April 26th, 2012

Viking Robotics is in St. Louis! We all made it safely on our different flights. Yesterday we unpacked the robot and found some loose bolts and broken zip-ties that were quickly replaced. Two team members went to conferences on sustaining a team and how to use LabView. Later that evening we had a team meeting, and everyone went to bed and got lots of sleep.

This morning the Vikings got organized and had our first practice match. By this afternoon, all the kinks had been worked out of the robot. We had our first three qualification matches; the first two went very well, the third was a little shaky, but we quickly troubleshooted the problem. All the teams on the field know our capabilities, and we are optimistic about our performance tomorrow. We also had team members attend 3 conferences. All were very informative and covered topics from how to scout, sustain a team, and present a memorable chairman's award. The scouts worked hard all day watching matches with few breaks, while the pit crew fixed the robot after the long journey.

The evening went smoothly and we had another meeting. We figured out plans for the baseball game tomorrow, and strategy for the rest of the qualification matches.Now, everyone is going to sleep early; we have another big day tomorrow!

~TianQing

April 18th, 2012

Championship divisions have been announced and we are in the Galileo Divison! It's hard to believe that St. Louis is only a week away. This season has been so fun and rewarding for everyone on the team.

~Julian

April 8th, 2012

We had a lot of fun at the Spokane Regional over the weekend, successfully transporting our robot and over 30 students, mentors, and parents to Eastern Washington University for the competition. During practice rounds on Thursday we experienced some issues with the latch on our shooter but we were able to get it working by the end of the day. Qualification matches on Friday were mostly successful, although we did experience some bugs in our autonomous code that kept us from making the basket every time. By Saturday, we had everything consistently working and we were ranked 11th out of 46th teams by the end of all the qualification matches. This rank may not have been indicative of our actual performance, as another team, Skunkworks Robotics, ranked us 3rd overall in teleop shooting. During alliance selection we were invited to join team 2907's alliance along with team 2522. Our alliance successfully advanced to semifinals but then lost to an alliance that included two of the best robots at the competition, and we failed to move on to the final round. During the awards ceremony the judges recognized our well-organized pit and innovative robot, awarding us with the Quality Award. Overall it was a successful weekend and everyone is looking forward to St. Louis!

~Julian

April 3rd, 2012

We leave for the Spokane Regional Competition Wednesday afternoon! Pit setup, and robotic practice rounds are scheduled for Thursday, followed by qualification matches all day Friday and Saturday morning, leading up to the elimination rounds on Saturday afternoon.

Currently, the seniors on the team are receiving their college acceptance letters. Among the seniors, one will go to college in the Empire State building, another is accepted as a sophomore at UW! These are exciting times for the seniors. It is really exciting to hear about their choices and plans for next year!

~Chris

March 25th, 2012

Viking Robotics and our alliance partners 2557 and 1425 are proud to announce our victory at the Seattle Olympic Regional this weekend! We experienced some technical problems during the qualification matches on Friday but by Saturday morning we had worked out the bugs and were shooting baskets and balancing very consistently. During alliance selection for finals we were picked by teams 2557 and 1425 to be part of alliance #3. Our alliance performed extremely well in quarterfinals and semifinals and before we knew it we had advanced to the final round, against an alliance that included the two top ranked teams at the regional. We knew the only way we could win was if we triple ballanced on the bridge for 40 points at the end of the match, something no one had done yet.

In the first match of the final round we experienced technical difficulties and failed to balance, leading to a loss. In the second match our alliance shot multiple baskets and successfully triple balanced for an astonishing score of 76 points, beating our opponents by 14! There was only one match left, the final match of the entire regional, the one that would decide the winner, and we knew we would have to give it everything we had if we wanted to win. We scored 28 points from shooting baskets and then started to triple balance, while our opponents continued to sink baskets into their top hoop. When the match ended the crowd was silent as everyone waited to see the final score and then cheers erupted from the stands as it appeared on the screen. It was 68 to 67, we had won the regional by a single point! Click here to see a video of our final match.

