Category Archives: Weekly Updates

Week of January 31, 2015

Posted on by

_DSC2445

The Peachtree Ridge High School Robo Lions on Friday evening showcased their T-shirt shooting robot at their high school’s home basketball game where the school’s basketball team played against Mountain View. Basketball fans were eager to jump out of their seats to catch the flying T-shirts during halftime as the robot flashed its red and blue LEDs with its iconic “Jeff” license plate, a gesture to Peachtree Ridge’s principal, Dr. Jeff Mathews.

Kick Off and Week of January 10th, 2015

Posted on by

The 2015 FRC Season has now officially begun! This year’s game was recently released and the heat is on. FRC involves a 6-week building period where the entire team will be working on one robot in order to compete in competition.

On Saturday, January 3rd, the Robo Lions officially “kicked off” the 2015 FRC Season with a drive down to Georgia Tech to view the reveal of this season’s game: Recycle Rush!

Recycle Rush is a recycling-themed game played by two Alliances of three robots each. Alliances compete simultaneously to score points by stacking Totes on Scoring Platforms, capping those stacks with Recycling Containers, and properly disposing of Litter, represented by pool noodles, in designated locations. In keeping with the recycling theme of the game, all scoring elements used are reusable or recyclable by teams in their home locations or by FIRST at the end of the season.

Since that Saturday, the Robo Lions have been hard at work during almost every day of the week brainstorming and prototyping their ideas for a robot, preparing for competitions beginning in late February!

Robo Lions Win the Palmetto Regional

Posted on by

PRHS Robo Lions: On the Road to Victory

SUWANEE, Georgia — March 5, 2014 — 70,000 high school students around the world are competing to build the best robot in FRC—the FIRST Robotics Competition. Students are given a six week period starting in early January to build a robot that can play in the annual game. In this year’s game, Aerial Assist, robots carry large balls across the field, pass them to each other, and shoot them into goals to score points. After the six weeks are over, students are required to stop build, and await regional competitions in the weeks following. Peachtree Ridge High School robotics students have been hard at work the past two months, and recently competed in and won their first competition of the 2014 season this weekend at the Palmetto Regional competition in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The matches took place the weekend of March 1st, competing first in qualification matches then followed by elimination rounds. With a final match score of 166-122, the Robo Lions together with a team from Tennessee and another from North Carolina won as a part of a three-team alliance and are the first from Georgia to acquire a regional win this year. For the first week of competition, the team from Peachtree Ridge High School has been ranked 15th by third-party ranker FRC Top 25 out of more than 300 teams who participate in a first-week regional.

By winning a regional competition, the Robo Lions have been automatically offered a seat at the F.I.R.S.T. Robotics Competition World Championship in late April. But before the team heads to St.Louis for the Championship, they will be competing once again at the Peachtree Regional Competition in Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center for the weekend of March 29th.

Palmetto Win

Weekly Update- February 7th, 2014

Posted on by

*Palmetto Regional

*Scouting

*Drive Team
1. Palmetto Regional
—————————————————————-
In addition to attending the Peachtree Regional, our team will be attending the Palmetto Regional Competition this year Feb.27- Mar. 1. Only a skeletal team of 17 people will be attending, and will be selected to go not only based on attendance but also in the weight they carry in the team and how much they do. This list will be determined very soon.
2. Scouting
—————————————————————-
If you are not on the drive team, you will be scouting at one point, even if you are a safety captain or part of the pit crew. In order to scout, a written test will be given. An 80% or higher is required to scout, and a 95% is required to be lead scout.
 
See Mrs. Rutland for this test starting Wednesday Feb. 5th. Students will be allowed to take this test as many times as they’d like; it will be the same test each time. By the time scouting training comes around, those interested must have passed.These won’t be graded until Thursday afternoon. If you pass the driver’s test you do not need to take a scouting test. Additionally the last day for the scouting test will probably beSunday. By completing this test and doing well, you will show interest in going to Palmetto. 
3. Drive Team
—————————————————————-
Many tests for the Drive Team have already been administered. If you would like to take the test, please see Mrs. Rutland or Jay. To reiterate, passing is 95% or above. The deadline for passing is this Thursday!
By doing so, this leaves room for driver’s practice this weekend. However, being on the drive team goes beyond the test. The test simply allows students to participate in this weekend’s driver practice/tryouts.

