Robotics Season has Arrived!!!

The craziest, most adrenaline-filled time of the school year has arrived!  On Saturday, January 3rd the Washburn Millerbots (Team 2549) attended the 2009 FIRST Robotics kick-off at the University of Minnesota, and thus started the 6-week build season that will dominate my thinking through the middle of February.  

The challenge this year is called LUNACY.  

In this year's game, robots will be designed to pick up 9" game balls and score them in trailers hitched to their opponents' robots for points during a 2 minute and 15 second match. Additional points are awarded for scoring a special game ball, the Super Cell, in the opponents' trailers during the last 20 seconds of the match.  LUNACY is played on a low-friction floor, which means teams must contend with the laws of physics.  (press release www.usfirst.org)

Our team is busy brainstorming, sketching, and determining what strategy to use when competing in a game that is mimicking the 1/6th gravity environment of the moon.  Strategies from the past just won't do.

YouTube Video

I know this isn't totally related to our MILI grant "things", but this was an interesting venture into creating a video for posting on YouTube with my robotics students.  This was filmed, edited, and posted by student team members as a requirement for one of the 2009 First Robotics Challenge awards.  Enjoy!