FIRST Robotics Competition SEASON REPORT

2013-2014

2

Dear Bezos Family Foundation,

On behalf of Washington FIRST Robotics, I wish to thank you, Bezos Family

Foundation, for your incredible donation which supported many of our rural

and economically disadvantaged FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams

this year.

I hope that you enjoy reading about our students’ experiences during the 2013-

2014 school year in the following pages. These stories were made possible by

Bezos Family Foundation!

Sincerely,

Erin McCallum

President, Washington FIRST Robotics

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Dear Bezos Family Foundation,

My name is Francisco Chavez, first year member of The Mabton High School Robotics Team. I am writing

this end of year report on behalf of team 3876 The Mabton Lugnutz. I want to start off by expressing how

grateful we are for the Bezos Family Foundation. If it were not for you, we would not have had such an

amazing experience. This was my first year participating in the First Robotics Competition (FRC). My

team was started four years ago and my only regret is not participating sooner.

During our time in this year’s competition we got the opportunity to work on a range of skills. Since we are

a small team of eight we all worked in the designing, building, and wiring of the robot. One of our biggest

issue was the programming in which all of us in the team new little to nothing about. I was chosen to work

on it and to do what I could. I honestly believed I would not have been able to do anything with it, but with

support from our mentor Jesus and Nick Sustaita telling me to just keep on it and to just keep trying to do

what I could I was able to program the robot to respond and move. Later on with the help of other teams in

the competition I manage to learn more about programming and was able to successfully program the ro-

bots pneumatics.

Working with others was key for our team. I, myself, struggled greatly when working with others and even

more so working with others I have never met. I did not know one person when I began FIRST Robotics

Competition. After a while, especially during the competitions in Eastern and Central, I was able to get

along with every member on my team. We all worked together well with one another and because of that

we were able to solve problems that we faced during the competitions.

There was one problem that we faced. A few hours before the competitions began, we were

told that our bumpers were not suitable to compete and we had to completely remake them. Working to-

gether, we all had to play a part in rebuilding the bumpers in time for the first challenge. Because of all of

our contributions, we were able to completely build the bumpers. If we had not been able to communicate

well with one another, the bumpers would have not have been rebuilt as quickly as they were. Our wiring

was not a major issue, but we did have some issues with it. With the help of professional engineers and

electricians the issue was quickly resolved!

Our Robotics team is not as well funded as many others—we have to work with what we have. With the

limited resources at our disposal, we had to be creative. To solve this problem we ordered a free pneumatic

from Bimba, which luckily solved our problem. With it we were able to not just have a robot that just ran

into things, but rather we had a robot that could be useful in proper defense.

Overall, we had fun and what we got out of it! Besides the great memories, we value the technical and

communication skills we gained. Once again, I would like to express our gratitude to the Bezos Family

Foundation from all of us at Mabton High School Robotics team. On a personal level, it was one of the

greatest experience I have ever had and I would much like to see others in the future have the same oppor-

tunity and it was all thanks to your support. Thank you!

TEAM #3876

Mabton Lugnutz Mabton High School

Mabton, WA

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Dear Bezos Family Foundation,

We are writing to thank you for your generous support of us in our rookie year of robotics. Because of

your support, Team 4918 was able to make it to the regional level of competition in Portland this year. We

had an incredible season of learning to work together as a team, problem solve together, fail together and

learn from our mistakes, culminating in the final Saturday before build season ended, when many of us put

in ten, twelve, or more hours to finish the robot. In addition, we learned innovative thinking, engineering,

communication, and business skills.

This season we were lucky enough to have a dedicated team of volunteers who spent hundreds of hours

mentoring us in CAD, electronics, electrical, and tool use, just to name a few of things. In addition, they

traveled with us to competitions and put up with our teenage antics. Our team was divided into subteams,

allowing everyone to contribute to the design of the robot using their own expertise. Most of the students

that joined the team had little or no experience in any of the skills or subjects involved. During the start of

the season we had everyone write down what they wanted to work on; CAD, electronics, electrical, and

tool use. Since our team is small, each student was able to work in the area of their choice. Some of the

students were hesitant initially, but soon joined the team and started working. Though the season is over,

many students are working over the summer to improve our team for years to come.

Everyone on the team had the opportunity to download and experiment with the latest version of Solid-

Works on their own PC. With the skills we gained in the software, we were able to produce a full CAD

model of the robot, and create a full drawing packet to present to the judges.

This season we were proud to have raised enough money that every team member was invited to compete

at 3 different competitions this year. We traveled to Mount Vernon and Glacier Peak to compete, and ad-

vanced to the PNW District Championships in Portland. Each one was an amazing experience - a period of

hectic action marking a climax of the season.

Our one senior on the team this year has chosen to continue her work in engineering during her time at

WWU. She did not receive any FRC scholarship money, but we hope that future students will be able to

take advantage of the opportunity. FRC is a launch pad, providing students with valuable experience and

job skills, and we intend to take full advantage of it.

As a rookie team, our community outreach was important for local support. This season we were involved

in community outreach by taking our robot to different local events such as a parade, evening business

events, and different classes at schools. In addition our team is offering CAD classes to the community,

and we are planning an automated crab pot competition, open to the other robotics teams in the area. We

are also planning to offer our knowledge to the local FLL team, helping the next generation of team mem-

bers develop their skills. We hope to become bigger and more active in the community with time, but to

do so we need help from our sponsors. Again, we would like to thank you for your generous support for

our team this year.

Best Regards,

Team 4918 The Roboctopi

TEAM #4918

The Roboctopi

Port Townsend High School

Port Townsend, WA

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TEAM #5111

SaxonBots Ferris High School

Spokane, WA

Dear Bezos Family Foundation,

First of all, thank you for your generous support of Team 5111 and FIRST Robotics. Your donation is so

important to teams throughout our region. As a rookie team this year we had no idea what to expect from

the competition, but were immediately in awe of the complexity and daunting challenge of the Arial As-

sist game. Throughout the season we learned both technical and non-technical skills, growing as a team

and learning about science, technology, and engineering through robotics.

This year our team was comprised of about 20 students from all grade levels at Ferris High School. Ferris

has a proud tradition of competitive athletic and musical departments, and we expect Team 5111 to join

these groups as strong representatives of the school. With this goal in mind all of our team members

worked on our robot, gaining as much understanding as possible for this season and the future. Many

team members specialized in one area of the process, whether it be construction, electrical, programming,

pit organization, or marketing. All came together at competitions to act as a strong cohesive team. We

were able to upset some odds to advance to the Pacific Northwest District Championship in Portland, Or-

egon.

Critical to our success was the hard work and dedication of our mentors. We were joined by a professor

from Eastern Washington University and three engineers from Triumph Composite Systems in Spokane.

They were especially helpful in refining our ideas for robot design and construction, but allowed the team

to take ownership of the bulk of the work. We expect that our team’s relationship with Eastern and Tri-

umph can continue to strengthen in the years to come.

Our introduction to the FIRST program has been phenomenal. None of our team members had had such

an engaging, hands-on experience in or out of school. As we seek to deepen the team’s relationship with

FIRST, we plan to help start and/or mentor one or two FIRST LEGO League teams. Adams Elementary

is just across the street, and we have proposed launching an FLL team in the fall of 2014. These students

are the future of Team 5111, and we want to inspire them early to be thinking about futures in science

and engineering.

