Monthly Newsletter: Volume 10 February 11, 2024 |
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FEBRUARY NEWS from Maine STREAM Place, Inc. |
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Welcome back to Maine Stream Place! We LOVE our teams! Our FIRST Lego League team, the Squires of Katahdin (Team 61864,) recently competed in the Maine State Championship. We are so proud of their efforts, so be sure to read on to see how they placed! Our Knights of Katahdin (FRC Team 9055,) are busy working to get their robot designed and built for our first competition, Granite State, which begins on March 1st in Salem, New Hampshire. If you want see the Knights in action at the Granite State Competition, you're welcome to travel to the event which is open to the public, or it can be streamed via Twitch. We plan to share a link to the livestream on our What's New page on March 1st . Read on to see how YOU can support the Knights! |
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Maine State Championship Saturday, February 3rd, 2024 By Kayla Brackley, Student Contributor |
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I'm Kayla Brackley from Strong, a student mentor for the Squires of Katahdin. I had the privilege of witnessing the FIRST Lego League competition with Erin Fletcher, who is also from the Knight's Business Team. The Squires of Katahdin were finalists for Maine State Champion's Award, which means they came in 2nd place for the entire competition. Congratulations, guys! In order to compete for the Champion's Award, the Squires had to excel in four areas: Robot Competition, Robot Design, Core Values, and an Innovation Project. Robot Competition is just how it sounds -- robots play a game on a competition field where they had to accomplish specific things to earn points. For Robot Design, the team had to describe the robot they built, the attachments they chose to earn points on the competition field, and how they programmed the robot. The core values are Innovation, Discovery, Impact, Inclusion, Teamwork, and Fun! For this year's game, MASTERPIECE, in the Robot Competition, points were scored by completing different missions designed from Lego models. The models represented the different shows developed by expert Lego mini-figures on the competition field. The Lego experts involved in designing the shows and the audience members also needed to be delivered to various venues around the competition field. For MASTERPIECE, the Innovation Project was about sharing a hobby the team enjoys by creating an immersive experience that incorporated theater and technology. The Squires decided their favorite hobby was skiing. To share this with others, no matter where they lived, they decided to miniaturize resort ski simulators by developing an at home ski simulator using a treadmill. The Squires of Katahdin is a brand new team created this year; all but one student, Jillian Creznic, had never been involved with FIRST Lego League. The Squires team is made up of the following students: Blake Allen, Farmington; Silas Hall, Chesterville; Meagan Fletcher, New Vineyard; Jedadiah French, Farmington; Kermit and Declan Clark, Farmington; Jillian and Toby Creznic, Farmington; Drew Robichaud, New Vineyard; Gavin Brackley, Strong; and the student mascot, the Lego Man, Brett Allen, Farmington. A few words from The Squires: Toby, "I learned some coding, teamwork, and how to use tools to do the job." Jillian, "I learned how to work together with my teammates to solve our challenge." Silas, "I had to make three different robot parts before I found one that worked. Don't give up!" Gavin, "During my mission I had issues while using the linear actuator in many ways. Some challenges I faced such as programming, so Kermit, my partner, did most of the programming and I did most of the building. I also struggled with coming up with design." Kermit, "The thing I mostly learned was using Lego and how its robotics worked, assembling it together and solving some of my problems with Lego. The challenge that I faced was, well, getting the 'bot to finally work, after so many attempts, so many failures. At last one run was the most perfect run I ever had. It was a good experience. I would totally do it again." Declan, "I think this program was very fun. I learned a lot of coding and different things about robots. When I came in, I really didn't know much about coding robots. I was pretty good at coding beforehand, but I think this taught a lot about coding with robots. The most challenging thing about this competition probably would have been doing 'missions'. Sometimes the code would get messed up and it wouldn't work. When we were at the competition, on our second run we accidentally went too fast and aligned our robot incorrectly, so most of the missions didn't go as we wanted them to. But on the third run, we did amazing and we reached up to, I think third place." (This is correct, the Squires earned Third Place in the Robot Competition.) Blake, "A challenge we faced was brainstorming ideas and choosing which ideas to try. I learned we all have different ideas and have to figure out which decisions we will make." Jedidiah, "A challenge we faced was deciding together which attachments we should use. I learned we need to test all sorts of attachments to see which works best." Meagan, "I really enjoyed learning how to do programming this year. It was something fun that I had never done before."
