Sharon Youth Robotics Association
Unlimited Resume
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Sharon Youth Robotics Association Unlimited Resume |
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2007-2008 season - We are once again mentoring our SYRA FLL teams, following our varied summer project season. We are planning a series of FTC promotional activities to coincide with FLL mentoring and competition support. We are deep in the design process for our FTC competition robot, to meet the "Quad Quandary" challenge! 2006-2007 season - We have continued our mentoring activities for the SYRA FLL teams this year, after having spent the summer on new FVC chassis designs. Training for the new Mindstorms NXT system was a priority, as well as orienting and supporting our new teams. We organized and sponsored the First Annual Sharon FLL Invitational competition. Our FVC promotional activities were abbreviated this season, due to FLL & FVC tournaments being held on the same days. With the FVC competitions in the fall this season, our robot development track paralleled our FLL mentoring. Our new "13th Warrior" robot for the "Hangin'-A-Round" challenge is designed to score softballs high or low (gathering as many as 4 at once), and park (but not hang). To optimize torque and speed, we have integrated a new 2-speed gear shifter into our chassis. We competed in the Massachusetts FVC Championship, where we formed the winning alliance (with roboNatick) and received the "Inspire Award". We also competed in the Connecticut FVC Championship, where we were part of the runner-up alliance (with Team Impulse and Rosie's Lil Sis) and received the "Innovation Award" for our technical design. At the World Championships in Atlanta, we were undefeated at the end of the qualifying rounds, and were allied with the Sharon Myotonics and ConTRAPPtion for the elimination finals. Unfortunately, an equipment malfunction knocked us out of the quarterfinals. We were honored to be one of three finalists for the Inspire Award. 2005-2006 season - We focused on the FIRST LEGO League during the fall season, expanding both our FLL and Vex mentoring and website activities. We establishing a "Mentor's Team" for the SYRA, orienting and training rookie teams at both the weekly all-team meetings and individual team meetings. We both promoted and demonstrated the Vex program at all the Massachusetts FLL competitions, with our table display and demo robotic soccer game. We focused on the FIRST Vex Competition during the spring season. Our robot design ("The 13th Warrior") addressing the "Half-Pipe Hustle" challenge by collecting balls from both the floor and wall dispenser, and scoring to both the corner and center goals. We competed in the Hartford NERVE (New England Regional Vex Event) and in Atlanta as FVC team 13, forming alliances in both of the finals series. Our most notable accomplishment was coming in second (to the Sharon Myotonics) in autonomous mode in Atlanta. 2004-2005 season – In our third year in FLL competition, we met the No Limits challenge! We placed 1st at the Blackstone Regional, and achieved 2nd place in Robotic Performance and the 1st place Innovative Solution award at the Eastern MA State. In the post-season Quinsigamond Regional, we reached the semi-finals, and achieved the top technical award for our innovative “Eagle OverDrive” design. We and our sister team (the AngelBots) were selected to participate in the FIRST Vex Competition. Our team seeded 3rd in a scrimmage at WPI scrimmage, as the only team to cap a goal. We brought our bots to Atlanta (Unlimited 13 with a goal capping design, AngelBots 44 with a bar hanging design), and ranked 19th and 29th going into Alliances. Unlimited was chosen as part of the top ranked Alliance, but was eliminated before the finals. At the Vex wrap party, we were selected by ILM alumni and MythBuster Grant Imahara, and won the Celebrity robotics competition. Our research project was a major focus this season, using an IFI Robovation kit to design and prototype a robotic “Avatar” for remote use by folks lacking mobility. We developed the Eagle OverDrive, a new design to help FLL robots to go straight. We took the lead in training and mentoring new teams for the SYRA. We also created three websites, for the SYRA (www.syraweb.org), for our FLL team (eagleunlimited.syraweb.org) and for the new Vex program (eaglevex.syraweb.org). 2003-2004 season – In our second year in FLL competition, we met the Mission Mars challenge! We observed at the Blackstone Regional, achieved the Honors Robust Design award at the Central MA State, and achieved 1st place in Robot Performance and the Director’s Award at the Eastern MA State. We represented Massachusetts in the international FLL competition in Atlanta, combined with another SYRA team (the AngelBots). We broadened our focus to include a research project during this season, and refined our modular “CoreBot” for greater performance and ruggedness. 2002 season – In our first year in FLL competition, we met the City Sights challenge! Observed at the Blackstone Regional, achieved first place in Robot Performance at the Eastern MA State, observed at the Central MA State, and achieved first place in the junior division at the post-season Charlton Regional. We focused only on learning the LEGO Mindstorms system and the robot competition in this first season, developing a modular robot approach. |
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Sharon Team Unlimited FTC website Last modified: 07/26/08 All Rights Reserved © 2007 by Team Unlimited |
Team Unlimited is part of the Sharon Youth Robotics Association (SYRA),
founded in 2002 as a FIRST LEGO League team and now competing in the FIRST Vex
Challenge. Our team members and coach/mentors are dedicated to the principles of FIRST,
and promoting FIRST involvement in our community. We owe a great debt to
FIRST and to the SYRA for the opportunities that we have been afforded, and we
pay it forward!