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| Remember the Poof Shooter! |
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2006 Team Resistance's
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Welcome to Team Resistance's Underground Chaos Central!
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| Programmos: TAKE NOTICE!! |
 I just received a FedEx notification that a pretty heavy package has been shipped from New Hampster to Chaos Central. It should arrive on Friday. I make the rash assumption that it is at least part of the control system. I'll keep you posted.
Here's to hoping that we can get started playing with the new system this weekend!!!
TL CG
PS READ THE WEBSITE SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK AND AGAIN JUST BEFORE THE SHOP SESSIONS!!!!
GET USED TO READING IT EVERY NIGHT - IN TRAINING FOR THE BUILD SEASON!!
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| JEA Board Meeting Show-Off Session a Success! |
 Hello All!
Today's JEA Board Meeting was a resounding success. The robot worked, the video worked, the JEA Board walked away with their socks down in their shoes.
All of the folks in the "audience" were impressed with the presence and presentation made by all of the students....y'all did a great job.
I don't know how we could have looked any better.....
TMI Department: Just before I went into the Boardroom to sit down I bent over to pick up my camera case and tore the seam in the seat of my slacks. The draft was un-nerving but I managed to keep my back to the audience as best as I could.
Lesson.....uh.....never mind.
Anyhow, thanks for the great participation....and as always.....thanks to the parents and mentors who spent their "free" time helping to pull it off.....
TL CG
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| JEA Board Meeting Dog-n-Pony Show |
Who: TEAM RESISTANCE Geeksters, Parents, Mentors, Alumni
What: 2008 JEA Board Meeting Dog-n-Pony Show
When: 08:00 AM Tuesday, November 18th
Where: Meet at the Guard Desk in the taller of two buildings - the one with the pointy hexagonal windows. We will then parade in an orderly fashion to the 8th floor. WAIT AT THE DESK DOWNSTAIRS!!
Why: Because we want to make a superlative impression on the sponsor who has faithfully supported us for 10+ years!
Alex and Wil Brito will be assisting with the robot load-out at Chaos Central and again at JEA Tower. We will need assistance at the end of the presentation re-packing and re-loading.
After the presentation, we will disperse. Y'all have to go back to school. I can carry one normal sized person and a smaller sized person back to Stanton in the Truckster.
Y'all need to be burning down the phone lines/email/IM to arrange a carpool for the ride back to school.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
1.) NEAT DRESS. FIRST IMPRESSIONS........
2.) IMPECCABLE BEHAVIOR. NO SMART-ALEK ACTIVITY OR CONVERSATION, especialy with board members.
3.) No discussion about funding/money unless specifically asked to discuss it by a board member.
4.) Don't be late. Late never impresses anyone!
Let's knock their socks off AGAIN! TL CG
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DUH! I forgot to remember to mention Ambrose and his work on Inventor with the Inventos!
Here's a couple of rendered photos of their work.
GREAT JOB INVENTOS!!!!
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| Another FINE Shop Session! WOO HOO!! |
Hello Fellow Geeks!
We had another fine geek afternoon at Chaos Central.....with plenty of team alumni assistance in the shop and in the computer "lab". We had IZ, Cory, Amy, Kaveh, and Mark (all TR Alumni) assisting with shop work and programmo learnin'.
I can't begin to say how proud I am of having my of my alumni coming back and helping with the team....great work folks!!!
Also....thee cheers for the elder geeksters that are peer-teaching shop skills, particularly Max and Stellan who do the same stuff on the mill and lathe every week without complaint. Without y'all helping like you do we wouldn't have a competitive team because Dave and I just can't teach everything at the same time. Y'all keep up the good work and THANKS AGAIN!!
See "MORE " below!
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| VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! Tuesday's JEA Dog n' Pony Show |
Attention all Geeksters, Mentor, and Parental Units!
We have an informal gathering (as informal as it can be with the JEA Board Members) on Tuesday morning.
My CEO, Jim Dickenson, as specially asked up to plan to mingle with the Board Members before their formal monthly meeting.
Mr. Dickenson asked me to have a robot to show off.
WHAT I NEED:
1.) A group of well-dressed, exceptionally well mannered students to schmoooooze with Board Members....to talk about robotics, how you like it, what you're learning, how much fun you have, how much you've learned, how it affects your cjhoice of career paths, and how much you've learned.
2.) A group of mentors to do the same, schmooze the Board Members, tell them how much the kids are learning, how it affects the kids chances at getting a good eduction, how these kids will affect the Industry after they graduate.....etc.
3.) A group of Parents that can do the same as 1 and 2 above.
4.) A working robot to demo to the board members....we'll need to have the Poof Shooter running and cleaned up.
5.) A video of the last year's escapades - I think that the latest Josh Plicque DNP video will do well.
We'll discuss this in detail on Sunday. Please ask your teachers permission/forgiveness asap.
DICTATOR - Please remind all of the students that you see to read this (and every other) update ASAP!!