Although none of our team members are attending college next year, many of us plan to apply for the

generous scholarships offered through FIRST in the future.

We are thoroughly looking forward to next season and appreciate any support that the Bezos Family

Foundation offers.

Best wishes,

Team 5111 SaxonBots

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TEAM #4060

S.W.A.G.

W.F. West High School

Chehalis, WA

To the Bezos Family Foundation:

This year has been amazing for Team SWAG 4060! From being named District Champions in Auburn to

winning the Regional Engineering Inspiration Award and attending the FRC Championship, this season

has been truly great. SWAG is incredibly grateful to our community. None of this would be possible with-

out their passion for STEM education.

On behalf of Team SWAG 4060, I want to extend a thank you for the Bezos Family Foundation’s commit-

ment to putting education into action. From our team’s inception, it has been our vision to promote collab-

oration among scientists and encourage a spirit of friendly competition, showing respect towards our team

members and competitors alike, and integrity in our every action. Our team aims to create a well-

functioning robot which will be successful in the annual FIRST Robotics Competitions. Your generous

contribution helped make our goal a reality by helping to offset the many costs faced by our FRC team.

Enclosed, you will find a comprehensive summary of our team’s successes this year and our plans for the

future.

As SWAG 4060 continues to grow as a team, please know that partnerships with our sponsors are vital to

our success. Furthering FIRST's message is the team's biggest goal, and we hope to continue the growth of

science, technology, engineering, and mathematics appreciation throughout the town, county, state, nation,

and world. You are truly appreciated. Thank you for your continued commitment to our team.

Sincerely,

Rory Slattery

Team SWAG 4060

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In Team SWAG’s third season, 2013-2014, we, through community support and students’ hard work and

dedication, attended the FRC Championship in St. Louis, Missouri.

Team SWAG’s journey to St. Louis involved attending multiple competitions in the 2013-2014 season. At

our first two competitions, the Pacific Northwest Auburn Mountainview and Mount Vernon District Com-

petitions, we made it to quarter-finals. At our team’s third competition, the Pacific Northwest Auburn Dis-

trict Competition, SWAG was in the top seeded alliance with IRS 1318 and Skunkworks 1983. Our alli-

ance won the competition! In Auburn, Team SWAG also received the Districts Engineering Inspiration

Award, which is given to a team that advances respect and appreciation for engineering within their

school and community.

Although we were unable to compete with our robot at the District Championship in Portland, the team

went to present for the Engineering Inspiration award. We were honored to receive the Regional Engi-

neering Inspiration Award, celebrating our team’s exemplary science and engineering work. Winning this

award allowed our team to attend the FRC Championship in St. Louis, Missouri, where SWAG is present-

ed for the Engineering Inspiration Award and competed with their robot against teams from around the

world.

During the 2013-2014 season, we focused on expanding STEM programs in our school, town, county, and

state. Team SWAG’s STEM programs this season included:

Expanding advanced STEM classes at our high school, including classes in programming languages,

LEGO Mindstorm, SolidWorks, DraftSight, hand drafting, architecture, molecular genetics, and other

STEM fields

Expanding our robotics class’s curriculum, offering different programming languages and new oppor-

tunities for students

Completely updating our school’s technology, installing updated editions of SolidWorks, DraftSight,

SketchUp, and other design softwares on over twenty computers

Helping prepare and mentor at Biotech Day, a local event where students from schools across Western

Washington experience biology lab work hands-on

Helping our local middle school’s FIRST robotics program compete for the first time

Starting a Junior FLL team at the local elementary school, which will begin in the 2014-2015 season

Planning and helping at our third-annual Olympic Elementary STEM Day, an event for fifth-graders

which the robotics team puts on to excite young students about science and engineering

Encouraging teachers at the middle school to offer free math tutoring sessions before and after school

each Friday

Inspiring the local college, Centralia College, to expand their robotics program and work towards of-

fering a four-year robotics degree

Had multiple students compete at the South Sound Regional Science and Engineering Fair and win

numerous awards for projects including:

Student Dakota White winning the Center for Web and Data Science, Environmental Program,

UW Tacoma for his analysis of the microstructure of wood fracturing

Student Anthony Painter winning the American Meteorological Society Certificate of Out-

standing Achievement for his work on collecting microscopic meteorites and analysing

them with SEM technology

Students Zoe Sayler and Jaiteg Mundi winning the Innovative Science Award for their work on har-

vesting vibrations for unlimited energy and creating a neurobiotic mechanical arm

Expanding CAD, programming, and engineering education into a nearby juvenile correctional institu-

tion, Green Hill, enabling all students to have access to superior education.

TEAM #4060 S.W.A.G. (cont.)

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Events yet to come this year:

Preparing and mentoring at our second annual STEM Academy, a week-long, student-run summer day

camp which gives students from across the state opportunities to learn LEGO programming, molecular

genetics, and explore other STEM fields. Last year, over 80 students were able to attend, and this year

we hope to expand our numbers.

Chehalis Middle School Summer Math Academy, a series of six free, week-long camps allowing stu-

dents to experience real-world mathematics applications, including math in basketball, baseball, the

environment, surveillance, flight, and engineering

Due to the overwhelming success of our middle school’s FIRST team, SWAG plans to create a second

FIRST team at the middle school to offer more students the opportunity to join robotics.

Members of Team SWAG have been working with school administration to begin many new ways of in-

corporating robotics and engineering into our school’s curriculum for the 2014-2015 school year, includ-

ing:

Architectural Engineering, a new class which will incorporate advanced software to enable students to

create intricate plans

Scanning Electron Microscopy, a class for students with a passion for science to take their skills to the

next level through learning to use our school’s advanced SEM for research and real-world applications

Mobile App Development, a class which allows students to learn the coding and programming skills

necessary for creating powerful mobile applications

Incorporating robotics into our school’s power and tech program, teaching students about electricity,

power generation, and robotics, including building and understanding the basics of robotics

Further encouraging students in metal working, fabrication, welding, small engines, and automotive

technology classes to apply their skills to FIRST robotics.

In the news:

The Lewis County Chronicle wrote an article about our team’s successes in the school and community.

The Lewis County Chronicle wrote an article about Team SWAG receiving first place and the Engi-

neering Inspiration Award at Districts in Auburn.

TEAM #4060 S.W.A.G. (cont.)

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Bezos Family Foundation End of Year Report

I would like to sincerely thank the Bezos Family Foundation for your generous financial support. You

have enabled our only after-school

STEM program we offer at our high school.

1.) Last year we had help from one engineer, Nick Royce from Janicki Industries. This year we also re-

ceived help from Alex Thibert, who used to work in the engineering lab at Stanford University, worked for

Boeing, and as now retired. In addition, Nathan Storms, a local welder and metal fabricator, contributed

to the welding and cutting of materials. Our district does not have any metal shop classes and limited met-

al shop facilities, so anything that approximated a safety concern for our members was completed by Mr.

Storms. Anything that was not a safety concern was completed by our members.

2.) We designed our robot in two phases. The first phase was using the chassis we received at kickoff and

mounting the hardware so we could have a low center of gravity for stability; use form-follows-function

methodology; and use the keep it simple philosophy. Second, we built a launch platform that was inde-

pendent of the chassis, where the top plate of aluminum that covered the chassis underneath became the

bottom plate of the launch platform up above. Except for individual parts that required cutting or welding

by Mr. Storms, all members contributed to the construction of the robot as their abilities would permit.