None of this would have been possible without the support of Maine STREAM Place, Inc., which provided the space for the Squires to meet and work, along with team funding. Coaches Monica Allen (Lead Coach,) Farmington, and Leah O'Brien (Assistant Coach,) Wilton, were critical to team success! Monica has many years of experience guiding FIRST Lego League Challenge (5th grade - 8th grade). She has taught the students to think for themselves. The students choose the projects, they decide how they want the robot to look including attachments to perform the functions on the competition field, and they program the robot. They also create all materials needed to explain their project and their robot to the judges. Leah O'Brien is also brand new to Lego League this year. |
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Knights of Katahdin 2024 Season ProgressBy Phoebe Wills, Student Contributor |
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DESIGN TEAM Mentor Joseph along with students Brett, Landon, Jake, Kermit, and Phoebe have been working hard using SolidWorks to design parts needed for the robot. With less than three weeks left until the first competition, The Knights have been pushing hard to get the robot finished. Kermit has been working on the bumpers for the robot. Without bumpers, the robot could become rather hazardous to game pieces, obstacles and other robots. Having no bumpers on the robot is also against game rules and can result in being eliminated from competition. Landon has been working on the robot's hook. During this year's game, our robot is using a hook to attach itself to a chain and lift up off of the floor; this chain is attached to "The Stage." This specific action takes place in the last 30 seconds of a match, roughly. In order to do this, we have to have a hook that is strong and durable. |
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Swerve drive cover being redesigned by Brett Allen. Four of these will be printed on our 3D printer and used to cover the wiring associated with the swerve drive motors and controllers. |
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Brett has been working on covers for the swerve drives, which is the wheel system used for the robot. The covers are designed in SolidWorks and are essential to protect the swerve drives, and to hold the electrical components in place. These covers need to be designed as small (low profile) as possible to not interfere with other parts of the robot that need to be able to move and complete specific tasks. Jake has been working on a part of the robot called the cycloidal drive. The cycloidal drive is used as a gearing mechanism for the arm of the robot. The arm is where the intake and shooter are located. The intake is where we will pick up a game piece, and shooter will dispense or shoot the piece into specific targets that earn points. The cycloidal drive (along with how it's programmed,) is how we will control the arm. Phoebe has been learning ZBrush, a versatile program meant for 3D printing. Her specific job is centered around creative design. She is attempting to create a mold for dragon eyes, which will be created using resin. The dragon eyes are mostly for aesthetics, but will act as a shield at times to keep game pieces from becoming stuck inside the robot. She hopes to make wings to use as shields, if there is enough time, or use thin polycarbonate. MANUFACTURING Mentor Adam along with students Chris, Jonathan, and Ryan have been hard at work manufacturing robot parts with the CNC mill and powder coating them -- most recently completing parts for the intake and shooter. This process for the Manufacturing crew requires that designs received by other teams to be precise. Items that have been designed in SolidWorks are then used with our HAAS VF4 CNC Mill to be cut to exact specifications. After the intake and shooter were milled, they completed the rails for the chassis, powder coating them with a color called Dragon's Blood. SOFTWARE + ELECTRICAL Mentors Monica and Joe, with students Finn and Adam have been learning and developing the software for the robot. The team started with last year's code and have been developing two robots at once: The 'simplebot' and the 'complexbot.' They are coding in Java and updating software used for different parts and controllers of the robot. A lot of the work has to do with tuning. After you write the code for something like a robot arm or intake, you then have to fine tune the angle and speed for each extremity. New projects for the Software Team this season: Computer vision to identify the location of the game pieces, accomplished by way of color detection and object detection. LED lights, which will be programmed to communicate to the driver, for when the robot is ready to shoot or match timing is ending soon. Time-of-Flight sensors, which are similar to laser sensors on garage doors to tell when the game pieces are in the robot.
Programming is not easy, but it is essential for operation of the robot. BUSINESS TEAM Mentors Leah, Liz and Emily along with students Kayla and Erin have been working to prepare the Knights' team apparel. ORIGIN has graciously supplied the team with two t-shirts or long-sleeved shirts and one hoodie for each student and mentor! This is a huge donation, and the Business Team has designed and now branding each item in house. In addition, the Business team (including Mentor Charlie Roberts,) corresponds with sponsors and potential supporters, coordinates team travel and logistics, and will focus on writing a submission for the FIRST Impact Award. Not to mention, monthly newsletters that keep you in the know -- which are supported at times by honorary Business Team members Jake and Phoebe, who sometimes hop in to assist. All in all, the Knights are working hard this season to support one another, showcase our core values - Respect, Honor, Excellence - and hopefully see success on the competition field! |
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WINTER PROGRAMS Take a look at what's happening this month at MSPI! |
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Competition Meeting & Season Schedule |
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Knights of Katahdin: FRC Team 9055 COMPETITION SCHEDULE February 29th – March 2nd: Granite State, Salem, New Hampshire March 15th – 17th: Pine Tree District Event, Lewiston, Maine Participation dependent on prior competition performance:
April 3rd – 6th: NE District Competition, West Springfield, Massachusetts April 17th – 20th: FRC WORLD Competition, Houston, TX
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PROGRAM NEEDSHow can YOU make a difference at MSPI? |
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Financial contributions toward programs, competition fees and team travel are always needed and appreciated! The WISH LIST items below would be put to good use, and could be new or gently used: Paper towels Snacks for teenagers! Keurig coffee maker Weblog Camera so we can take better pictures and video footage, example linked HERE Heat Press for ironing logos on our team shirts and hoodies, our favorite is HERE Sublimation Printer and supplies This would allow us to make multi-color iron-ons that meld to the shirt material and a bunch of other items like mugs, water bottles, can cozies, etc. Ideally, we would want a Sawgrass SG1000, a WALAPress Sublimation Oven, and the special paper and inks. This would cost about $3,000.00 to get set up. Refrigerator (Could be full or apartment size) Metal Cabinet (Counterheight for food storage, metal to be creature-proof,) example linked HERE, but a similar style would work! Safety Glasses for Glowforge use (3 pairs,) linked HERE Laminator Markers for Glass White Board, linked HERE Composition Notebooks, linked HERE
You can also donate the proceeds from your RETURNABLES (Bottles + Cans) by visiting Ron’s Redemption in Farmington (144 Franklin Avenue) |
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We would love to connect with you! If you are interested in learning more about us by way of a shop tour or meeting, please contact us. Does your business or organization offer grant or sponsorship opportunities? Please reach out! info@mainestreamplace.org 207.645.3171 (This is a landline: Please leave us a message) INSTAGRAM + FACEBOOK @mainestreamplace @KnightsofKatahdin | | |
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