2017 Kickoff

   What a fabulous kickoff! All of our returning members were so excited to see the new competition, and WOW does it look amazing!
   We watched the game reveal on the FRC website, and then proceeded to carefully read the rules of the game. Team Zoobotix never skips the crucial step of  understanding the game because to build an effective robot, we need to know exactly what our goals are and we can and cannot do in each year's game.
   After everyone read the rules meticulously, we got down to brainstorming ideas for our robot! While I am not at liberty to share with you the exact ideas we are currently working on, share with you that it is super fun and exciting!
   Moral is high as a new year, and a new robotics competition, starts up. Cheers to another fantabulous FRC season of building!

2016: Lessons Learned - Final Thoughts

Our team’s first year was a terrific success and we couldn’t have hoped for such prestigious accomplishments. However, even before our competitions we were tackling new challenges and overcoming barriers. The First Robotics objective is to inspire kids to get involved in STEM fields by educating them through a wide array of experiences, and the students on the Kalamazoo Central team certainly filled this expectation. Team mates were engaged and active in improving the robot, themselves, and each other. The following is a list of lessons learned:

1. Leadership and Teamwork. Our team was divided in to 3 primary groups: mechanical, electrical,and programming. Each had a student coach who had the most prior experience and could mpart knowledge to their young “grasshoppers.” This knowledge consisted of basic robotics skills but also the importance of working together and having individual responsibility. There are currently several students who are eager to rise to a leadership position for next year’s season, and for many of them this was only their first year on a robotics team. We expect our team to grow significantly next year, so the more enthusiastic leaders we have, the better.

2. Technical Skills (programming, electrical, mechanical). In the process of creating a functional robot, team members (most of whom were first-time participants, including myself) had to learn a variety of skills that came with each job. To give only a few examples, programmers learned to code in Java. Electricians learned how to securely wire the robot and use a soldering iron. Mechanics learned how to weld, assemble hardware and design on CAD.

3. Business/Strategy. Most students also worked in a secondary group outside of the three main ones listed above. These secondary groups were not directly robot-related. Some of these groups included social media, marketing, alliance/team scouting, and safety. Within these groups team members focus on improving the team from strategic and business standpoints. Many fruits have come of these completely student-operated ventures. Some members learned to create and regularly update the Zoobotix webpage (Please visit to see photos and additional observations and notes throughout the robotics season: http://www.kcentralrobotics.blogspot.com/). Scouts researched and evaluated abilities of competing team’s robots to rank alliance choices by complementary features. The Marketing team made a complete list of what money was spent where and a fundraising power point. Safety captains successfully ensured that nobody lost a limb. As our team grows we intend to expand these mini-departments to improve every aspect of

our team.

Thank you for taking an interest in and supporting the Kalamazoo Central Zoobotix team. We hope that you will stay in contact in the years to come as our team grows and our students continue to (as many of them have shared with me) find new passions and learn lifelong skills that will give the next generation

Sincerely, The Kalamazoo Central Zoobotix Team

(written by Kyra Niehus-Staab, ’18)

