Scholarships available!

See here for information and registration details: Minnesota Robotics Invitational (MRI) Registration

Our robot in action:

More pictures can be found on our flickr.

We’ll be writing little Arduino programs in C++, which is similar to the Java programming language we’ll use to program the big robots.

We’ll have a few loner computers available, but if you have your own laptop, it really helps to bring it in to the meeting.  Better yet, you can get a jump on things by preinstalling the software from https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software .

Here’s a short video introduction to Arduino:

[embedyt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnf8ojsK6S4[/embedyt]

The mechanical team had wide smiles when they finally got to set their eyes on the parts.

The parts, manufactured by our sponsor Atlas Precision Sheet Metal, were beautiful pieces of artfully crafted metal. “I almost cried, they were so awesome!” said Marketing Captain Amy. The best part of these parts wasn’t the beauty however, it was the timing. Atlas accelerated the production of our parts to make them available earlier in the Build Season. “I really appreciate that one of our sponsors Atlas was able to get us the materials earlier than we expected to help facilitate our building the robot in only six weeks.” said Head Mentor Mike.

With the parts here, and building humming along smoothly, the team is optimistic they will be able to do well at competition. “We’re determined and motivated to accomplish an awesome robot!” said Marketing Mentor Denise.

“It was awesome” – Denise Lau, marketing mentor

“At the Minne Mini, our team had a complete reversal of fortunes, our team won all 11 of our matches” – Mike Bagstad, co-head mentor

“We won!” -Keith Rieck, programming mentor

On Saturday November 22nd at Prior Lake High School our robotics team the FireBears and their alliance partners won the Minne Mini. The FireBears picked the Data Bits (3883) and KING Tec (2169) as alliance partners and Cobalt Catalyst (3042) as backup, and drivers Michael, Jeron, Eric and Gavin carried the team to victory.  This alliance won all four of the finals matches, winning the tournament. In total, the FireBears won all eleven of their matches, and was the winning team out of the 36 teams who participated.

“Our drive team has been able to practice in a way that they never have before, at specific drive practices, but also at events like the Children’s Museum, and that combined with our familiarity with the robot has lead us to victory.” said Amy, marketing captain. She added “We’ve been with our robot all season, and by now, it’s our family, and I think that’s the real reason why we won.”

With kickoff fast approaching on January 3rd, and bag day on February 17th, the team is already rigorously planning for build season. “We’ve got a schedule hashed out, now we just need to make the magic happen.” said Amy

What was it?

The Robotics Alley Conference and Expo was a robotics convention for industry leaders in robotics wishing to spur innovations in technology. It was held on Tuesday the 16th and Wednesday the 17th.

Why were we there?

We, as well as a few other FRC and FTC teams including the Green Girls, G.E.A.R.S, and Stormbots as well as the non-profit High Tech Kids were asked to assist FIRST robotics information booth during the Expo and show off our robots in the STEM showcase.

What marketing did we do?

We displayed our robot to the expo Tuesday afternoon and told other teams about our team and our FIRST mission. Our team members wore their team shirts and we took a few photographs for our website and other social media. Our team members and our head mentors Tom and Mike spoke to attendees about FIRST, STEM and our team, and handed out a few of our Room-bot cards. We also drove around our robot, showing off the power of STEM education through our robot. Also, Mike and I attended the full convention both days and had many good conversations with people about our team, it’s mission, and STEM.

What marketing should we have done?

The other robotics teams had some great ideas in terms of marketing at this event. The Green Girls had a few pamphlets on their upcoming U of M Robotics Event, and we could have done something similar for the Minnesota Robotics Invitational. They also had a “STEM Resources for Girls” handout as part of their outreach efforts. The Blaine G.E.A.R.S. also had a letter handout explaining who they were to attendees, and the Chanhassen Stormbots had informational packets on sponsoring their team. Many of the teams also brought trifolds about their robotics team to this event to display, and had many people attend the full conference instead of just two.

On a Friday in January after moving into our new location at the mall, our programming team figured out how to control last years robot with a guitar-shaped controller, known for its use in popular video games. After we learned to control our robot with the guitar, it became quite the team bonding experience. “It was the coolest thing ever” said Amy, a marketing member “We were working on chairmans and talking about what we could talk about and I looked behind me and I just pointed at it.”

Our team hopes to implement this design on future projects. Stay Flaming.

• Team 2175 The Fighting Calculators from Woodbury Math & Science Academy (Alliance Captain)
• Team 2052 The KnightKrawlers from Irondale High School
• Team 3130 The ERRORs from East Ridge High School
• Team 3313 Mechatronics from Jefferson High School in Alexandria, MN.

Scholarship Winners:

$500 Scholarships from Vista Technologies Inc.:

• Peter Irvine from Team 2175, The Fighting Calculators from Math & Science Academy in Woodbury, MN.
• Collin May from Team 2846, The FireBears, from Roseville Area High School in Roseville, MN.

$500 Scholarship from Roseville Visitors Association:

• Lauren Woolwine from Team 1816, The Green Machine in Edina High School in Edina, MN.

Good Job to Every Team involved and The FireBears!