3.) We do not have a tech program at Concrete to house to utilize or instruct the latest design software.

Our Business Education teacher was the robotics advisor. Since we did not receive the software until the

launch date, there was not time to implement it for the build season. We were working with another team,

NRG or Newport High School, Bellevue to implement design software in the off season using the comput-

ers in the Business Education lab. The Business Education instructor will become familiar with the soft-

ware over the summer to instruct the members in the fall.

We do not have a dedicated metals shop like a large high school would. Instead, we have a robotics class-

room where robot construction takes place. We have a metals shop room next to the wood shop we can

use for some welding, drilling, and grinding. Other fabrication is completed in a private fabrication shop

in town where the owner, Nathan Storms is also a robotics mentor. He has state of the art equipment in his

shop.

4.) Our robotics program is the only after school STEM program during the school year, and as such, we

do not turn any students away. FIRST Robotics is an active participatory culture. All students are encour-

aged to compete and cooperate in alliances and competitions. However, students are required to partici-

pate at least 100 hours in robotics activities prior to competitions to be eligible to travel to these events.

Students are instructed in cooperative competition where businesses expect win-win proposals from their

employees. Members are not allowed to engage in any form of negative interaction or negative competi-

tion at any time over the course of the year, whether during the build/competition season or not.

5.) Students engage in classroom and video activities where they learn the difference between mechanical

and thought processes, and the difference between creative and efficient processes. Some project manage-

ment and modelling activities are held. Our structure is flat. We have no elected officers and no hierar-

chy. Members rise to their various functional positions through a combination of intrinsic motivation and

functional capabilities. No members are excluded from any function, but must demonstrate an interest or

ability in that function to remain. 21st century workplace skills are evident, including but not limited to

teamwork, problem solving, creative/innovative thinking, communication, and financial management. We

have a culture that embraces risk taking in the learning process where members are allowed to fail in situa-

tions where they learn more from an unsuccessful experience than a successful one.

TEAM #2922

Concrete Robotics

Concrete High School

Concrete, WA

10

6.) Members are aware of the college scholarships offered each year, and last year a senior applied for

them. This year we only had one senior who left during the Mount Vernon event and did not return for the

season. We started the year with twelve members, four remained through the build season, and three re-

mained at the end of the competitions.

7.) Fundraising activities this year exceeded $17,000, of which over $7,000 was raised from the local

community. Fundraising activities have expanded from season fundraising last year to year around fund-

raising this year.

8.) Our members participate in support of the middle school science fair. Due to last-years interest, robot-

ics has expanded into the middle school at a basic level. The middle school will be moving from the ele-

mentary school to be co-located with the high school which should facilitate further collaboration and de-

velopment next year.

9.) We experienced significant and unprecedented problems at the Mount Vernon event, but not the Au-

burn event. Of the three full time robotics students who attended, one went home sick from stress, and

missed the following week of school, and did not attend the next robotics event. Another student had to be

sent away from the event several times to recompose themselves. The third student remained in the event

area, but was in tears much of the time. Our School Board President who attended was in tears at the end

of the first day of the two day event.

We submitted documentation to First Robotics WA attention Kevin Ross, but the state organization did not

respond. We then forwarded a formal complaint to the national organization, which elected not to become

directly involved, and referred us back to the state organization.

I have attached written statements from the three students who attended and the written response from First

Robotics. Not just one, but all of our students all felt bullied at the Mount Vernon event. Our school dis-

trict has a zero tolerance harassment policy. I believe OSPI has the same policy. These students clearly

feel they were harassed. Since First Robotics has elected not to acknowledge or address their concerns di-

rectly (they did not speak directly with our students to address their concerns), and has not been able to

guaranty these students will not have a similar experience in the future, this has created something of a le-

gal problem for us.

As a publicly funded high school, we are not allowed to promote any organization or event that is likely to

place a student in a threatening or intimidating situation, so it is likely we are legally prohibited from par-

ticipating in First Robotics in the future as based upon the First Robotics response to this situation, or ra-

ther, their lack of a response.

The robotics advisor resigned upon receiving the written response from First Robotics. The remaining

mentors are reviewing other possible robotics competitions in hopes of keeping our after-school STEM

program alive. Perhaps the Bezos Family Foundation would consider supporting other robotics programs

as well.

TEAM #2922 Concrete Robotics (cont.)

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Performance Metrics For Tekoa 4608 “The Duct Tape Warriors”

· Students will be mentored by professional engineers and other business professionals to gain valuable

engineering and business skills;

For Tekoa High School’s Team 4608 students are mentored by their Agricultural Career and Technical

Education teacher. There are additionally 3 other adult mentors that assist our team including a former

retired marine who specialized in electronic systems and worked with GPS guided equipment; our school

counselor; and a heavy equipment mechanic.

· 100% of the students on teams will contribute to building a robot of their teams own design;

The core of our team included 8 members who put in an average of 80 hours per member into the robot.

We had another 11 students who helped with the robot from time to time. All components were built by stu-

dents, all programing was completed by students, and most trouble shooting was completed by students.

We take pride in knowing that when the robot quits working correctly, our students are the first to dig in

and try to find what is wrong and fix it… not the mentors!

· 100% of the students on teams will learn and use state of the art software and hardware to fabricate

their robot;

While 100% of the students will not use BOTH state of the art software and hardware for fabrication, we

can say that 100% of team 4608 will use state of the art software OR hardware. Our program team uses

labview software for programing, our fabrication team uses all equipment within a metal shop including a

sheetmetal: sheer, break, and MIG welder with an aluminum spool gun.

· 100% of the students on teams will compete and cooperate in alliances and competitions with stu-

dents from around the world;

Our team loves the atmosphere of gracious professionalism at the FRC competitions. We attended two re-

gional competitions this year and our team worked hard with each alliance. There were times our students

felt that other alliance partners were not into the “team spirit” but they would always continually put out a

gracious front with hopes of success on the field but also friendships that carry into the pit areas and future

competitions.

· 100% of the students on teams will learn 21st century workplace skills: teamwork, problem solving,

creative/innovative thinking, communication and financial management;

The skills known as the 21st century workplace skills, are what sets FRC out from any other youth organi-

zation. The amount of teamwork, problem solving, creativity, communication and financial management

could never be replicated in a classroom setting through simple lessons and projects. These skills are not

only allowing students to be successful on a team, but they will be preparing them to be leaders in their

careers and families 10 years from now.

TEAM #4608

The Duct Tape Warriors

Tekoa High School

Tekoa, WA

12

Students/teams outreach into their communities to raise funds to support their works in FRC including

building the robot, travel expenses and competition fees;

Our students on team 4608 present our robot and budget to a couple local foundations and large business-

es to create awareness of our project and the need we have financially to sustain a team in our small com-

munity. This is a very difficult process currently. Most the groups we present to are able to donate $50-

$200 to our team and we have to raise nearly $7000 for building the robot, travel expenses, and competi-

tion fees. We have yet to find the “golden ticket” into a sustainable financial plan. We have survived our

first 2 years in the FRC due to gracious grants from donors like the Bezo’s Foundation.