Winning a regional is no small accomplishment and we would like to thank everyone who helped us get there. First and foremost, our sponsors: Boeing, GM Nameplate, SPEEA, Ballard High School PTSA, and many more; without whom we we would not have been able to build a robot, much less compete in a regional. Secondly, our amazing mentors, whose strong dedication to our team has kept our wheels turning over all these years; and finally to our parents, who have supported us in countless ways and allowed us to devote so much of our time to this activity. From the bottom of our hearts we thank you all.

~Julian

March 16th, 2012

Throughout this week, we have been working quickly in order to prepare for the Seattle Regional just around the corner. Through the competitions we watched online, we know this year is going to be exhilarating and challenging. "There were the best of times and the worst of times" as Charles Dickens puts it, is an accurate summary of this week: we finished the pit preparations and successfully mocked our pit in the workshop, yet our potentiometer for the shooter on the practice robot broke and necessary tools/parts have been misplaced. To get into the spirit of FIRST and Rebound Rumble, we are doing much activity with ball related sports; from practicing throwing the balls into the field to hacky-sacking during our idle time. We are pumped up for the regionals to come and wish all teams the best of luck at the competition. We'll see you there.

~Jonny

March 1st, 2012

The Build Season has officially ended and we finished our competition robot just in time! Work has not stopped, however, on the practice robot that we will use to train our drivers and fine tune our programming. We have also started planning for the regionals that we are going to attend and we have had several extensive team discussions on strategy, scouting, and awards. Our first regional, the Seattle Olympic Regional, is only three weeks away!

~Julian

February 16th, 2012

The team gathered for Team Meeting Thursday, for a quick update on our progress. Here is a list of updates:
-Rollers for the ball-grabber system are being finalized.
- A motor has been attached in the bridge-tipper, and is now fully complete.
-The ball-shooter is being remade with wood and aluminum.
-Electronics board for the practice-bot has been bolted.
-Programmers are eager to test their autonomous with the final-bot.

~Michael

February 13th, 2012

After a long awaited test of our prototype ball gatherer, we quickly realize that our idea didn't replicate the exact function that we had planned on paper. Rather than funneling in the game's balls into the robot, the balls themselves where getting lodge within our rollers. A change in design was called forward. Within an afternoon, new designs were drafted. These new designs held similar advantages over the previous design. The new ball gatherer will weigh much less than budgeted before, therefore giving more flexibility for the final shooter design.

~Michael

February 8th, 2012

Less than two weeks left and we are still going strong! During the past few days, we have completed one of our west coast drive trains and it's currently drivable. We postponed the shooting arm construction for another day in order to complete what is essential at this point in time. Right now, there are shipments of parts being delivered to us in this next week. Our progress on our robot has had some delays, but we refocused our priorities and updated everyone onto the same page. With a focused direction and helpful peers, this year's robot will carry the memories and accomplishments this build season. See you guys at the competition!

~Jonny

January 30th, 2012

With another Monday ending fast, the team had voted on a shooter design at last. The chosen design's finalized version is planned to be constructed in the following days. Our drive train, on the other hand, is almost completely finish except for new CIM motors. Even though the CIM motors we purchase have been in FedEx's storehouse since Saturday, it did not arrive today as expected. As the mechanics busy themselves in the shop, the programmers are tinkering with their self-balancing program with our Breakaway robot on the bridge. With the build-season ending soon, the rush is on to finalize the robot!

~Michael

January 21st, 2012

We have lost the past week to snow; our last meeting was on Monday the 16th. But everyone is back in action now! They have quickly resumed designing a shooting device and the shop is full of working people. Electrical and Program are searching for ways to help, and have wound up organizing stuff for the most part. We may have lost a lot of time, but no one is going to let that keep us behind!

~TianQing

January 14th, 2012

The first week of the build season has been very productive. The mechanical team has moved from brainstorming to prototyping as we work to develop a comprehensive design for our robot, the programming team has broken off into sub-teams with specific functions, and the electronics team has built an electronics board to test our new sensors. We are also currently selling LED lightbulbs as a fundraiser. If you are interested in purchasing any, please contact our vice-president Kris Barr at krisbarr@yahoo.com.

