Broncobots Blog

Wow, this past weekend was incredible. The competition at the St. Louis Regional was tough, but we made it to semi-finals! Our team also got the Website Award and Engineering Inspiration, which qualifies us for the Championship! This blog post, however, can’t just end here. A few congratulations and thank you’s are in order.

Sarah K. and Brendan S., website team members, pose with the Website Award Trophy in St. Louis.

Team members pose with their Engineering Inspiration medals!

Team 1987’s pit at the St. Louis Regional!

First, our sister team, Team 1986: congrats on winning the competition and winning Engineering Excellence sponsored by Delphi! It was so much fun to compete against you guys, as well as hang out with you at the City Museum social and the hotel. Your robot is certainly a force to be reckoned with, and we can’t wait to see your team at the Championship.

To our other sister team, 1730, it was so cool to see some of your members there to cheer us on. Good luck in Queen City; we know you’ll do well!

A huge thanks goes out to both our alliance partners, Team 4330 and Team 4256! We couldn’t have done it without your help!

To Team 4256, congrats on your Rookie All-Star award and we’re so glad we’ll see you at Championships. You guys have an awesome robot and a great team. After working with your scouts and talking with your team, we were thrilled to hear your number called for both alliance selection and your award!

Team 4330, we were so lucky to work with you all as well! You guys are a fantastic team and we can’t wait to see how your team grows. Congrats on Rookie Inspiration and good luck at Queen City! We know you guys will do well. Continue to work hard and stay focused and you’ll go far!

Next is team 2408, the Shrapnel Sergeants. You guys are a great team and we really enjoyed working next to you guys in the pit. You are doing a fantastic job and we really enjoyed talking with your students and mentors. We hope to work with you guys in the future. Good luck!

Team 3858, your team were so nice to us. After we helped you with your bumpers, you guys were so thankful every chance you got. You were always upbeat and brightened up the pits. We were really lucky to get to work with you guys and be so near you in the pit. Keep up your hard work; you’re are an awesome team.

Last but not least, Team 4187. Our team was so lucky to have worked with you in St. Louis. Your dedication was so inspiring and we talked about you guys and how much fun we had with you the entire trip. You are so dedicated and hard working and you truly embodied the spirit of FIRST. Your team was one of the best parts of our regional and our team has never cheered louder than your first match with your arm after opening ceremonies and when you won the judges award. You guys deserved every single bit of that award and we could not think of a more deserving team. Keep it up and it’ll take you far. We can’t wait to see how you progress and we’re always here if you guys ever need any help!

Thank you to all of the teams at St. Louis for the awesome competition. Thank you to the volunteers and judges for all of your time and hard work; our team sincerely appreciates it. Thanks to our parents for your constant time and support. A huge thanks go out to our mentors for your time and skills; we honestly couldn’t do it without you. Lastly, thank you to our sponsors for your time, effort, and money. We wouldn’t be where we are if it weren’t for anyone mentioned above. We can’t wait for the Championship! Stay tuned!

Team members work with students from Team 4187.

Team 1987 and Team 4187 students and mentors discuss ideas.

Team 4187 discusses strategy with Team 1986 on the playing field.

What a weekend! Our team competed at the Greater Kansas City Regional. We made it to semifinals and came away with the judges award for all our outreach programs. Congrats to our sister teams 1730 for their Quality Award sponsored by Motorola and 1986 for winning the regional, winning Engineering Inspiration, and having a Dean’s List Finalist! Our team will be competing in St.Louis March 23rd-25th!

The Audio/Visual team worked on creating this week’s video along with the robot unveiling video. The programming team worked on writing the final code for the robot while testing it on the practice field. The build team had finished the competition robot then moved on to work on the practice robot. Community Outreach team continued the peanut butter and jelly drive for Lee’s Summit Social Services and are only a few jars away from their goal. The chairman’s team started preparing for competition and finishing up the judge’s packets. The CAD team started the finally assembly of all the robot parts in Inventor. Many of the team members spent along day making many Team 1987 buttons for the two regionals we’ll be participating in this year. Overall we made approximately one thousand buttons!

Programmers working on the robot’s code.

Alex W. likes to shovel snow.

PB&J.

Nick G. works on the shooter.

The Broncobots and the two other Lee’s Summit teams, 1986 and 1730, held an open house to show the Lee’s Summit community what we do and what FIRST is all about this Sunday. During the week, the CAD team drew up the individual electronic parts used to drive, another step towards a fully assembled robot, in Autodesk Inventor. Build team constructed the ball uptake system as well as mounting the shooter to the robot, both key parts. Along with changes to the main robot, the practice robot became drivable; this practice robot will provide needed experience for the drivers. Audio/Visual had the task of documenting the open house along with making the weekly video. Community Outreach continued on their valentine campaign, creating valentines for local nursing homes. Programmers worked on the PID control system, along with configuring the joysticks. One week left to go!

The Programming team drives around robot at open house.

R-7 alliance cookie cake.

Dominic B. and Taylor S. working on CAD.

Dominic B. demonstrating the shooter at the open house.

The Build Team gets ready to mount shooter.

Animation started experimenting with lighting in this year’s animation. The programmers started working on the smart dashboard, making a customizable dashboard instead of the default one provided by FIRST. Along with the dashboard the programmers researched on how to use the plethora of sensors that we have at our disposal. The CAD team finalized the chassis of the robot along with the shooter. Electronics team finished the final electronics board to be used in competition. Build team constructed the base for the shooter. The shooter is extremely important; it’s the main way to score and a key part of the robot. The community outreach team started making Valentine’s Day cards for the elderly. Also a food drive of peanut butter and jelly was started for Lee’s Summit Social Services.

Students makes valentines cards.

Programmers converse with Coach Ms. Griffith as to what to do with the camera tracking system.

CAD team creates digital robot parts.

Build team works on mock-up of robot shooter.

Animation captain, Adam S., works on lighting and camera positions.