News
FIRST Team 2338 Would like to give thanks
02/21/12 7:15PM
We would like to thank all the people who made this possible: CAT thank you for being our sponsor, Parents- you gave your time and energy into making the field, helping with the bumpers, help with friends and family day, and most of all supporting your child and letting them be apart of something that is changing the world, Mentors- From day 1 you have given your time and knowledge to help our students make this robot and to give them that same knowledge and the confidence that they can do anything they want with a little time and effort. Last but not Least the students- thank you for staying up late to do your home work to be here everyday you could and losing Saturdays and Friday nights to make this robot remember that this is yours and nothing can change that. Check in for more weekly updates between now and our first, FIRST competition at UIC for the Midwestern Regional. As we always say here “Don’t go backwards, Gear it Forward!”
Week 6 Update
02/21/12 7:12PM
With the end of week 6 comes the end to the build season. A sad and happy time for everyone here at FIRST Team 2338, it means an end to a hectic 6 week season from first planning to that last final component being mounted right on the last minute of bag an tag day. But at the same time it means a return to semi-normal homework and school schedule and a breather from robots, robots, robots! This year has been a trying time with: constant prototypes some which worked and some that did not, order back orders, and missing parts caused some high tensions here and there, but we here at FIRST Team 2338 are a family and things like these happen in families and as a family we came together and completed a Robot that is our own and that we are proud of. His name “R2-D-Rose” and we can only hope that with our Team’s hardworking and committed drivers it takes us far this year. Thanks for keeping up with FIRST Team 2338 “Gear IT FORWARD” Robotics.
Friends and Family Day Success!
02/21/12 6:05PM
This year’s friends and family day went off without a hitch. Our sister CAT teams “Order 2 Chaos” and “IMSA Robotics”. But this year we had a special guest, an all girls robotics team from Chicago “Queen of the Peace”. These teams were a great addition to our friends and family day and for that we thank them very much for their time. This year for our raffle baskets we had 34 baskets and all of them went home with a supporter of our team. Along with the selling of food, LED bulbs, and raffle baskets we raised a great deal of money for our team. All teams performed their best and made for an exciting day of robots and basketball. Over all this has been one of the best friends of family days, thanks to our Mentors, visiting teams, and of course the donated time of all the parents and students of this team. We thank you and hope you enjoyed this day as much as we did.
Friends and Family Day
02/17/12 2:04PM
The FIRST Oswego High School Robotics team “Gear It Forward” will be having their annual Friends and Family day. The event will take place at Murphy Junior High School in Plainfield. This event is held every year to test the year’s current robot against teams in the area, such as: IMSA and Batavia’s robotics teams and as way to raise money for Oswego’s team.
There are many activities at the event that children and adults of all ages can do. There will be paper airplanes and hoop flyers that teach lessons in aerodynamics. Thereis also a chance to drive the Mini-bots built by our first year members. And like every year there are over 40 raffle baskets to win! Not a single one is the same and they range from a movie day basket to an internet lovers dream!
But the biggest of all is the robot matches where you will see Oswego’s robot transform from the cement block robot and transform to the finished CAD model and face of against other local teams in this years game “Rebound Rumble”! This years game is one of basketball, ROBOT STYLE! Come for the activities stay for the robots! Best of all, admission is free!
This event will take place at Murphy Junior High 26323 Grande Park Boulevard, Plainfield, IL and will take place between 1:00pm-4:00pm on February 18th. All people who go to this event will park at the Main Entrance in the front of the building and will be upstairs where you can find all the activities such as a bake sale, basket raffle, LED Light bulb fundraiser, Face Painting and more! As FIRST Team 2338 has to offer and as they always say “Don’t go backwards, Gear It Forward!”
