News

This is the current news items about Downingtown Robotics, all the teams:FIRST, VEX and FLL.

Remember to read about Current Events coming your way.

WINNER at Mid-Atlantic Region Championship - Temple University, Philadelphia - 12-14 April-2012

MAR's 1^st 3-robot balance

FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team 1640 won the Mid-Atlantic Robotics FRC Region Championship at Temple University with alliance partners Teams 341 and 25. The Alliance Captain, Team 341, Miss Daisy, is from Ambler, PA and Team 25, Raider Robotix, is from North Brunswick, NJ. Together, the three teams went undefeated throughout the 3-stage elimination matches (quarter-finals, semi-finals & finals), thereby winning the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship. With this victory, FIRST Team 1640 qualifies to participate in the 2012 FRC Championship in St. Louis, Missouri from April 25 to 28.

The three-team alliance was unstoppable, playing amazing offense and defense. The pièce de résistance was the alliance's end-of-match 3-robot balance on the bridge, an achievement hitherto unrealized in any Mid-Atlantic Robotics event (and worth 40 points!). Not only did we achieve the elusive 3-robot balance, but we did so 5 times in 6 matches.

Lenape District Event - 24 & 25 March-2012

Team 1640 played well at the Lenape competition, placing 11^th in qualifications out of 38 teams. We were selected by the 5^th alliance, but were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

On the positive side, we were able to lower the bridge, balance alone or with a 2^nd robot and pick up balls easily (all improvements over Hatboro-Horsham). Shooter tachometer and PID are working, but we have not yet calibrated them.

Victory at Hatboro-Horsham - 2 & 3 March-2012

Together with Alliance partners Teams 341 (Miss Daisy, Alliance Captain) and 1218 (Vulcan Robotics), Team 1640 won the Mid-Atlantic Robotics (MAR) qualifier at Hatboro-Horsham Senior High School. Great work by the whole team and a great start to the 2012 competition season!

Boeing Engineereing Week FIRST Robotics Demo - 23-Feb-2012

An opportunity for local Boeing-sponsored teams to show their stuff and give a little back to their generous sponsor.

Heather McKown begins semester at Nanyang Technological University

Team 1640 alumna Heather McKown begins a semester of exchange study at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Heather is a Junior Mechanical Engineering student at Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). RPI maintains an exchange program with NTU.

Heather was a 1640 team member from 2006 through 2009, serving as Co-Captain in 2009.

Andrew W receives team 1640's Porter Technology Scholarship

Andrew W was awarded the team's Porter Technology Scholarship. The scholarship covers one year's fundraising/participation fee and also provides $50 credit towards team-related travel expenses. Andrew is a senior who joined the team for the 2010 season. Andrew currently serves as Team Secretary.

This Porter Technology Scholarship is made possible through a generous grant from the Horvath Family.

Siri Maley earns Tau Beta Pi membership

FRC Team 1640 mentor and alumna Siri Maley recently earned membership in Penn State’s chapter of Tau Beta Pi. Tau Beta Pi is the oldest, most prestigious and most exclusive engineering honor society in America, second only to Phi Beta Kappa in terms of all American collegiate honor societies. College juniors must be in the top-1/8th of their academic class as well as demonstrate outstanding leadership, advanced scholarship, and dedication to ethical service in order to earn a chance of election. Well done, Siri!

Siri was a student member of Team 1640 from 2007 - 2009, serving as Captain for the last two years. In 2010, as a student at Penn State's Honors College, Siri continues to serve the team as a mentor.

Michael meets up with Dean Kamen at the University of Virginia

Michael & Dean Kamen at the University of Virginia

18-November-2011. FRC Team 1640 Programming Lead Michael M had the opportunity to meet FIRST founder Dean Kamen at an event hosted by the University of Virginia, where Dean signed Mike's book, The New Cool.

Ramp Riot 12-November-2011

Due to a late drop-out, FRC Team 1640 had the opportunity to field two robots at Ramp Riot. DEWBOT VII Prime, our competition robot was fielded under the 1640 number by our first drive team. Deux entered the competition under the nom de guerre 1641 operated by drive-team trainees, giving them invaluable competition driving experience. We also ran two pits, providing training in this area as well.

This is the first time Sab-BOT-age had ever run two robots in a competition and thanks go out to all those who worked so hard to bring Deux from arm-less engineering test bed up to competition condition in the space of one short week.

1640 was selected by the 3^rd alliance, comprising teams 103 (Cybersonics) and 365 (Miracle Workerz). A terrific alliance. We won the quarterfinals and our first semifinal match. Alas, 1640's minibot deployment was unreliable throughout the day and 103 broke down in the 2^nd semifinal match. As a result of these two factors, our alliance was defeated by the 1^st alliance (2016, 222, 1403), who went on to become champions.