· Students/teams will outreach into their communities/county to grow rookie and rural teams across

all four programs (JrFLL, FLL, FTC and FRC);

Our curriculum in Tekoa is expanding to include a robotics class for one semester per year starting in the

Fall of 2014. The focus will be using the Lego EV3 kit with intentions of students mentoring elementary

students with the final goal of preparing them for a FLL or JrFLL team. We will need adult mentors to

step up and lead a team but our 4608 FRC team hopes to provide the assistance needed for designing and

programing the EV3 kits. THANK YOU

BEZOS FAMILY

FOUNDATION!

Sincerely,

Team 4608 The Duct Tape Warriors

TEAM #4608 The Duct Tape Warriors (cont.)

Dear Bezos Foundation,

Team 4726-Robo Dynasty wishes to thank you so very much for the generous grant support for the 2014

build season. As a second year team we were much more prepared and able to divide and conquer the

game with much more confidence.

Professional Mentors: We were led by our Agricultural Education teacher/mentor Mr. Glen Landrus and

a vast majority of the build was completed in his Ag Engineering class. In addition, we were led by Mr.

Vic Dalosto who is a local resident but owns a very successful precision machining business in Kent, WA.

Vic is a great support of the program and we were able to tour his business when we competed at the Au-

burn event in early March.

100% Student Contribution: All of the students in the Ag engineering class were divided into the fol-

lowing teams to build our robot: three research and development teams (two for offensive strategies and

one for defensive), marketing/finance, electrical/pneumatics, drive train, & welding/fabrication. These

teams were critical to our success and not only did we learn a lot and become “experts” in our area but we

learned to communicate with other teams in order to be successful.

100% State of the Art Software/Hardware: Prior to and during the build the class learned and applied

the 3-dimensional drafting software called SolidWorks. We would use this to design and test ideas.

100% Cooperation with Alliances: This year we had four students travel to the Auburn event and elev-

en travel to the Cheney event. Even though this wasn’t 100% of the class at the competition it was more

students than we traveled with last year and the excitement they all brought back should help build mo-

mentum for the following years.

100% of Students will Learn 21st Century Skills: Please see the student written thank-you’s below as

examples of the 21st Century skills that were learned:

First Robotics has made a great impact on my life, and it wouldn’t be possible without supporters like

you. So thank you so much Bezos Foundation for the money you donated to Team #4726 Robo Dynas-

ty. The skills I have learned while participating in FIRST Robotics has given me the tools to succeed in

life, skills like teamwork, time management, and the knowledge of how to build a robot. I thank you for

all that you have given us and hope that you will continue to support us as we continue this great life

experience.

-Dan’s

TEAM #4726

Robo Dynasty

Asotin, WA

13

14

Community Outreach: We are slowly building great community support which should lead the way to

financial support in the future. We did seek out and receive some funding to help with travel costs this

year from the local Asotin Activity Boosters club. Also, we’ve spoken to several businesses that are po-

tential future donors. On the promotion side of it, we were interviewed by the local TV news station in

Lewiston, ID (KLEW). Here is the link: http://www.klewtv.com/news/local/First-Robitics-competition-

246353141.html?embed. In addition, we had the robot on display at our local STEM night which show-

cases science, math and engineering projects for the entire school district. Also, pictures from our robotics

projects were included in our district-wide strategic planning document which will be published later this

year and represent the mission and goals of the district over the next five years. All of these will definitely

help build a Robo Dynasty!

Here are some pictures from our 2013-2013 build season:

Thanks Bezos Foundation,

Your support has greatly impacted our success as a class and a group. We did well with our top of the

line robot this year and it would not have been possible without your help! I myself am pursuing a career

as an engineer and with this experience I have a better idea of the specific career I would like. The build-

ing of the robot had many problems but it was our job to solve them. This grew our team building skills

and our knowledge of mechanical engineering. With your funds this was truly a great experience and

something I will fondly remember.

Your friend,

Dane

Dear Bezos Foundation,

Thank you for your donation to our robotics team. The class has been incredibly fun and I’ve learned so

much from it. Our team did very well at the competition I attended this year and we finished in first place

that day. It was fun to finally use something we learned from a classroom in a real world situation.

Thanks again, Sam

TEAM #4726 Robo Dynasty (cont.)

15

THANK YOU BEZOS FAMILY

FOUNDATION! Sincerely,

Team 4726 Robo Dynasty

Team #4726 Robo Dynasty Report (cont.)

16

TEAM #4654

Mountaineers Mount Baker High School

Deming, WA

Dear Sirs:

Our FIRST Robotics competition was one full of a number of challenges this year. The first was the actu-

al fabrication and programming of the robot. Second, was the scheduling activities and general project

management? The later seemed to take up most of our team’s time. It became obvious to us these would

become the two main parts of this effort.

On the fabrication side we had or KOP and aluminum which we were able to recycle from or high

schools advanced metals class (they built two aluminum boats). These two sources for materials actual dic-

tated the main direction our design group started working in. We had several mentors from the beginning

that were invaluable during our start up stages. That helped us with ideas on how to best work the material

and lent us their considerable skill in areas that we were eager to learn about, but didn’t have a clue on

how to proceed. They really seemed to enjoy the experience and there were many impromptu discussion

about the problems they faced in the work place and how often they had to bring many ideas from many

different sources to solve a particular problem. One software professional said he was often surprised how

solutions seemed to arise during periods of off the cuff discussion or free association. In another words he

felt a soft chair, friends and a good cup of coffee often lead to exceptional solutions. Of course everyone

has to be thinking and working in the same direction. It was mentioned that this might be leader ship or the

job of a good manager to keep everyone moving in the same direction towards the same goal.

Once our team settled on a design they became fabricators. It was interesting how one moment we were

using a file and the next moment were testing some very sophisticated logic circuits. But, as one of our

mentors said “that is what happens in prototype building”. Like Apollo 13, extremely complex equipment

was brought to bare, to find a solution and the answer was very unsophisticated and saved the astronaut

lives. Fabrication was very labor intensive and everyone had an opportunity to take in the actual building

of the robot. New ideas and new designs resulted from everyone getting there hands on the problems. It

brought the group to a point were they were much more focused on our goal and we started to strategies

about the game. We realized that having a great robot that could accomplish the tasks set out in the game

was only what part of the problem we faced. We had to craft a method that would combine a high score

from our own robot but also a method or algorithm for identifying partners that would result in success at

the games. There was a point were the student workers and the mentors got together and came to the con-

clusion it was time to stop with major changes and redesigning and move to less radical changes and try to

refine what we had. Besides they were feeling the time constraints.

We went to our first meet with a great deal of optimism. We had are team, that knew the plan. We had

the mentors they were excited and ready to offer any help that they could and the robot was ready.

We are on the PNW divisional plan so we have two opportunities to compete. The logistics of preparing

for each contest we found to be, at times to be over whelming, but we were able to get the tools, equipment

and robot to the meetings thanks mainly to community support. We found that it would have been difficult

if not impossible to make all our dates relying on ourselves alone these solutions were beyond our capabil-

ities. We need drivers trailer and the like.

Our first meet was at Glacier Peak High School near Evert Washington. We made it intact fine and

found the event to be well organized and the people extremely helpful. We, of curse, had several minor

problems which we addressed the night before inspection. We passed inspection and practice for the event.

After preliminary rounds we did well we were ranked 16th out of 50 some contest and during the final or

alliance survived the first to eliminations, but were eliminated on the third. The help of our mentors and

the enthusiasm of or team made us feel we could accomplish anything. We eagerly anticipated our second

meet.