~Julian

January 9th, 2012

We are off to an exciting start to REBOUND RUMBLE! We had nearly 30 team members and mentors at Mount Lake Terrace High School at 6:30 AM Saturday to get ready for the 7:30 AM national kickoff. Since then we have made great progress. Robin has got the mid field barrier built, and it has been used to test the ability of our old soccer robot to drive over it. The balance bridge is also in construction and may be ready soon. Robert and his team have built an electronics test board, and Joseph had the programmers testing out the accelerometer and gyro sensor package. We had a very productive brainstorming session on Sunday to talk about what functions the new robot needs, and could have on it. The game is daunting at first glance, but on reflection looks like it can be parsed into manageable pieces - but still with lots of challenges!

~Chris

December 5th, 2011

What an incredible day at Ballard this last Saturday! The FLL event came off really well with a very high level of competition among the teams. Our Viking Robotics set up the Commons with tables, power and acoustics on Friday night. Mentors and parents also helped out. Then Saturday at 7:30 we came back in and prepared for the hundreds of elementary school students and parents arriving for the competition. At 8 AM we opened the doors to the masses (or was it the joules of energy!). Teams were registered and found their tables. Practice sessions began, and then judging sessions. We had 3 pairs of judges each for Robot Design, Project Research and presentation, and Core Values. The judging, held in the History Pod classrooms, was completed by noon, and then lunch began. During the afternoon the tempo increased with the scoring competitions on the North and South tables. Our judges deliberated once to arrange the teams in order for each of the three categories of judging and then met again to choose the winners of the many awards. When the awards presentation began at last and the Commons erupted in cheers and clapping as each team was presented with their participation medals, and then again for each of the awards. Soon after we were back into extra high gear dismantling cables and tables, sweeping, and transporting stuff to waiting cars and up to NW204. I think it was somewhere around 6 PM in the evening when Mr. Nielsen was finally able to go back to his room and prepare for Monday classes!

~Chris

November 17th, 2011

Our participation at the Coe Elementary Robotics Festival was a success! The FIRST Lego League teams got to see and drive our Logomotion robot, and we operated a concession stand to raise money for this season. On Saturday December 3rd, we will host an FLL regional at Ballard High School. All are welcome to come watch, teams arrive at 8:00AM and final awards are at about 4:00PM.

~Chris and Julian

March 27th, 2011

After a long and tiring weekend, the season for 2928 is finally over. During the Portland regional, we worked hard during the first rounds of the championship matches. Unfortunately we did not continue. But we had lots of fun in the process. Our autonomous was one of the most reliable there, and our minibot one of the fastest. We made new friends, got to play with Autodesk technology, and lounge on comfy beanbag chairs. We also helped out a team by lending them a victor. In all, it was a great experience. The team has grown closer, and all of us are proud. Thanks to all of the parents and mentors who came and chaperoned us. And to the sponsors who made this trip possible.

~TianQing

March 20th, 2011

This weekend our team attended the FRC Seattle Cascade Regional at Quest Field Event Center. Half of our team arrived Thursday to set up and practice and our full team came on Friday for the start of the actual competition. We participated in a total of 8 games on Friday and after a bad first game we did very well, winning six games and ending one in a tie. By the end of the day on Friday we were ranked 2nd out of 50 teams. Saturday morning we completed 2 more games, a win and a loss, ranking us 5th at the end of the seeding matches and qualifying us to compete in the finals. We were invited by team 360 to be in their alliance and we graciously accepted. We were then joined by team 3662 and our alliance was complete. Our alliance won our first two matches in the quarterfinals and we moved up to semifinals but on the first match of the semifinals we began to have problems with our autonomous and minibot. We managed to win the first match but on the second two we were not so lucky. We were finally eliminated in the last round before finals. Click here to see the highlights from our games. Next weekend we will compete in a regional in Portland, Oregon

~Julian

February 15th, 2011

Currently, the host robot is 90% complete. Our build team is working on improvements to the current body. We are adding guards to the jaguars and wiring to prevent dust from getting inside them causing problems like what happened to us last year. There was too much vibration on the camera which was hindering the vision on screen, so the crew is collaborating with each other to insert a different kind of foam to absorb the vibration. At the moment, the programmers are steaming ahead on improving elemental programming for autonomous to make the best outcome consistently. The minibot gang is working on 3 different designs to test which one is the most consistent in speed, power, and if it reaches the top. Overall, our team and robot have made great progress and are working the last minute kinks to ship the robot complete and in style.