TL CG
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| Calling all PROGRAMMOS!! Training Session Online This Saturday! PLEASE VIEW IT! |
FRC Control System Training Extravaganza
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WPI will be hosting a training event that will showcase the 2009 FRC Control System on Saturday, November 15 at 1:00 EST. What is particularly exciting about this event is that you'll get to hear from the designers of all the code, utilities, and hardware that will be part of the new system. Presenting will be:
- Chris Jennings from FIRST – FIRST Robotics Competition Engineering Projects Manager
- Brad Miller – WPI - developer of C/C++ versions of the WPI Robotics Library
- Thomas Dohse - National Instruments - developer working on the LabVIEW version of the WPI Robotics Library
- Eric VanWyk - designer of the Hardware Breakout Boards and the new Power Distribution Module
- Beth Finn – BAE Software Engineer - developer of the C/C++ Vision library
We will start at 1:00 PM EST on Saturday, November 15 at WPI in Worcester, MA.
The event will be webcast for all teams to view. Details will be available on http://first.wpi.edu as we get closer.
If you'd like to attend the live event, we have room for 200 attendees. Please send email to colleen@wpi.edu with you're team number and the number of team members you would like to bring. We'll be in contact prior to the event to verify the number of people we can accommodate. We will contact you with directions and additional information after receiving your email.
__________________
Colleen Shaver - Manager of Robotics Initiatives, Robotics Resource Center, WPI
CRUD name: Traitor
2001 to Present: Team 190 WPI/Mass Academy
2000: Team 246 BU/O'Bryant School
1996 to 1999: Team 126 Nypro/Clinton High
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| REVOLT! - Dean Kamen's New Electric Car |
THIS is the kind o' stuff TEAM RESISTANCE Geeksters will do someday! TL CG
Kamen's Revolt
By SHAWNE K. WICKHAM
New Hampshire Sunday News Staff
Sunday, Nov. 9, 2008
MANCHESTER – The same day that Ford and General Motors announced catastrophic third-quarter losses, Dean Kamen was showing off his new electric car.
The prototype vehicle, a zippy two-seat hatchback designed with more than a passing resemblance to the Volkswagen Beetle, can go about 60 miles on a single charge of its lithium battery and with practically zero emissions.
The secret?
"It's the world's first Stirling hybrid electric car," its inventor said with a flourish.
Installed in the car's trunk compartment is a Stirling engine invented at DEKA, Kamen's technology company in the Manchester Millyard. It powers the features that would normally drain huge power from the battery, notably the defroster and heater.
That leaves the battery primarily for propulsion. "You're running a pure electric, which is enormously cheaper to operate and enormously more environmentally friendly," Kamen explained.
And if the battery does run low, the Stirling can recharge it, so you'll never get stranded, he said. That's why Kamen calls his Stirling engine "an insurance policy" for the electric car.
Kamen showed off his state registration for his new car, listed as a 2008 DEKA Revolt. "I'm a car manufacturer!" he grinned. "It's so exciting!"
Are Americans ready?
A vanity plate reads "REVOLT" -- which Kamen points out goes particularly well with the state's motto, "Live Free or Die."
So, are Americans -- still stunned by gas prices that spiked last summer -- finally ready to embrace the electric car?
Kamen said it takes time for what starts out as a novelty to become accepted; that's what happened with the cell phone and the personal computer. "And then suddenly, 10 years later, it becomes an instant overnight success and what was once indefensible becomes indispensable.
"And that's progress."
For his prototype, Kamen used a recycled version of the Ford Think, an electric car that was discontinued in 2000. A group of Norwegian investors is interested in producing its own version. "They gave it to us so we could experiment with it and see if it could do what we hope it would do, and so far it's looking pretty good," he said.
Kamen is in "conversation" with the Norwegians about producing the car he's invented. But he's not looking for an exclusive arrangement; he's hoping they'll be only "the first among many" to embrace his Stirling-electric hybrid technology.
Solving problems
He ticks off the advantages of the Stirling engine as a backup system: It can use any fuel, from biodiesel to natural gas; it burns clean; it can even be programmed to turn on so the battery and car are all warmed up by the time you get in.
Kamen hopes his car could be in production within two years. He doesn't know how much it would cost, but the goal is to make it affordable for average consumers, he said. And he expects some components will be made in New Hampshire.
But Kamen, who calls himself an "eternal optimist," is not optimistic that the struggling American carmakers will embrace this new technology. Most big companies seem to misconstrue Darwin's ideas about which species survive, he contends.
"I think what Darwin really was saying was: It's not the fittest, not the smartest, not the strongest; it's the ones that can adapt to change. And big industries that have long histories, particularly successful long histories, and a lot of ingrained infrastructure become the least adaptable to change.
"And when a disruptive opportunity comes along, they are the last that are capable of dealing with it."