Weekly Update- January 24th, 2014

Posted on by
The following points were discussed at this week’s meeting:
*Meeting Times
*Chairman’s Award
*BizCon
*Destination Einstein
*Palmetto Regional
1. Meeting Times
—————————————————————-
To reiterate, we have an extremely busy schedule ahead of us for the next few weeks, as well as the weeks leading up to competition, so it is important that members are aware of when we will be meeting.
It is important for members to know that their grades are a priority, and must be put ahead of robotics. Below are the meeting times, tentative to changes:
Monday: 5:00-8:30
Tuesday: 2:30-5:00
Wednesday: Chairman’s People with Rutland’s approval
Thursday: 5:00-8:30
Saturday: 9:30-4:00
Sunday: 1:00-5:00 ish
2. Chairman’s Award
—————————————————————-
As most people know by now, our team is applying for the Chairman’s Award this season. The Chairman’s Award is known to be the most prestigious award at FRC Competitions, and is an incredibly high honor  that if properly executed, can win at a regional competition, giving the winning team a free ticket to the World Championship!
This weekend, Mr. Karlins recorded about 15 students for the Chairman’s video portion. We still need more people for this; our goal is to get all members to speak and get the maximum number of people in the final product. Our theme is L.I.O.N.S, so please look at the link below for full details, which serve as the guidelines to help show our members what general ideas they should be talking about in the video. In addition, please bring your shirt to weekend and night meetings for recording purposes, especially if you haven’t gone yet.
3. Destination Einstein
—————————————————————-
Two weeks ago, a few of our members headed down to Walton High School to attend their “Destination Einstein” project, an effort by Walton Robotics in efforts to have Georgia FRC Teams work together, helping each other and learning from one another in efforts to get a Georgia FRC Team at the Finals match in the Einstein round of World’s Competition. We will have members going down weekly just to keep tabs on the progress of other teams and learn as much possible, with or without a bot. We would like to keep the group of people that are going consistent simply so that they are able to fully develop relations with the other teams, so the same people should be attending every week. The people going this week are: Lexi, Rachel, Bryce, and possibly Daniel Webb
4. Palmetto Regional
—————————————————————-
In addition to attending the Peachtree Regional, our team will be attending the Palmetto Regional Competition this year Feb.27- Mar. 1. Only a skeletal team of about 17 people will be attending, and will be selected to go not only based on attendance but also in the weight they carry in the team and how much they do. Further information about Palmetto will be released as competition approaches.

 

Weekly Update- January 17th, 2014

Posted on by
The following points were discussed at this week’s meeting:
*2014 Game: Aerial Assist
*Chairman’s Award
*Programming
*Destination Einstein
*Palmetto Regional
Aerial Assist: What You Need to Know
—————————————————————-
This year’s FRC Game: Aerial Assist. Those interested in any competition drive team positions such as a driver, coach, or manipulator: it is important that you know the rules like the back of your own hand! 
 
Additionally, it is highly recommended that members use the website Chief Delphi in order to get more insight on the FRC game and teams’ progress throughout the world. This is a forum where there are many discussions and answers to possible questions, as well as many useful things that are helpful for anyone to know, therefore it is highly encouraged that members use this and explore Chief Delphi. 
 
Links to the things listed above:
Chairman’s Award
—————————————————————-
As most people know by now, out team is applying for the Chairman’s Award this season. The Chairman’s Award is known to be the most prestigious award at FRC Competitions, and is an incredibly high honor  that if properly executed, can win at a regional competition, giving the winning team a ticket to the World Championship!
This award consists of a writing portion and a video portion, both which are well in progress with our team members.
Programming
—————————————————————-
Programming meetings will occur on the same days as normal robotics meetings. This schedule is listed below. Interested programmers will attend these meetings in order to work with the encoders and practice programming on the robot.
Destination Einstein
—————————————————————-
This past Sunday, a few of our members headed down to Walton High School to attend their “Destination Einstein” project, an effort by Walton Robotics in efforts to have Georgia FRC Teams work together, helping each other and learning from one another in efforts to get a Georgia FRC Team at the Finals match in the Einstein round of World’s Competition. We are very excited to have members going down weekly just to keep tabs on the progress of other teams and learn as much possible.
Palmetto Regional
—————————————————————-
In addition to attending the Peachtree Regional, our team will be attending the Palmetto Regional Competition this year Feb.27- Mar. 1. This is a regional competition in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and is a first-week competition, meaning that it is in the very first competition week for FRC.