17

The competition was fierce as we knew it would be. We did get into the third round of the finals and our

alliance team mates worked well with us. It was a great partnership each bot had a very well defined

strength. For a brief moment we were 5th, it was a great feeling. But, in the end we were eliminated by a

very powerful alliance. It was a real tight competition. Next year we will be ready for them.

Next year we will be a much tighter group with this experience be hind us. We eagerly look forward to

the new challenges and new experiences the 2015 FIRST Robotics Competition.

Team 4654 in red shirts at Glacier Peak High School

This is a competition at Mount Vernon High School

TEAM #4654 Mountaineers (cont.)

18

Team Mentors

Retired Boeing engineer

Heavy machinery mechanic

Small business owners

Electronic security professional

Finance manager

Teachers and school faculty

Interior design specialist

100% of students contribute to the building of the robot

All students are responsible for their contribution in multiple roles

Students learn and use CAD to prototype and test their ideas

Power and hand tool training

Computer programming

Electrical wiring

Material fabrication

Pneumatics

Shop safety

Students use state of the art software and hardware

Students learned to program in LabView and Java

Learned to use Autodesk Inventor CAD software

Parts fabrication using 3D printing with Repetier software

Financial management using Quickbooks

Part inventory using spreadsheet software

All students compete, cooperate, and collaborate with other teams

100% of team members play many roles at competition

Performing as a small team, completing the same objectives as teams many times larger

Students will learn 21st century workplace skills

Financial management

Record keeping and personnel hours

Electronic communications

Group problem solving

Student education opportunities

75% are pursuing their Associates degree by high school graduation

Students are eligible for over $25 million in scholarships

The team develops skills not offered in the local school’s curriculum

Team Fundraising

Rummage Sales

Yankee Candle Sales

Schwan’s Sales

Sponsorships

Participation in Halloween Carnival

Team Outreach for Awareness

School assemblies

County commissioners meeting

Local Oyster Feed and Shipyard Employee Picnic- Students volunteered and gave a robot

demonstration

Press Releases

TEAM #3787

OcostaWild Robotocats

Westport, WA

19

Hello,

First Robotics team 4692 has had a successful 2014 season. We also want to thank you for all the work

you do for First Robotics. We have been mentored from local engineers and parents. When the build

season started we went back to the shop and start sharing with each other our ideas and what we think

would work the best. Then we start testing our ideas and come up with a design that has aspects of eve-

ryone’s ideas. When we start the assembly of our robot we each choose a specific part to work on.

Each member then starts his/her part to work on and uses all of the tools to cut, sand, bolt or drill on

their piece. Our robotics team tries to go to as many events that we can. This lets us interact with other

alliances and participants from all over Washington and Oregon. All of my team mates all have 21st

century workplace skills.

We all work together, if someone needs help with

something one of us is always willing to help out. Al-

so throughout the build season we have to overcome

problems, which could be stripping a gear or two, or

having a cart that doesn’t work well and having to fix

it. Also we have to communicate to each other so if

something goes wrong we know right away and what

we need to fix that issue. This year we did not have

any seniors apply for the college scholarships. We are

a young team next build season. In the future however

some of us will apply for some of the $25 million in

scholarships. We have had a lot of local outreach this

year. We had some mentors come from out of town

and we have good connections with another local FRC team where we can get help or advice, or help

them. Also we had a couple of community members and businesses help our as well with money. Our main source of funding this year for our robotics team is grants. Grants let us do everything that

we want with getting our part kits, register for competitions and team apparel. The Metal Mallards

have put on assemblies for our school to get younger students interested and we show it to Toutle Lake

High Schools school board meetings. In the next year I am planning on starting a First Lego League

team for our school as a senior project. This will get even younger kids intrigued and wanting to join

so that once they are too old for Lego League that then can then make the transition to our FRC team

with an idea of what they expect to happen. On a side note our team this year made a set of goals like

having a working robot, have all parts work on the robot, preform game tasks and get more members

on our team. We meet all our goals

Sincerely,

Dylan Iverson

TEAM #4692

Metal Mallards

Toutle Lake High School

Toutle, WA

2014 Drive Team

20

Hello,

My name is Matt Hitchcock. I am the team captain for the Rosalia Agricultural Robotics team (AGGIES).

Our team consists of the entire Rosalia Agricultural mechanics and engineering classes. Every student in

our classroom is a part of the very first step, designing the robot. We as a complete program have input

into our design. Being a rural school, we always try to add some aspect of agriculture into our robot!

Once the design process is complete, we start building the base kit that comes from our Kit of Parts that

we get at the FRC Kickoff at Eastern Washington University

each year. All of the students in the agriculture program sit

around tables that are set up in our shop and help build on the

robot. At that same time some of us, including me as the soft-

ware design leader. We go to the computers and start down-

loading Labview. All of the people on the software team work

on getting the software up and running. We have to wire many

connections to get the motors, compressor, digital side-car, and

the CRio running. During the wiring step, organization is cru-

cial.

Other students that are on input into our design also work on

the building of the robot. Like this year it took the mechanical

crew a week and half to get the arms working on the robot. The

arms had a delicate balance between the front design border and

back border yet be able to pick up the ball! But after a week and half the robot started to work on that part

of the design.

We have some engineering help from a retired Boeing Engineer. Our Agricultural Instructor gives us a lot

of expertise in helping us put our design together in the real world of building! He helps us all from period

to period and after school keep on track with the teams. Giving advice to each group what was done and

what direction we need to head.

Our team runs the robot at one of our last basketball games and this helps to generate community involve-

ment.

It is not easy to raise extra funds for this project in our small town that has many families struggling.

Farms are not always the easiest to have donate funds when they have many expenses in machinery, seed,

fertilizer, and fuel just to mention some of the costs. This project also is difficult to again reapproach agri-

cultural businesses for funding after these businesses donate a considerable amount of funds to the live-

stock projects that we all have. These animals would not be at the local fairs without this funding.

We really appreciate the help that your company has done for our program. Without your support our

school might have to return to not competing in the FRC robotics program.

Thank you very much!

Matt Hitchcock

Agriculture student

TEAM #2923

Rosalia Agricultural Robotics (AGGIES) Rosalia High School

Rosalia, WA

2014 FRC Season Robot

21

First Robotics End of Season Report for Team 4495

Team Mentors:

Andy Howard from Boeing

Brian Tate from Boeing

Robin Despins from Boeing

Scott Houle Seattle Fireman

Joell Boast--Kittitas Teacher and Tech specialist

Phil Kern-- High School Math & Science teacher

Summary of mentor assistance:

Andy Howard provided an invaluable link to the Boeing organization that made further connections

possible. Andy’s suggestion to have Brian join the team provided many positives to the team.

Brian was instrumental in securing the Boeing grant. The great attribute of Brian for us is his enthusi-

asm for education and his knowledge of the technology out in industry and academia. Brian was a con-

stant source of enthusiasm and relaying information on cool stuff that is out there. Brian also knows

where to get really good bagels.

Scott Houle is the father of a team member from last year’s effort. Scott is a fireman from the U Dis-

trict in Seattle. Scott is also a competent mathematician with great technical skills, and a curiosity

about how things work. Scott’s patience in coaching students in working with tools was enjoyable to

watch.