Week 5 Update
02/16/12 7:20PM
As week 5 comes to a close we are nearly done with the robot. Plans have been updated and others have been thrown out the window. With the drive trains finished nylon chain tensors the drive train is 100% done! Not only is that but the elevator we have built is 90% done a 4 stage elevator, the first 3 stages are for ball collection and they will be reversed as to keep balls from being jammed in the system. The shooter this year is inspired by our previous years robot “GLaDOS” style 2 wheel turret that that is powered by 2 AM 9015 motors that run through a CIMulator. The turning radius of the turret should be able to go a full 360 degrees, although we still have to make a hard stop for the rotation for the turret. The turret is 98% done and as the hard stop is made it will be 100% done. Although unfortunately we are farthest behind on the arm with 4 or 5 designs thrown out the window the arm is not yet complete but with Adam V. on the job will finish it by ship date. Not only that but programming team has finished and updated the Autonomous function of the robot. It still needs to fine tuned by true testing on the robot in the real world. While the arm and the elevator codes are still a work in progress. Well week 6 will be a week of challenges but will surely be a week of accomplishment.
Week 4 Update
02/07/12 4:01PM
With the end of week 4, progress is shaping up well as the week ends the drive train is nearly complete. Thanks to much awaited parts that were back order, and several jags later. With the drive train came shooter and a part to the elevator. Mechanical team is still behind thought thanks to the many jags causing too much resistance. The encoder for CAD is now 85% complete as well 90% of the subsystems. The programming is nearly complete with the subsystem prototypes and as usual electrical team is far exceeding their deadlines as every week. Although we here at website team were put back by an upload error we were unable to post our weekly build pictures. But good news for our upcoming friends and family day, we are attempting to put in the Oswego, Plainfield, and Montgomery Patch online daily news letter. As well as the school website and the local paper the “The Ledger”. More to come up this weekend for week 5, and hopefully you’ll be seeing us soon enough!
WEEK 3 UPDATE [REVISED]
01/31/12 3:15PM
Thanks to help of Adam V. and the straining work of Alan C. and his CAD team, the CADing is now almost complete! The once behind arm and other subsystems are now back on track! While the shooter and collector are ahead! Programming has nearly finished all of the psuedocode for the shooter and collector subsystems! Unfortunately, we have another drawback now with the Drive Train, we have lost access to our laser cutter, because it is broken at the moment. Not to mention we are still awaiting parts that are needed to complete the Drive Train. But nearly all of the subsystems are complete! All that is needed is he Drive Train to mount all of it on! We are confident that the Drive Train will be complete this week! Thanks for keeping up with FIRST Team 2338 Gear it Foward! Check back here this Saturday for an update on Week 4!
Week 2 Update [Revised]
01/31/12 3:12PM
With the arrival of the Drive Train frame we are one step closer to finishing the Drive Train completion. But with now tow snow days we are a week behind on the shooter and CAD. But Alan C. and Adam V. are on the job to catch up with the work that has been missed thanks to Mother Nature. But while we are a week behind in some the electrical team has nearly all their work finished and is helping out Mechanical Team who needs a help with the time that has been lost. There is even more good news when it comes to being ahead; the parents that volunteer their time to build the filed for this year’s game of “Robot Rumble”. It holds true to quality that the parents always produce. A big thanks to all of them! Now back to the robot, with one design for the arm used to push the ramp tested and shot down Adam’s design is now underway. With much time and effort we might be able to still complete that 4 week robot plan! More updates coming soon!
Week 1 Update
01/25/12 5:14PM
From the moment that the game was announcement of “Robot Rumble” F.I.R.S.T Team 2338 was on planning their strategy from the conference room at CAT a total of 4 hours was spent on planning and design with a simulation program from F.I.R.S.T helped plan the shooter. But F.I.R.S.T helped more than they thought as in previous years FTC teams had a similar challenge with the ramps as this year’s FRC challenge and with that we were prepared on Monday to start building and even testing how well GLaDOS’s shooter would work with this year’s challenge. But all at the end of week one there were many idea’s some good some bad and now with just the Wielding of Oswego High School’s metal shop teacher Mr. Szumoski we are one step closer to Drive Train completion. But with the set back from Mother Nature’s snow day, will we reach our 4 week robot completion date? With time and effort of Course! More updates soon too come!
New Website
01/22/12 7:48PM
Hey everyone, the new Gear It Forward website is up and running, thanks to the amazing Jacob Bearce (everyone give him a round of applause)! If you have any problems or comments, please let us know and we will try to fix it/respond as soon as possible!