Weekly Update- January 10th, 2014

Posted on by
*FRC Kickoff at GATech
*2014 Game: Aerial Assist
*Chairman’s Award
*Programming
1. Kickoff at Georgia Tech
—————————————————————-
This Saturday, team members headed down to Georgia Tech for the 2014 FRC Kickoff. This year’s game was revealed- Aerial Assist. This day was filled with excitement and some great brainstorming! This weekend, the team worked on two different prototypes and many other things in terms of our 2014 FRC Season. The Robolions have been working hard and are headed for another great season!
2. Aerial Assist: What You Need to Know
—————————————————————-
This year’s FRC Game: Aerial Assist. It is crucial that ALL team members read the rules for the challenge, because they are a vital part of the game, and incredibly important at competitions. If you’re interested in any competition drive team positions such as a driver, coach, or manipulator, it is important that you know the rules like the back of your own hand! These rules will also be useful to know at our weekly rule quizzes, which have food prizes! 
 
Additionally, it is highly recommended that members use the website Chief Delphi in order to get more insight on the FRC game and teams’ progress throughout the world. This is a forum where there are many discussions and answers to possible questions, as well as many useful things that are helpful for anyone to know, therefore it is highly encouraged that members use this and explore Chief Delphi. 
 
Links to the things listed above:
3. Chairman’s Award
—————————————————————-
As most people know by now, out team is applying for the Chairman’s Award this season. The Chairman’s Award is known to be the most prestigious award at FRC Competitions, and is an incredibly high honor  that if properly executed, can win at a regional competition, giving the winning team a free ticket to the World Championship!
This award consists of a writing portion and a video portion. All slots for the writing portion have already been filled, and the video is a work in progress.
It is crucial that team members bring their shirts to school on each meeting day (just put it in your book bag on school days and bring it with you on Saturdays!) so that they are able to participate in the Chairman’s video.
4. Programming
—————————————————————-
Programming meetings will occur on the same days as normal robotics meetings. This schedule is listed below. It is important for interested programmers to attend these meetings in order to work with the encoders and practice programming on the robot. Further details on programming TBA.
 

Weekly Update- December 6th, 2013

Posted on by

December 6th, 2013

This week’s meeting was the last general meeting, during which we discussed the following points:
*Upcoming Meetings
*VEX Synopsis and January Competition
*Intro to FRC
*FRC Kickoff @ GATech
1. Upcoming Meetings
—————————————————————-
Inventor meetings will still be held on Thursdays through December 12th, programming meetings will be held on Thursdays through December 12th, and Business Team meetings will continue through December 10th.
2. VEX Synopsis and January Competition
—————————————————————-
The VEX event two Saturdays ago was a success, said the consensus of the meeting on Tuesday. Receiving praise from attendees from neighboring counties, the team’s annual regional competition went smoothly. Congratulations were given during the meeting to the team of Rikhil and Rohil Shah, who now qualify for advancement to state competition.
Through the success, student leadership this week encouraged team members sure to think about possible improvements in both robot design and functionality and the hosting of competitions. Team members were encouraged to apply the newly learned material to the VEX and FRC seasons alike.
For Jay Krishnaswamy, Vice President of Business, learning from experiences seems vital. “It’s always good to learn from our mistakes,” he said. “When we don’t reach the goal we strived for, we become stronger for our next opportunities.”
A limited number of teams can signup for an event in McDonough occurring on January 25th, 2014. While this will interfere with FRC build season, interested teams discussed options after the meeting this Tuesday.
Teams who decided against competing again solemnly said their goodbyes and disassembled their robots after the meeting. All the while, they maintained organization by returning parts to their respective places.
“When the room is tidy,” said Nicholas Allison, the Vice President of VEX and who headed this year’s disassembly, “I always feel at ease. It brings a sense of order and professionalism.”
3. Intro to FRC
—————————————————————-
With a boosting momentum, the Robolions are eager to begin preparations for the spring semester, which involves the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC).
Andy Bare, Vice President of FRC, is particularly excited. “I get like a rush of adrenaline,” he said, grinning. “It feels amazing to compete in something that involves so much cooperation and engineering yet is so much fun.”
During FRC in Spring, the team is given six weeks to design, build, and program a large bot for a game released in January. This release, the “Kickoff,” which the team plans to view at Georgia Tech (more information in the next section), marks the beginning of the building season and thus the competition.
 
Throughout the six-week period, the team will work intensively from 5 to 7 days a week and even on weekends. “It’s a lot, but it’s worth it too,” said Krishnaswamy, nodding with anticipation. “We will have a schedule decided on the day of the Georgia Tech Kickoff.”
 