Joell Boast donated lots of her precious free time in working through technical issues and transporting

Kittitas students out to Thorp to work with the robot. Joell sought out help from the staff at C.W.U.,

secured money from the Kittitas school district to cover motel costs for the Eastern competition. She

arranged for our presentation to the Rotary Clubs and the Kittitas School board and created an effec-

tive and engaging powerpoint. Joell constantly is thinking up ways to expand the team and find finan-

cial support.

Additional Support from non-mentors:

Assistant Professor Charles Pringle, Christopher Hobbs and others donated five hours of their time as-

sisting us in sorting through software issues with Labview.

Patrick Penoyer, a physics education major, spent several Saturdays working through programming

issues with team members.

Alex Houle, an engineering student at the U.W. and Boeing intern, also assisted repeatedly with pro-

gramming. Alex and Scott(her dad) made use of facetime at the E.W.U. competition to sort through an

autonomous/ teleop conflict that had left us unresponsive on the field.

Students from Thorp:

Polly Shopbell

Raegan Sallee

Emilie Eggers

Stevan Mayer/Olson

Melea Berline

Aaaron Haave

Haley Lindelof

Christina Brown

Jordan Olivier

TEAM #4495

Tigers

Thorp High School

Thorp, WA

22

Students from Kittitas

Tyler Church

Chesna Kern

Katie Mengeles

Federico Cervelli

Home school students:

Isaiah Sanford

Amy Bryant

Gabe Bryant

Summary of student participation:

Home School students:

This year we reached out to three home school students to broaden our team. Amy provided constant

organizational and wiring help. Gabe was totally focused on programming. Isaiah was tutored in tool

use and fabrication by Scott Houle and had an opportunity to apply those skills.

Combining with Kittitas:

Joell and I worked together on directing the efforts of the team. I have come to appreciate the concept of

not knowing what you don’t know. Joell came up with ideas on growing and managing the team that

hadn’t occurred to me. Her enthusiasm for FIRST provided a big boost to the season’s effort. The skills

of the Kittitas students was divided between Tyler doing programming, Katie working on CAD, Chesna

working on wiring and team management and Federico(an exchange student) trying everything from

programming and fabrication to driving.

Thorp students: This

was the second year for some of the students. Polly, Raegan and Jordan worked on design and fabrica-

tion, Stevan became the rules expert, Aaron was the driver, Emilie and Malea worked on learning CAD

and Haley did scouting. Two students who were not officially on the team worked on the final design,

because they couldn’t resist the opportunity to tinker.

Workshops attended:

Team organization workshop at Auburn Mountain View High School

“How To” workshop at Tacoma School of the Arts

Kick-off and assembly workshop at Wapato

Presentations to promote the team and find sponsorship

Ellensburg Morning Rotary

Ellensburg Noontime Rotary

Kittitas School Board

Thorp School Board

Christina and Haley with assistance from Lynn French(Thorp’s tech support,FBLA advisor and digi-

tools instructor) published a brochure to promote team 4495.

TEAM #4495 Tigers (cont.)

23

Donations:

Retired Teachers association--$150

Jenny Kern--- $100

Bezos Family--$2,000

Boeing--$3700

OSPI--$4925

Kittitas School District--$650

Scott Houle-- loaned tools, use of trailer for Eastern competition and purchased many pieces of hard-

ware.

Competitions:

The team placed 30th out of 31 teams at the Eastern Washington University competition

The team placed 18th out of 34 teams at the Central

Work Times during the six week build:

We met as a group every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30 until 5:00 and sometimes 6:00. On week

ends we started at 10:00 and worked until 5:00.On the bag and tag day we went until 12:00.

Going Forward:

Combining efforts:

We combined efforts with Kittitas for the 2014 season and the result was participation in a second

competition, more presentations to the public about our team and a deeper pool of talent. Based

on this we plan to invite Ellensburg High School to join team 4495. We will change the team

name from Thorp Robotics to Kittitas Valley Robotics to reflect that team 4495 is a community

team. We will continue to reach out to home school students. The changes will increase public

awareness and support for a robust robotics program.

Central Washington University:

Joell has established a relationship with the technology department at C.W.U. We feel the re-

sources of the department are important to the growth of the team. The fact that they are less than

20 minutes away from all the teams makes for some interesting possibilities.

Interesting possibilities for the future:

Work with C.W.U. on a FIRST workshop in November. Afterschool workshops at C.W.U. for

high school students once or twice month during the school year on programming, engineering

design or robotics/mechatronics. This would provide access to areas that even students in running

start do not have. Find instructors to become mentors for our team.

To sustain and grow:

Coordinate a fundraising effort during the off season with a major focus on benefit to community

for this effort. Build a robot in a day events using the Vex IQ and or the Vex Cortex kits with

some basic instruction in programming, CAD work and developing an engineering mindset.

TEAM #4495 Tigers (cont.)

24

Dear Bezos Family,

The school year of 2013-2014 was an extremely good one for Spanaway Lake High School’s FRC

team. As a team, we competed in two events, the Auburn High School event, and the Auburn Mountain

View High School event. In both events, we made it to the semi-final rounds, but sadly never made it past

the first round of eliminations. The robot we built worked fantastically. There were only a few issues here

and there, which were ironed out by our amazing build and programming teams. Although most of our

team is made of first year’s when it comes to robotics, we excelled, and surpassed the productions of last

year’s team. Wayne Ward, our mentor, advised us in such a manner that allowed us to have his help, but

that the final product was totally our creation. Mr. Ward’s previous experiences and fantastic mechanical

knowledge was evident when he talked to us. He knew exactly where we were going wrong when we had

issues, and he always knew how to lead us to the correct answer.

As lead programmer, I can speak to his general abil-

ity to help on subjects he isn’t entirely a master of, one of

these areas being programming. Although he didn’t know

exactly how to program in Java, he helped me think

through logical processes to get to the right answer. When

it comes to student participation in the actual building of

the robot, everyone contributed. No matter what job the

person originally had, they helped in fabricating the parts

used to build our robot. Design helped, programming

helped, even our secretary stepped in every once and a

while to get her hands dirty. All the equipment that was in

Spanaway Lake High School’s machine shop was up to

date. We used lasers to engrave our plastic part covers, and

even used a 3-D printer to print different part caps and flex tube holders. It was cool getting to use machin-

ery I wouldn’t get to use anywhere else. That brings an end to my part, as lead programmer. My name is

DeMarco Best, and I well and truly thank you for your time and donations.

Dear Bezos Family,

I have had the honor to be in the FIRST robotics program for the past three years. I started on the team

as someone who sorts tools and this year grew to be the secretary, in charge of managing the entire team’s

communications.

Throughout those three years, I have witnessed not only myself grow, but the team itself. We started off

with a few people, and only few had extensive knowledge of programming and building, so they did all the

work. This year, however, the entire team was broken up into smaller goal-oriented groups (design, build,

electric, etc.) yet everyone learned a little bit of everything.

The results of our hard work and growth were conspicuous during this year’s FRC competitions. Alt-

hough we were basically a rookie team in having a brand-new mentor and an almost completely different

set of team members (most lacking experience), we made it to the semifinals in both regional competi-

tions.

Our team would not be where it is today without the financial help we have received. Thank you kindly

for helping make our team a great one.

Kari Davidson, Secretary

TEAM #2906

Spanaway Lake Botworx

Spanaway Lake High School

Spanaway, WA

25

Dear Bezos Family,

Robotics is not solely about the robot. Instead, it is about the collaboration within the varying

personalities of a team that makes the creation of a robot possible. Although, there are people like build-

ers, designers, and programmers who physically make the robot. There are others like artists, organiz-

ers, and communication experts who not only help fundraise but also bring awareness for the robot and

robotics.