2016 Season Wrap Up

  What a season! As a rookie team, we have overcome difficult challenges and achieved great success. At tournaments, everyone was proud to see their robot perform so well. A lot of other teams were impressed and came over to our pit to comment on our robot and congratulate us on our accomplishments. We worked hard to build our robot and team so it was great to receive the recognition.
  Everyone was excited at our first tournament in Battle Creek Lakeview. For majority of the team, it was their first tournament and they enjoyed watching other robots along with our robot compete. The first day of the competition was rough. The catapult was shooting inaccurately and the camera was misaligned so our driver couldn't aim his shots. We ended the day with a record of 4 - 4. On the second day, we were able to fix our catapult and camera before our matches and immediately saw great results. We won all of our remaining matches and rose to rank 6 from rank 23 and our record was 8 - 4. For the elimination matches, we were picked by the 4th captain - 4453 The Red Hot Chili Bots along with 1254 Tech Force. Together we beat the 5th alliance in a best 2 out of 3. We moved into the semi-finals where we faced the 1st alliance. We performed very well in the first match and won with a big leading score. However, our catapult broke and we could no longer shoot into the high goals. We unfortunately lost the next two matches and finished in the tournament as semi-finalists.
  Over the course of 2 weeks after the tournament, we worked tirelessly to improve our robot for the next competition. We created new autonomous sequences, implemented vision tracking, and added climbing capabilities to our robot. However, when we got to the tournament, the autonomous codes were not executing correctly and the climbing mechanism was not deploying correctly. In the middle of the day, the catapult's gear snapped and we couldn't use the catapult in two of our matches. Fortunately, a nearby company was able to weld the gear back together and the catapult was now functional. However, that solved only one of our problems. We ended at rank 19 in qualifications and was picked by the 7th alliance: 3572 Wavelength and 904 D Cubed. In the quarterfinals, we faced a very tough alliance who scored the current world record on us. We lost both matches and finished as quarter-finalists.
  In the end, we ranked 120th out of 411 teams in Michigan. Unfortunately, we missed going to the Michigan State Championship by 5 points. While we are all disappointed, we definitely had an exciting and memorable first year competing in FRC. We want to thank our sponsors and parents for their involvements and contributions. We wouldn't have achieve all of our accomplishments without you. We can't wait to compete again next year. GO ZOOBOTIX!

 

Week 6 - Twin Robots

  Six weeks have gone by so quickly and it's time to pack up the robot. This past Saturday, the team worked on the practice robot. The mechanical team assembled the chassis and started building the catapult. The electrical team wired up another set of electronics to be used on the robot. The programming team tuned PID loops and started the autonomous coding.
  It has been such an exciting and fun journey. Everyone was engaged with the building process and have certainly learned a lot. Parents have been a huge help! They prepared lunches and were willing to wake up early on Saturday mornings to drive students to Battle Creek. Parents, you are awesome!

  While it has been a long season, it is not quite over yet! The programming team will continue working hard to make the robot the most efficient with autonomous and vision tracking. Drive practices will start taking place where the drive team will be determined. We invite everyone to come see us at our tournaments(no need to pay!). We will be competing at Battle Creek Lakeview on March 10th - 12th, and at East Kentwood on March 31 - April 2nd. Come see our robot!

Build Week 5 Recap

  The build season is quickly coming to a close and there is still much left to do! The mechanical team have taken apart the shooter robot and worked on reassembling it as a catapult robot. This will serve as a practice/test robot. The tower scaling mechanism have been assembled and the catapult continued being tweaked. 

  The electrical team have worked hard today setting up the electronics on the main robot. They have created a layout and spend the entire day stripping and connecting wires and crimping wire headers. 

  The programming team worked on programming the catapult robot. They implemented code to launch the catapult and to position and use the intake. They continued working on vision processing and started learning how to use a raspberry pi to handle the task. 

Build Week 4 Recap

  Another long Saturday for the team. The mechanical team continued working on CAD drawings and improving the catapult design. A gear was implemented to reload the catapult after launching the ball. In addition, an intake mechanism was put together on the catapult robot.
  The programming team focused on autonomous driving. Throughout the day, they tuned PID loops, encoder readings and conversions, turning and driving forward, and having multiple commands run in sequential order. A dashboard to display values from sensors for debugging purpose is now in the works.
  The business group started working on designing the team's logo and slogan. They practiced giving their presentation and learned many tips and tricks from the helpful mentors.

Build Week 3 Recap

    This past Saturday was once again very productive and exciting! The mechanical team rebuilt the flywheel shooter with modifications and it now shoots the ball much more consistently and accurately. The mechanical team also have built a second robot with a catapult attached. By the end of the day, both robots have been tested and had great results. The shooter was more consistent.
  The programming team worked on implementing sensors onto the robots. They wired up a gyro and an encoder and learned how to read values from them. These values are being used as feedback for positioning. The team also looked into vision processing and began creating algorithms to track the high goals.
  Reaching out for sponsorship is one of our top priorities! The business team created a powerpoint to show businesses our motives and goals and to spread words about the team in the local communities.
  The drive trials have began. Over the next few weeks, students will practice driving the robots and get comfortable operating them in a safe manner. Using fair time-based trials, the team will determine the drive teams for the upcoming competitions.