STEMRobotics

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(Throw-down at Regency Apartments!)
Current revision (18:49, 1 July 2015) (view source)
 
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'''Welcome to STEMRobotics!'''
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We are a non-profit group that is bringing '''S'''cience '''T'''echnology '''E'''ngineering and '''M'''athematics ('''STEM''') to students using competition robotics.
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Driving the robots in Competitions is a small part of what we do. From the beginning we teach each roboteer valuable life skills like communications, planning, getting a group consensus, cooperation and negotiations. We also bring to life STEM skills in areas of electronics, mechanics, pneumatics, programming by planning, designing, building (and sometimes rebuilding), testing and driving our robots.
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{{HotTopic}}
{{HotTopic}}
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== Steve's Email Blast ==
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== Throw-down at Regency Apartments! ==
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On Thursday Steve met up with our new mentors at Regency: Crystal, Blake and Amy for the first of the 2009-2010 throw-downs. 
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[[Image:Regency_Apartments_Throwdown_PreStart.jpg|400px]]
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They turned on the music, assembled the field, set up the robots and began competing in fast-paced, heart-pumping 2 minute rounds. There were 10 kids and a number of parents cheering the action on. Each kid was Driver, then Operator, then Field Reset. They also rotated through all of the robots that were on the field.
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There were two converted ProtoBots (the intake wheel had been converted to a paddle), and two Explorer Claw robots, one of each type for each alliance. They played a variation of the Elevation game from last year
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http://www.roboticseducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/VIQ-IQ-Clawbot-13July301.png
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All-in-all, it was a great time.
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Steve is focusing on VEX IQ [[http://www.roboticseducation.org/vex-iq-challenge/]] these days. He continues to help parents and educators (and other volunteers) run VEX IQ events. If you can provide a location to hold an event, Steve will generally be available to bring at least one official VEX IQ competition field, a computer to run the software, and the knowledge to help you do the rest.
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'''Next throw-down is October 22 at the Church Farm School from 6-8PM. See you there!'''
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If you'd like to help our region (metro Philadelphia) have the best young robotics kids in the world, and are willing to be part of making that happen; email Steve at Steve.Rhoads at STEMRobotics dot org.
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== Low-Cost FIELD! ==
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== PSU Scrimmage ==
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From Steve: I never actually assembled the lost-cost field from the [http://www.vexrobotics.com/docs/vex-robotics-competition-field/low-cost-perimeter-rev-c.20090427.pdf instructions on the Vex Robotics site] UNTIL LAST NIGHT! Wow! There is NO REASON for every club/team not to have a field! It was easy to put together, and the cost was nominal (at most ~ $100. I think that my costs were closer to about $75.00) The result is very lightweight, yet sturdy, and transportable! Join us at one of our throw-downs and take a look.
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We had a 21 robots at the [[Penn State Abington VEX Clean Sweep Scrimmage]], played 23 matches, saw some amazing play and ate 50 pizzas, 6 dozen cookies and 10 dozen doughnuts.
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I am bringing my field Tuesday - Oct 6, and Oct 7th to the Downingtown Education Center. Come see if you want one, or would help make some like it.
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We also had an amazing team of Combat Coders help everyone at the event with their RobotC programming: Mike Long, Taylor Gore, Sadat Shaik, and Shashank Bhargava. These young men tackled every robot brought their way.
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'''Welcome to STEMRobotics!'''
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We are a non-profit group that is bringing '''S'''cience '''T'''echnology '''E'''ngineering and '''M'''athematics ('''STEM''') to students by using competition robotics.
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Here is a link to pictures taken at the event:
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PennState.2009.12.05
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http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=steve.rhoads&target=ALBUM&id=5412216148305104689&authkey=Gv1sRgCPbCqZnkt4GOwAE&invite=CLjaqcsB&feat=email
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== Combat Coding ==
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Wednesday (Nov 18, 2009), we met again.
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This time, Foster had the programming team working on mechanical construction with their respective teams, BUT Taylor Gore took a moment off building to demonstrate some solid Combat Coding! He programmed a holonomic drive for another team (?Team 84?). He made sure that he enabled the Y-Axis of both joysticks plus the buttons on the back of the transmitter all worked together to strafe, drive forward, rotate and back up.
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Very impressive! Good job, Taylor!
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Previous [[Combat Coding]] demonstrations!
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== Low-Cost FIELD! ==
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Note the field in the picture above! I built that field using the [http://www.vexrobotics.com/docs/vex-robotics-competition-field/low-cost-perimeter-rev-c.20090427.pdf Vex Robotics site instructions] and PVC.
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There is NO REASON for every club/team not to have a field! It was easy to put together, and the cost was nominal (at most ~ $100. I think that my costs were closer to about $75.00) The result is very lightweight, yet sturdy, and transportable! Join us at one of our throw-downs and take a look.
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Driving the robots in Competitions is a small part of what we do. From the beginning we teach each roboteer valuable life skills like communications, planning, getting a group consensus, cooperation and negotiations. We also bring to life STEM skills in areas of electronics, mechanics, pneumatics, programming by planning, designing, building (and sometimes rebuilding), testing and driving our robots.
 
== Workshops ==
== Workshops ==
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Tuesday nights: 6:30-8:30pm. We will be working through the Yolande Petersen Guides below in Resources. (Downingtown Education Center, 355 Manor Ave, Downingtown, PA 19335) Our primary resource is ''VEX for the Technically Challenged''.
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Looking for a location sponsor. Can you host these workshops?
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We will be working through the Yolande Petersen Guides below in Resources. Our primary resource is ''VEX for the Technically Challenged''.
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See [[Mentor Workshop]] for a week by week description on what is planned and [[Summer 2009 Mentor Workshop]] for what happened at each session.
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See [[Mentor Workshop]] for a week by week description on what is planned.
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== Events ==
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== Events: Throw-downs, Workshops and Competitions! ==
The [[STEMRobotics:Current_events | Current Events list]]!!  Don't miss the [[Summer of Fun 2009]]
The [[STEMRobotics:Current_events | Current Events list]]!!  Don't miss the [[Summer of Fun 2009]]
[[VEX Programming]] Information about the VEX Programming environments
[[VEX Programming]] Information about the VEX Programming environments
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[http://content.vexrobotics.com/docs/Cortex_UserGuide_1010.pdf  The latest Cortex User's Guide, it has all of the color codes for the status lights]
== Mid-Atlantic VEX Partner ==
== Mid-Atlantic VEX Partner ==

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