Most times, members of our team take up multiple jobs and have to learn new skills. In addition

to being a designer, I learned how to set up the basic electrical system, build, and was responsible for

taking photographs of our team’s progress. Halfway through the year, I replaced the treasurer and was

responsible for the team’s finances, like recording the costs for our pit design.

There were also those who were responsible for the team’s community outreach. Their activities

included coaching the FIRST Lego Robotics teams and going out to local businesses to find potential

sponsors. Luckily, we had our own workshop where the robotics team from Graham Kapowsin High

School also built most of their robot. Within the shop, the teams assisting each other despite the fact

they were competing in the same competitions showed how both teams embraced gracious professional-

ism.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without Mr. Wayne Ward’s experience in ro-

botics and extensive knowledge in building. Our mentor provided us with the basics of everything from

the tools in the workshop to designing in Inventor. The basics we learned from him allowed us to create

the robot we have today.

With all things considered, I am grateful for the opportunity your funding has provided for me

and every other member on the team. Your funding has helped me gain friends, experiences, and skills

that I will always treasure and will continue to carry throughout my life.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Ham

TEAM #2906 Spanaway Lake Botworx (cont.)

26

Name of Team: Bits & Bots

Team Number: 3812

Number of years Team has existed: Fourth year

Name of School(s): Mark Morris High School, R. A. Long High School, Kelso High School

Town, State: Longview, WA

Coach(s): Bob Koenig

Number of students on Team: 17 Mark Morris, 3 R. A. Long, 1 Kelso

Number of Mentors:

Mentor Team

Changes in Program

Change in number of students (ie: loss of Seniors due to graduation)

We ended up with the same number of team members as last year. However, this year we removed some of

the members that were not working. The would show up on an irregular basis and became more of a dis-

traction that asset. This year we encouraged them to leave the team and only let the worker bees attend the

competitions.

Change in mentors or coaches, or activities/logistics at school.

We added two Boeing mentors and lost one mentor to the Air Force. All other activities remained the

same. We continue to have our work sessions at Mark Morris High School. They added a 3D Printer to

their machinery this year.

Summarize your major activities in the project- did you find it necessary to adjust the planned activities

and/or timetable? If so, explain.

Major Activities: please provide a paragraph on the following activities:

Competitions - where team competed, awards won (if any)

Girls Generation, Catlin Gabel School, Portland, OR, October 19, 2013

In this competition only girls can drive and work on the robot. There were23 teams from the PNW district

participating. The girls were finalist this year, they were so close to winning. It is a great opportunity for

the girls and a good confidence builder.

Oregon City District Event, March 6 – 8, 2014

We really struggled during the qualifying matches. The robot was not reliable and we made many mistakes

from design, driving to programing. We won our last few matches and ended up 7 – 5, ranked 10th. We

made it into the elimination rounds as alliance 8. We partnered with team 3673, the CYBORG Seagulls

from Seaside OR and team 3636, the Generals from Portland, OR. We lost in the first round.

Central Washington University District Event, March 27 – 29, 2014

Gracious Professional Award

The robot was much more reliable, we were 9 – 3 in the qualifying matches and ended up ranked 6th. We

were alliance 5, partnering with team 2980, the Wildcats from Whidby Island, WA and 2149 CV Bearcats

from Spokane Valley, WA. We won our qualifying matches and made it into the semifinals. The one match

we won in the semi’s was a last minute shot over the truss at the buzzer. It was exciting.

TEAM #3812

Bits & Bots

Mark Morris High School

Longview, WA

27

With the points we won at both of the district events, we were ranked 39th out of the 153 teams in the Pa-

cific Northwest District which qualified us for the PNW District championships in Portland, OR.

Autodesk PNW District Championship, April 10 - 12, 2014 Portland, OR

The top 64 teams from the Pacific Northwest District were invited to the event. The robot ran well and we

were 8 – 4 during qualifying matches which ranked us 8th. As alliance 5 we partnered with team 1595 the

Dragons from Spokane, WA and 2412 the Robototes from Bellevue, WA with their robot Condor. We won

the quarter final matches but lost 2 out of 3 semifinal matches. The Phantom was very reliable during the

competition. We were 80% accurate in autonomous and we were a high scoring team during teleop. Our

offense was what helped us score so well.

Adding in these points, we were ranked 14th in the district which qualified us to participate in the FIRST

Championships in St. Louis.

World Championships, April 24 – 27, 2014 St Louis, MO

We were assigned to the Curie Division. The kids made some changes to the robot and their game strategy.

Our robot did not perform as well, our autonomous scored less than 50% of the time. We were 4 – 5 – 1 in

qualification matches and were not a selection for the elimination rounds. Only one team younger than us

made it into the elimination rounds. Experience is a key factor. It was a great experience and our team

should grow significantly from participating at this level.

Off Season Activities- list all

Our team again hosted a LEGO workshop in June that was attended by 17 middle and elementary school

kids. As a result of the training they formed two FLL teams and competed in the Vancouver event. One

team won the Presentation Award. We also started two JrFLL teams that participated in the Evergreen

Space Museum expo in McMinnville, OR.

We demonstrated our robot for all 4 days of the Cowlitz County Fair for the third year in a row.

The team participated in the annual Squirrel Fest again. This year, we designed and constructed a 16’ long

squirrel bridge. It will be dedicated at the Squirrel Fest in 2014 and installed at Lake Sacajawea. It will be

put over a road so the squirrels can cross safely.

We also had several other demonstrations throughout the town including the STEM workshop held be the

local college.

Robots – Build Period – list accomplishments and challenges

Like last year, we set up work groups specific to mechanical, electrical and programming needs. Each team

member was assigned to a work group with a mentor or two for each. The group had one particular part of

the robot to build and work with the other groups to coordinate design and construction. We had two stu-

dent leaders that directed the daily review meetings. One of our mentors participated in the Fusion 360 be-

ta testing. We used Inventor and Fusion 360 to design our robot. We had two challenges that affected the

building of the robot. The first was that the work sessions progressed rather slowly and we completed the

robot just before bag and tag. We did not have the time to build bot 2. Secondly we had a couple of distrac-

tions that took away from building the robot. We are adjusting our design and work session philosophy to

avoid this in the future.

TEAM #3812 Bits & Bots (cont.)

28

Fundraising – how did you raise funds

Most of our sponsors from the previous year returned to support us again. We also received two additional

grants, OSPI and Weyerhaeuser Giving Foundation. Our biggest money maker was the concert. The week

prior to going to the World Championship, we had our second annual Blues Brothers. With lots of publici-

ty and community pride in the team qualifying for the World Championships, the community responded

with tons of support. We presold many tickets. Lots of items were donated for auction. And the place was

standing room only for the concert. Everybody was very generous in their financial support of our team.

We raised more than $20,000 in 9 days to help pay for the trip.