By a bizzare twist, 1641 was brought into the finals as a replacement robot for 2607. We lost, but ended up as Ramp Riot Finalist.

1640 has participated in Ramp Riot every year since the team's inception, making this our 7^th Ramp Riot.

VEXMEN participated in the Girls in Gear program at Ramp Riot.

Girls in Gear at Ramp Riot 12-November-2011

Team 341 held the fourth annual Girls in Gear©, a Girl Scout STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education program, at Ramp Riot. There were six stations set up at Girls in Gear©, including FRC robot driving, FRC robot parts, observing the FRC and FTC competitions, a hands on driving demonstration by the VEXMEN and STEMRobotics, and an area where girls had the chance to talk to women in STEM careers.

The driving demonstration had four robots moving small soccer balls into scoring zones by the Girl Scout drivers. Each driver got to participate in the 4 minute matches on the 8' x 8' field. Most of the scouts were Daisy's (K-3) they drove with the skill and intensity of the bigger FRC drivers.

Our second station was a look at different drive trains, and the scouts got to drive a very cool X shaped omni drive, and a legged walking robot.

The final station was a demo of a robotic head "Gir" from the cartoon Invader Zim. The head has multicolor eyes that change with what Gir says. Clips from the show were recorded and put on a storage card. The entire setup is driven by a small microprocessor, similar to what is used in the VEX competitions.

A great day for both the scouts and the VEXMEN, looking forward to seeing these girls in a few years building their own robots.

Julie Bachmann Kulik receives ASME Old Guard Early Career Award

Julie Bachmann Kulik, mechanical engineer, WorleyParsons Group (Reading, Pa.), recieves this award for inspiring talented students to create innovative solutions to complex problems as a FIRST Robotics Competition mentor; for founding ASME’s Philadelphia Young Engineers, which encourages aspiring engineers to return to ASME through networking; and for service to ASME through numerous local and national positions.

Julie has served as a Team 1640 mentor since 2006. Congradulations!

Boeing Ridley Park Plant Tour - 5-November-2011

FRC Team 1640 toured Boeing's Ridley Park helicopter plant, together with teams 341, 365 & 486. The V-22 Osprey and CH-47 Chinook assembly lines were visited, as well as Boeing's Wind Tunnel and Flight Simulation facilities.

Carly McKown receives Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's (RPI's) Medalist Award - 29-October-2011

In RPI's Honors Convocation, FRC 1640's 2010 & 2011 Co-Captain, Carly McKown, received Rensselaer's Medalist Award. This award brings a $60k scholarship to RPI. Also, congratulations to senior FRC 1640 team member Michael B, who has been selected to receive the 2012 RPI Medalist Award.

Duel on the Delaware - 22-October-2011

22-October-2011. Sab-BOT-age's 5^th time participating at Duel on the Delaware. Also the first FRC competition for 6 new students.

Despite finishing qualifications at 19^th out of 28 teams, 4^th-ranked team 365 (Miracle Workerz) selected us as their first alliance partner, filling out the alliance with team 87. Our alliance went on to win Duel on the Delaware this year.

Our robot, DEWBOT VII, performed well and reliably though the competition, with a tread replacement being the only significant repair necessary. We were a solid scorer. Our mini-bot (Mighty Mouse) system generally won the end game. On the two occasions when we played defense, we were the defending robot you just couldn't get around. Our scouting is really showing the benefit of the focus we've put on it. Autonomous remains our weak point.

New driver Andrew and Human Player Douglas both put in excellent performances throughout the day.

DEWBOT VII demo at Downingtown East High School - 17 & 18 May-2011

Carly and Paul Klufas demonstrated DEWBOT VII during Downingtown East physics classes.

FRC Championship, St. Louis MO - 27-29 April-2011

FRC Team 1640 (team Sab-BOT-age) competed for its first time in FRC's Championship, held in the Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis MO. 27 students, mentors and family members made the trip.

352 FRC teams from 5 countries were divided into 4 divisions (Archimedes, Curie, Galileo & Newton) of 88 teams each. Winning alliances from each division met on the Einstein Field for playoffs, with Galileo's alliance taking the day.

Team 1640 did well, winning 6 and losing 4 of our qualifying matches to place 27^th out of the 88 teams in Archimedes division. Our drive team was able to score a solid 4 tubes during teleoperated play (except for during the losing matches) and our minibot (Mighty Mouse) was 100% reliable and always placed either 1^st or 2^nd in the critical end-game (when deployed). Autonomous performance, alas, remained unreliable with <50% success. We were not selected for an eliminations alliance.

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Older news items can be found in:
News Archive 2011
News Archive 2010
News Archive 2009