Sunday, May 5, 2013
Monday, April 15, 2013
Michigan Championship games for FIRST, 2013
We had a rough weekend.
We were ranked #12 headed into the competition against 63 other machines. Due to several things, we were dead last for a while, and finished #61 out of 64.
Surprisingly our statewide rank (based upon all team's 2 district plays plus this State Championship) dropped only to #30 out of 207 teams. Michigan gets to send 26 teams to the world competition, so we finished just 12 Qualification Points below the lowest ranked team that did qualify. This means had we won 2 more matches, we would have been able to travel to worlds!
Anyway, it was a good year for the kids, we all learned a lot and we'll see what happens next year.
Saturday just prior to noon we went through the selection process (after the 128 games have been played and we are all ranked 1 though 64) the top 8 seeded teams get to select two other teams to work with them to be the alliance that wins at Michigan. Of course we were not picked, though there were 8 teams picked outside the top 24, two of them even as low as #52 and #54! I get the idea that it's more based on who you know, not how good you are...
Before the selection process they played a parody of "call me maybe" with a FIRST robotics spin on it, like a lower ranked team pleading to get selected to play in the Elimination matches for the title. Pretty cute: http://youtu.be/FwyQQlNjPm8
Some statistics shared with us Saturday morning show just how competitive it is in Michigan:
- the average losing score in 72 games was 115 points
- the average winning score in those same games was 155 points
- the average winning score outside of Michigan at similar competitions was 68
Our 12 matches broke down thus (trying to find video links too!):
As you can see, 4 of the matches were within 20 points, and could have easily gone either way!
At the end of the elimination matches, teams 469, 3539, and 217 were left to compete against 2054, 67, and 2337 for the title. Found a 57 minute video from Detroit Public Television posted here. The three matches played can be found at the following times within the video:
Final 1-1 (12:25)
Final 1-2 (30:12)
Final 1-3 (47:58)
We were ranked #12 headed into the competition against 63 other machines. Due to several things, we were dead last for a while, and finished #61 out of 64.
Surprisingly our statewide rank (based upon all team's 2 district plays plus this State Championship) dropped only to #30 out of 207 teams. Michigan gets to send 26 teams to the world competition, so we finished just 12 Qualification Points below the lowest ranked team that did qualify. This means had we won 2 more matches, we would have been able to travel to worlds!
Anyway, it was a good year for the kids, we all learned a lot and we'll see what happens next year.
Saturday just prior to noon we went through the selection process (after the 128 games have been played and we are all ranked 1 though 64) the top 8 seeded teams get to select two other teams to work with them to be the alliance that wins at Michigan. Of course we were not picked, though there were 8 teams picked outside the top 24, two of them even as low as #52 and #54! I get the idea that it's more based on who you know, not how good you are...
Before the selection process they played a parody of "call me maybe" with a FIRST robotics spin on it, like a lower ranked team pleading to get selected to play in the Elimination matches for the title. Pretty cute: http://youtu.be/FwyQQlNjPm8
Some statistics shared with us Saturday morning show just how competitive it is in Michigan:
- the average losing score in 72 games was 115 points
- the average winning score in those same games was 155 points
- the average winning score outside of Michigan at similar competitions was 68
Our 12 matches broke down thus (trying to find video links too!):
- Match 2 as Blue, Lost 105 to 110. So close!
- Match 13 as Blue, Lost 89 to 113.
- Match 26 as Blue, Lost 54 to 151. This was the one our Digital output module had completely failed for the entire match; also, one other alliance member spent all of tele-op stationary.
- Match 36 as Red, Lost 85 to 112.
- Match 50 as Red, Lost 156 to 176.
- Match 55 as Blue, Lost 146 to 166. Opponent's video found here. Tried to play defense this match, didn't go so well.
- Match 73 as Red, Won 107 to 69. This even as we missed out on our Autonomous points due to a disconnected tilt encoder!
- Match 82 as Blue, Won 213 to 128. This tied the highest scoring match up to this point! This score was exceeded only 3 times during 128 matches!
- Match 88 as Red, Lost 139 to 145
- Match 102 as Blue, Lost 125 to 155
- Match 111 as Red, Lost 102 to 210
- Match 123 as Red, Lost 72 to 162
As you can see, 4 of the matches were within 20 points, and could have easily gone either way!
At the end of the elimination matches, teams 469, 3539, and 217 were left to compete against 2054, 67, and 2337 for the title. Found a 57 minute video from Detroit Public Television posted here. The three matches played can be found at the following times within the video:
Final 1-1 (12:25)
Final 1-2 (30:12)
Final 1-3 (47:58)
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Yet another AWESOME robotic weekend!
Finalists in Gull Lake!
We've played our two District events this season for Michigan, finishing in the second place alliance again! After these two weekends, our standing puts us #2 in the state of Michigan (out of 207 teams!). This is a little early to say where we'll end up, but about 36% of the games have been played for the state (4 of the 11 district events). The remaining teams have the next 3 weekends to make their standings, then we'll see where it all shakes out.
We are certain to attend the State championship in Ypsilanti, Michigan at Eastern Michigan University. Between our standing in the state and how we compete there April 11-13 will dictate if we have the ability to attend the world event in St. Louis MO,
We'll be keeping an eye on this spreadsheet that FIRST of Michigan will update after each weekend's games!
We've played our two District events this season for Michigan, finishing in the second place alliance again! After these two weekends, our standing puts us #2 in the state of Michigan (out of 207 teams!). This is a little early to say where we'll end up, but about 36% of the games have been played for the state (4 of the 11 district events). The remaining teams have the next 3 weekends to make their standings, then we'll see where it all shakes out.