~Jonny

February 8th, 2011

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, we were too busy working on the robot to type one up. Over the past few days we have made huge amounts of progress on the robot. The main mechanical structure is almost fully completed, and we have a working deployer and arm/claw attached to the frame. Our new mecanum wheels still have not arrived, so we have the old ones on the robot for now. Programming has been having a little bit of trouble with autonomous. The robot also does not stop after you release the joysticks. Only a slight problem. The minibot has gone through several upheavals and radical design changes, none of them have worked quite as well as hoped. Luckily, a new design is currently being worked on. Cross your fingers, it might just work. We have transferred all of our electronics to a newly silver painted wooden board, it looks pretty cool. Here is to a good rest of the week, and more frequent updates.

~Adhem

February 4th, 2011

We modified the claw prototype to allow it to come totally flush up to the ladder and put on some surgical tubing to keep it open when picking up the tubes. We also cut out the circuit board and painted it. We mapped out the cable chain and need to order about another foot of it. Over all we made some essential improvements and got one step closer to the final goal.

~Will

February 1st, 2011

Hello many worldly followers! Today we have accomplished our goal of building a nearly working pole climbing robot and attaching the mecanum wheels. We are currently on track to finishing out robot.

~Henry

In honor of our incredible intellect and intelligence, I have written a haiku:

Team 2-9-2-8
Reversed the polarity
And made a robot.

~TianQing

January 31st, 2011

Today, the electrical team wired new victors found a way to attach the encoder onto the window motors! The mechanical team reshaped a part on the ladder and put safety rubber on the edges of the ladder, spending a long time filing down rough edges. They also repositioned brackets around rear sprockets. The coders worked with the line following code and tested the sensors. And of course, the minibot has been reworked again.

~TianQing

January 27th, 2011

FINALS WEEK IS OVER! With the long and grueling week of finals finally coming to a close, we took a great big sigh of relief. Sadly, that does not mean that we get the day off, production was low, though progress was made on the robot by the programming and mechanical teams. We were able to get the camera to follow the peg with a bit of difficulty. Sorry for the brevity, the meeting is closing rapidly and I have to help clean up.

~Adhem

January 26th, 2011

Today we got all sorts of work done. As usual we split into groups to be more efficient. Some people worked on the arm, some people worked on the minibot, and others worked on programming. The programmers made great progress programming the camera to follow shiny circles. A few people spent the day replacing the wheels on the robot with mecanums, although when they put them on they found they did not fit and spent the whole day making them fit but were successful in the end. Others worked on building the electronics board in the workshop. We got the minibot running but we are still tinkering with it to make it run better. A few problems arose towards the end with electronics. We started prototypeing a new claw design too. Hopefully we can finish the electronics board tomorrow, and we should be able finish the camera tracking program by the end of tomorrows meeting.

~Gabe

January 25th, 2011

This week has been full of exciting achievements. The arm design is coming along nicely, and we have designed a new attachment to lower our claw to the floor. The minibot is being modified and we are slowly getting closer to having it ascend the 10 foot pole. Everyone is hard at work solving problems as they arise. The programmers are currently faced with the task of getting the camera to recognize the end of the peg when it is at a far distance. As for the electrical team, they are working on the layout of all the necessary hardware. The mechanical team have constructed the base of the robot and attached the arm assembly. Right now they are focusing on fitting the minibot deployment and appendage in such a way that both function the way they are supposed to. Difficult as things may be right now, everyone is still having lots of fun working together. Props to the mentors who have been staying after all the students leave and getting lots done on the robot!

~TianQing

January 24th, 2011

The 2010 build season has officially begun! The new game is called LogoMotion and it introduces many interesting challenges for our design team. Our main focus over the last few days has been designing and prototyping possible designs for our robots main appendage, which has the role of picking up the inflatable game pieces and placing them on the scoring pegs. As of this writing no best design has been selected but we are getting close; by Monday we should have the basic design of our robot completed so we can begin building actual hardware.

~Julian