing out the LCPA school permission slips for the students to be excused from classes and to be allowed to attend the KC Regional on Thursday, Feb 26 and Friday, Feb 27.

The forms will be up at the Robotics Room right after school tomorrow afternoon - if you cannot stop by then we will get one of the team Seniors to get the form to you.

These forms will need to be filled out, signed by your parent and returned ASAP!

Team Meeting Tuesday Feb 17 @ 3:00pm

We will have a team meeting today at 3:00 in the Robotics room.

This week please watch the blog for meeting notices and updates to the calendar. Today was just to clean up the room and get some paperwork issues taken care of.

New button sets have arrived so we will need to have at least a couple team members help with those after school this week - maybe just until the 4:30 bus each day.

Thanks to Kelly & Rick!

A big THANK YOU to Kelly & Rick (or is it Rick & Kelly) for taking care of the crating and shipping of our robot. Great Job!

Robot Crated and Shipped

The robot was crated and shipped this afternoon from the Rice Center Dock at Hallmark.

The bumpers have been painted with the team number and all the appropriate labeling added to the robot, too. It looks really nice - let's hope it performs as well as it looks.

Tigerbytes Flag

There are plenty of things to be done between now and the KC Regional and the team flag is one of them. Here is the fabric for the flag with the logo stenciled on it.

The fabric has since been folded, ironed, pinned and ready for Melinda to sew - and there are gromits ready, too so we can hang from a flag pole - which has been made, too.

What to Do Without the Robot?

During the next week or so there are plenty of things to do - including practicing the human factor of the game.

The Robot has Departed LCPA

This past Saturday afternoon was the last day for the 2009 Robot to be at LCPA. It is now at the Rice Center at Hallmark waiting for some finshing touches, crating and then pick up on Monday.

Hallelujah!

Friday, Saturday and Monday Work Sessions

There are NO classes Friday, Feb 13 and there will be NO work session on Friday afternoon.

The work session on Saturday will be from 9:00am to 5:00pm and we hope to have the robot ready to crate by the end of the day.

There are NO classes on Monday and NO work session on Monday afternoon.

We will meet on Tuesday after school at 3:00.

Bot Armour

Here is our fearless leader in armour made from the ShadowBot.

We have had some frustration with modifying the robot and getting the second elevator to work - so we are behind schedule and glad that Chris is around to provide comic relief (and protect us).

Ramp Attached

The ramp that allows the balls to roll from one elevator to the other was finished and attached to the robot last night.

This afternoon we will be getting the robot all together and hopefully have it up and running down the 4th Floor hallways at LCPA>

Updated Calendar

Robot Series on Shoebox Blog

Check out the new robot series on the Shoebox Blog. Chris Grine, a friend and colleague at work, is the creator of these wonderful characters.

Team Chef

My dad came to the work session on Saturday and he put together a nice lunch for the team.

Chef Carl is assembling sandwiches with fresh and tasty ingredients.

Robot Prototype

We made a full scale prototype of our robot with black foamboard,wood and hot glue.

The robot at the end of the day on Saturday. It is coming together - but slowly. Work sessions may need to be extended past 7:00 in the coming two weeks.

Build Progress

The boys are pondering something really important - like how to make the robot dispense Cheez-Its.

Thanks to Mac for donating a case of the Hot & Spicy Cheez-its to the team.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Dynamic Duo Names

Batman and Robin are known as the "Dynamic Duo" but who are other famous pairs that we can use to call our own dynamic (?) duo?

Hans and Franz have been mentioned but I am sure we can come up with other other bumbing duos.

Ginger and Maryann are a classic duo, but they may be too pretty for our pair.

"Deep Thoughts by Chris"

Chris has thoughts, but not sure how deep they are.

Team Update #5

The 5th Team Update is out on the FIRST site.

We have a Full Team work session this afternoon - see you there!

Don't forget to return your Consent and Information Forms.

Ball Shooting Success

The work sessions on Friday and Saturday were very productive as the team has been working on how the robot will be able to shoot. Here the boys are working on an early prototype of the launcher. A big THANK YOU to Kelly and Rick for building the practice trailer!

Fric and Frac.

Dennis is going over some very important plans on Friday while Lee is taking care of the battery station in the background.

Friday Work Session?

Has a decision been made about a work session on Friday after school? If so, would someone please post a comment below to indicate if we are meeting and if it will be for the whole team or just the robot build team? Thanks.

Thursday is a Full Team Work Session

Everyone is encouraged to attend today's work session.

Kelly and Rick started the assembly of the trailer yesterday and we will need to finish that today. There are other things to be done, too so please show up and be ready to work.

Consent forms and team member profiles were handed out yesterday - please remember to have them filled out, signed and returned ASAP.

Update #3

The Nifty Nabber is the official tongs to be used by the payload specialists in the fueling stations.

The tongs were identified in Update #3 that was posted today on the FIRST website.There are other clarifications about scoring in today's update, too.

Building Progress

Today (Tuesday, Jan 13) will be a work session for the robot build team only. Wednesday will be a full team meeting and work session starting at 3:00.
The build team has been making progress on their robot prototype and had it up and running and even had it out for a couple test drives Saturday afternoon.

Brandy and Adrian are taking inventory of the team's batteries during the work session on Friday afternoon.

Calendar Has Been Updated

Please check the calendar for recent updates to the build schedule.
Click on the link to the right.

Thursday's Work Session

Thursday's work session after school was very productive. We were able to split the team up and work on several different tasks.

Tim working at the drill press.

By the end of the session a chassis prototype with the KoP wheels had been constructed and the guys are seeing how they roll on the school floor.