“We’re going to build two bots:” said Bare, “one to send off to competition and one to drive and train with.”
 
The dual-bot strategy has proved useful in past years, as the six-week limit ends a few days before the upcoming competitions.
 
The team plans to attend Palmetto Regional (held in South Carolina) and Peachtree Regional (held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta). The Palmetto Regional will be especially limited in terms of team members.
 
“We can’t take everyone, unfortunately,” said Krishnaswamy. “So those who have strong commitments to the team, who know enough about our robot, and who have higher attendance will attend.”
4. FRC Kickoff @ GATech
—————————————————————-
January 4th is the date of the Kickoff, near the end of the student Winter Break. The team will travel down to Georgia Tech in cars.
“It will give team members an opportunity to look at the new field,” said Rikhil Shah. Shah is the President of the PRHS Robolions and is eager to visit Georgia Tech for Kickoff again. “They [members] will also be able to view a small part of the campus.”
Permission slips will both be posted at the team website, prhsrobotics.com, and emailed out to members, likely before Winter Break. Otherwise, members may also bring their slips to school the day of the Kickoff.
The team is in need of parent drivers. Members should RSVP by Tuesday, December 17th, 2013 to Mrs. Mary Rutland, the teacher sponsor of the team.
Following the Tech Kickoff, the team plans to return to school to brainstorm. Usually lasting a few hours in the media center, the team’s brainstorming period will also be filming for the Chairman’s Award video submission.
“We will pick a strategy that fits the game, but it will likely change, and that’s okay,” said Krishnaswamy. The ambitious Vice President has high hopes for the FRC season this coming spring but is also preparing heavily. “I need to get ready for the intense workload, but I’m confident this will be a quality season, win or lose.” 

Weekly Update- November 22nd, 2013

Posted on by

*VEX Event
*Inventor Lessons
*FRC Preview
*Red Cross

1. VEX Event
—————————————————————-
The VEX Competition is only 2  days away! This is EXTREMELY soon!!! All robots should be completely build by now, as well as programmed.

2. Inventor Lessons
—————————————————————-

Mr. Gillespie has agreed to host Autodesk Inventor lessons on Thursdays from 2:20-3:20. We will first meet up in Rutland’s room and then go to the lab. This is a great experience! We are looking for around 10 members that are interested.

3. FRC Preview
—————————————————————-
If you wish to be part of our team in the spring semester (which is when we do FRC), STIMS is necessary. Just so you get an idea of what FRC entails, it’s a little bit more intesive; we meet a lot more, but it’s only for about ten weeks. However, it can also be more fun since there are competitions with many other schools.

4. Red Cross
—————————————————————-
Rec Cross is collecting items for kits to send to people in need; especially those in the Philippines. As a club, we would like to support this cause and make as many kits as possible to help those in need. If we make five kits as a club, we get a pizza party, so let’s get supplies in!!

Weekly Update- November 15th, 2013

Posted on by
*T-Shirt Bot
*VEX
*Programmers
*Electrical Meeting
1. T-Shirt Robot
—————————————————————- 
This Friday was a very successful day for the Robolions! Dr. Tashlein shot not once, but three times! The robot was incredible impressive and a great tribute. The completion of this robot is the pathway to many more future PAID events! It’s great to see how all of the hard work and dedication from the summer has paid off, not only as a learning experience, but also as a way to promote the team at future events and competitions.
2. VEX
—————————————————————-
The VEX Competition is only 18 days away! This is VERY soon!!! All robots should be completely build by now, as well as programmed. We have built a practice field in the Cave so that our members have an opportunity to see what the fireld will be like and test how well all elements of their robot work. Additionally, we will need set-up volunteers, as well as people to make buttons, people for queuing, commentators, and people to help with the field break-down after the event. We also still need parent volunteers!! This would be much appreciated; if your parents are interested in volunteering, please have them email Mrs. Rutland atmary_rutland@gwinnett.k12.ga.us.
3. Programmers
—————————————————————-
If you are a programmer, Jason has received your quiz; nobody failed, congratulations! Programming meetings will continue on Thursdays in Coach Lumpkin’s room. This week programmers will be learning Java.
4. Electrical Meeting
—————————————————————-
If you are interested in attending the electrical meeting, please come! The meeting will be this Thursday, November 7th at 5:15; it will be on battery safety. On of our mentors and a parent of one our students will be teaching; Mr. Webb. If you would like additional information, please contact Andy Bare at andy@prhsrobotics.com