We are certain to attend the State championship in Ypsilanti, Michigan at Eastern Michigan University. Between our standing in the state and how we compete there April 11-13 will dictate if we have the ability to attend the world event in St. Louis MO,
We'll be keeping an eye on this spreadsheet that FIRST of Michigan will update after each weekend's games!
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Go Paladins 3618!
We had a good weekend in Traverse City:
- We won 8 of the 12 matches we played
- We were ranked 10th (of 39 teams) at the end of the Qualification rounds, and had the highest amount of Tele-Operated points of all the teams
- We were selected into the 3rd ranked alliance by 3602 the "RoboMos" from Escanaba (and were joined by 2nd year team 4392 "The Deceivers" from Brimley)
- Our alliance won the Quarter Finals and the Semi's
- Thus our alliance were Regional Finalists
- The Paladins took home the Creativity Award sponsored by Xerox
Saturday, February 23, 2013
At a practice field
We checked that we can shoot full court (54') and get the 2 point goal (well, some of the time):
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Raspberry Pi!
I've joined the world of Raspberry Pi owners, a cool little 500MHz computer the size of a credit card for $35!
Notes I've accumulated to make this work for me:
Notes I've accumulated to make this work for me:
- Install Debian GNU "Rasbian Wheezy" ISO onto a 4GB+ SD card
- Follow the partition resizing instructions posted here by Simon the Pi man
- Remember the vi editor key commands, as they are seldom used (like dd is delete line)!
- Set the screen to align to my 52" Sony Bravia:
- edit /boot/config.txt and set the overscan_* parameters:
- left=20; right=22; top=-21; bottom=-16
- Install some helpful tools, for example Wireshark:
- sudo apt-get update
- sudo apt-get install wireshark libpcap-dev
- sudo cetcap cap_net_raw,cap_net__admin=eip /usr/bin/dumpcap
- Set static IP for our robot (10.38.16.99), but also DHCP to the internet (/etc/network/interfaces)
- Install OpenCV and other required tools:
- sudo apt-get install git build-essential cmake libgtk2.0-dev python-dev python-numpy libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libswscale-dev
- mkdir OpenCV
- cd OpenCV
- cmake ..\OpenCV-2.4.3
- make
- sudo make install
- Trying to follow along with FRC team 3574's use of OpenCV
- Question becomes, "what possible frame rate might this deliver?"
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Water goes up in Hong Kong!
We'll see how this looks on a computer, but the wind was kicking the water up the waterfall, throwing it across the upper level.
This is the view outside my very windy hotel window, some 12 stories above this outdoor area.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Friday, November 23, 2012
Time to try a new idea
The original water delivery for this Lennox HCWP2-18 whole house humidifier that was installed with our Water Furnace geothermal system seemed to be a pretty poor design. The salesman told us it was a good idea that we use hot water plumbed into the humidifier, as Geo systems don't generate as much heat as your gas fired furnace. Sounds good, right? Well, in practice I could see way too much water being delivered to the Water Panel, which yielded a bunch of hot water going out the overflow (which was simply put through a hole into the sand under our basement floor, not to an actual drain!). I've tried regulating the flow upstream by simply not opening the valve substantially, but due to the hot water, the valve behaves differently as it runs.
So, I finally did a bunch of research and put together a couple items that restrict the flow at the output, creating a more of a uniform mist and allows the solenoid to work properly (at full pressure). I found the parts at Ecologic Technologies, Inc, and assembled them today. The 0.012" orifice I selected delivers in the neighborhood of 0.46 of a Gallon Per Hour to the humidifier, much better than the gallons per hour I used to see go through there.
It took about 7 minutes before any water was seen in the overflow pipe, and that was more like a dampness, not a flow. It used to be less than a minute when I had the valve partially closed, which would then sometimes not even have enough pressure to open the solenoid, so worked sporadically.
So, I finally did a bunch of research and put together a couple items that restrict the flow at the output, creating a more of a uniform mist and allows the solenoid to work properly (at full pressure). I found the parts at Ecologic Technologies, Inc, and assembled them today. The 0.012" orifice I selected delivers in the neighborhood of 0.46 of a Gallon Per Hour to the humidifier, much better than the gallons per hour I used to see go through there.
It took about 7 minutes before any water was seen in the overflow pipe, and that was more like a dampness, not a flow. It used to be less than a minute when I had the valve partially closed, which would then sometimes not even have enough pressure to open the solenoid, so worked sporadically.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
A bit of Mystic Point showing itself
Mystic Point is found in Hong Kong Disneyland, between Toy Story land and Grizzly Gulch, to be open in 2013.
I like the sign entering Grizzly Gulch:
"Population 108 [not countin' the bears]"
I like the sign entering Grizzly Gulch:
"Population 108 [not countin' the bears]"
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Night view of Hong Kong Island
This is the view of Hong Kong island as seen from Ozone, the world's tallest bar from the top of the 5th tallest building in the world, the tallest one in Hong Kong:
A curious fabric display near the ICC
Between Kowloon Station on the way to dinner at Prime Steak House near the base of the International Commerce Centre, we came across this interesting display in Elements.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Hot tub wrapped up for the winter
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Interior window trim
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Well, when the rain started
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Fun with pals on the Gauley
Many pictures are available at http://photobucket.com/WWR2012WithGlen.
A couple was on the river with us, and they have shared some of their photos at Google+ as well.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Dad's batteries
We got the batteries all checked out for this year. Two of the batteries were just barely wet. We added about 2 gallons of distilled water across all 12 to get them a little fuller.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Trailer lights
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Little work at dad's
We were hoping to put in a more efficient fan motor in the furnace, but it didn't look right. The existing 1/3 HP motor is much smaller than the 3/4 HP Emerson he was given. The book shows a 12% savings if he goes back and gets the same 1/3 HP BPM (brushless permanent magnet motohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushless_AC_electric_motorr).