Still, Kamen believes the energy crisis created just that sort of opportunity. "And no matter what happens to the short-term price of oil or availability of oil, the fact is there are better technologies around now that are getting more attractive all the time, to move us out of the 19th century model of propulsion for vehicles into a 21st century model."
Kamen said he already has had conversations with "supporters" of Barack Obama, "about the fact that this (energy) situation could be a blessing in disguise.
"In every problem, there lies an opportunity," he said. "And frankly, we suddenly have a lot of opportunity."
He would urge the President-elect "to try to dispassionately look at the real issues and the real alternatives," he said. "And some of them have a little short-term pain associated with them, but in the long run everybody wins. "And I would work hard to make sure that the public understands that, and that you have the vision and the courage to make sure that the choices we make are the long-term good choices, not the politically expedient ones."
Long-range benefit
But Kamen contends the biggest challenge facing the country isn't energy or even the economic crisis. "It's getting more kids that are going to soon be responsible for the prosperity, wealth-creation and security of this country to be more technically competent, and more technically passionate, and enthusiastic about solving the big problems of the future. And that, of course, is what FIRST is all about."
As he so often does, Kamen has turned the conversation to FIRST, the now-international robotics competition he created 16 years ago to inspire students around science and technology. It's one of his true passions.
Another passion is using his inventions -- a water purifier and his Stirling engine --
Another passion is using his inventions -- a water purifier and his Stirling engine -- toward the betterment of some of the planet's poorest people. Kamen calls it "a moral imperative that the poorest people of the world can at least access a little bit of clean water and power."
It's also in America's self-interest to help them do so, Kamen insists.
"To me it's pretty obvious . . . that becoming a source of knowledge and health and wealth in the world is in our economic best-interest, it's in our security best interest, it's in our moral and ethical best interest. There's no downside in creating a world where all people can be happy."
And the alternative is not acceptable, he said: "We don't help four billion people out of abject poverty and disease, we don't make them customers, we don't make them suppliers . . . And they become desperate and angry, and people with nothing to lose and reason to hate -- and there's four billion of them."
Back to that electric car? It's all part of Kamen's master plan.
"The car is a step along the way to be able to build, in high volume, high-quality, low-cost electric generation for a couple billion people," he explained.
"If we can demonstrate the utility of the Stirling engine by putting it in a car . . . it will leave me with an engine that I can use to supply electricity to the world."
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| !! ATTENTION TEAM RESISTANCE ALUMNI !! |
Hello Team Resistance Alumni!
We are looking for long-lost alumni of FIRST Team 86 TEAM RESISTANCE.
Hey! You don't even have to be LOST!
Since 1996 the Stanton College Preparatory School has been the host of TEAM RESISTANCE.
From TrashBot (1996) to through OHMER (2008) (Doin' Lines....Getting 'em Up!) TEAM RESISTANCE has been designing and building robots to enter in the FIRST Robotics.
Over the past 14 years (count 'em!!) we've been trying to inspire students to be motivated and interested in Science and Technology. Many have come and gone, a good handful have come back to help with the team......
But I, the Chief Geek, keep wondering where the rest have gone. As a matter of fact, I'd really like to hear from any of the alumni lurking out there......the sponsors always ask questions about what our graduated students end up doing......so it would be a great PLUS for us to have some info on where our alumni members are.....
SO!
If you are a lurking Team Resistance Alumni, OR if you know of a TR alumni hanging around out there.....please send me an email at T.lovelace@comcast.net.
I'd like to know what the alumni are doing, where they are, what they're doing in life. Where are they going to school.....where did they finish their education? What kind of companies are they working for??
So help me out folks!
If you know of an alumni out there, or are an alumni lurking and watching the team and laughing out loud....give me a call or send an email to;
Todd Lovelace, Chief Geek
Team Resistance
Stanton College Preparatory School Engineering and Robotics Club
904-733-3227 t.lovelace@comcast.net
I'm looking forward to hearing from all of you!
TL CG
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| SHOP PERSONNEL PAY ATTENTION!! |
I received a very heavy box today - it has a brand-new three-jaw chuck for the big lathe in it.
This means that it will be LOTS EASIER and LOTS FASTER to center up workpieces in the big lathe.
There will be much celebration in the shop this weekend........
TL CG
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| NOW HEAR THIS!!! HEADS UP EVERYONE!!! |
Everyone pay attention!
Today I was called by the JEA VP in charge of the department that pays our sponsorship. We have been asked to fill in a spot in the November JEA Authority Board Meeting. Tuesday, November 18th between roughly 8 and 11 am. Details will follow.
This year, of all years, we need to KNOCK THEIR SOCKS OFF. We will need to have a rockin' group of Parents, Students, a robot, and a presentation that just won't let the Board say NO.
We will discuss this ultimately important show-off session this weekend.
ALEX the Dictator - I need YOU to ask Mr. Copeland to try his hardest to be there. Please ask him ASAP.
We don't have much time to finalize and prepare....a week and a half away.
Folks, we need to really do a good job on this presentation.......TL CG
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