Robotic Articulation

We studied the game, throwing a ball again. We went with a catapult similar basketball’s Rebound Rum-

ble two years ago. Last year our success came in being a prolific scorer. So we made it much more accu-

rate to score better. There was no end game this year. Due to not getting as much work done as in the past

years we barely got the bot, named Phantom, built before bag and tag. We also did not get a second robot

built as in the past. Therefore, we had little time to work the bugs out and even less time to practice driv-

ing and playing the game. Our first competition was not pretty. Our robot had problems in nearly every

qualifying match. We were lucky to make it to the elimination rounds. We were able to make improve-

ments in consistency and programming glitches for our second competition. Then at the PNW Champion-

ships our robot performed very well. We were 80% accurate during autonomous and were a prolific scorer

in teleop. However, at the World Championships the kids decided to change the drive system from 6”

wheels to 4” wheels. We have had no experience with 4” wheels so we had no data to go on. Also the

drive team decided to change the game strategy to play on the defensive end of the field. Our results were

not nearly as good as the other competitions.

Based on your experience with this project what would you do differently next time?

One of our goals from last year was to complete the robot earlier, that did not happen. We need to rethink

our approach in the preseason so we are much more prepared for the build season. We also need to get the

team leaders to have more emphasis on early completion. We are talking about a “menu” based design

approach. That means to only select designs our team is familiar with and only make changes that have

facts to support it will be an improvement.

Secondly, we are going to be more selective in team membership. People that are far more social that pro-

ductive will be asked to leave.

TEAM #3812 Bits & Bots (cont.)

29

TEAM #4980

Canine Crusaders

Kettle Falls High School

Kettle Falls, WA

Dear Sponsors and Supporters,

This year has been incredible for the Canine Crusaders!

In early January, the Canine Crusaders traveled to Eastern Washington University to the FRC

kickoff for the unveiling of the new robotics game and to secure our equipment and parts. In just

a short six weeks the robot had to be completed and ready for competition. This year’s game re-

quired the robot to gather, carry, shoot, and push large exercise balls through goals both on the

ground and a large goal eight feet above the playing field.

Preparations for the newly established Team 4980 began immediately. Programmers began to

create custom software to power the mecanum wheels and drive train, the mechanical crew

welded and fabricated parts, while the electrical team wired the cpu and motor controllers. It was

a learning experience for all as the students solved tasks as they appeared. The robot took priori-

ty on weekends and required in-class and after-school time. The work continued until just hours

before the end of build season when the bot would be placed in a bag and off limits to the team.

The first competition at EWU came quickly. The robot, while mostly complete, lacked many

features that the team wanted to build. A hastily built pneumatic kicker was added in the short

hours before competition. Veteran teams working under the idea of gracious professionalism,

gave advice and worked to improve the robot. Matches, taking just under 3 minutes, lasted all of

two days as 30+ teams competed. Bearings broke and gearboxes failed as the robots rammed and

pushed each other. Sometimes the team had less than five minutes to fix the problem, but they

excelled under pressure to devise a quick solution. Despite the difficulties, the Canine Crusaders

and bot competed well, garnering the Rookie All-Star award in their first-ever competition.

The second competition at Central Washington University brought excitement as the team ad-

dressed the flaws from the previous competition, the robot was performing better than ever.

Team 4980’s bot, endearingly dubbed “Hippobotamus”, was complete with a fully functioning

kicker and an autonomous mode that allowed for a high goal shot during the short autonomous

period before the match began. The team performed well, earning the Rookie Inspiration award

and placing sixth out of thirty. Regionally ranked, the team qualified for the national competition

in Portland.

In early April, the Canine Crusaders traveled to Portland, the biggest venue yet. 63 teams from

all around the Pacific Northwest gathered to determine who would travel to St. Louis to compete

in the FRC World robotics championships. The team went into the final elimination rounds

ranked 26. However, the teams’ rankings dropped as the team was not chosen for a final alli-

ance. Ranked just under the cutoff for the World Championships, the robotics season was over

for Team 4980.

30

Next January, a new game will be revealed and the team will once again tackle the challenge of building

a robot. This year has been a strong experience for the Canine Crusaders and their bot, Hippobotamus.

With the knowledge and experiences of a strong rookie year, the newly veteran Team 4980 is preparing

for another exciting year.

Team 4980 would like to thank all those who helped in any way to make this season memorable and

would ask for your continued support. We look forward to competing next year!

With our sincere thanks,

Brady Hansen

Canine Crusaders President,

Team 4980

This year’s outcomes:

Student confidence in speaking with others and working in teams

Two senior students have either qualified for or received scholarships due to this program.

Two senior students are enrolled in an engineering program at regional universities.

Team participation as a booth in our Town and Country Day’s celebration.

Team is in the early planning stages of assisting our middle school to establish a FLL team.

TEAM #4980 Canine Crusaders (cont.)

31

Students will be mentored by professional engineers and other business professionals to gain valuable engineering and

business skills; Robo Sparks was fortunate to have three engineers and a farmer as mentors. They shared with the team how engineer

ing is used in their fields.

100% of the students on teams will contribute to building a robot of their teams own design;

All students who participated in the team on a regular, or mostly regular, basis were involved in the design, construction,

programming, and testing of the robot. Approximately 70% of the students who ever attended a meeting, and 100% of the

core group of the team got to participate in the design and building of the robot.

100% of the students on teams will learn and use state of the art software and hardware to fabricate their ro-

bot;

100% of the team got to learn the use of hardware used in the construction of the robot. Only 4 kids were involved with

the software/programming of the robot.

100% of the students on teams will compete and cooperate in alliances and competitions with students from

around the world;

Robo Sparks participated in two district events. All member s of the team who were able to go to the competition were

able to work with the other teams at the events.

100% of the students on teams will learn 21st century workplace skills: teamwork, problem solving, creative/

innovative thinking, communication and financial management;

This was harder to measure. We think all students involved came away with some degree of appreciation and learning in

the area mentioned.

Students will qualify for more than $25 million in college scholarships offered in 2014;

Students qualified but to date we know of no awarded scholarships going to our team.

Students/teams outreach into their communities to raise funds to support their works in FRC including build-

ing the robot, travel expenses and competition fees;

We had a Teriyaki Feed and raised knowledge of the team a little but did not make a profit. Main reason being our build-

ing was under construction which made finding another location for the event difficult and hard to get people to the event.

Students/teams will outreach into their communities/county to grow rookie and rural teams across all four pro-

grams (JrFLL, FLL, FTC and FRC);

Robo sparks has been actively helping rookie teams in our area. We hosted, for the second time, a kick-off in the central

part of Washington. We have been helping the elementary advance class with a robotics challenge and trying to get them

to start FLL.

TEAM #2926

Robo Sparks

Wapato High School

Wapato, WA

32

TEAM #4652

Wolf Tech

Golden Dale High School

Goldendale, WA

FIRST Robotics has been a huge impact on our team members. Throughout the season we have

made friends that we never would have met before, we built upon our knowledge of the science, technolo-

gy, engineering, and math fields, and we developed the skills to gain an edge in a possible future career in

the ever expanding field of technology. Overall I believe FIRST robotics has been a very positive experi-

ence for everyone involved and I look forward to the future of this program and community.

In a fully functioning team, everyone is cooperating with one another and working like a well-

oiled machine. Everyone should maintain a little enthusiasm and optimism to increase their teams overall

perseverance and drive to succeed. Another measure practiced by role models is safety. It prevents anyone

from getting harmed and ruining the fun that is FRC robotics. Role models also need to practice good

sportsmanship and remember to maintain a professional and fun environment everyone can enjoy.

Our team was impacted by the FIRST program by making it so we were more united and worked better

with each other. The community involvement was not a large margin, but we had a couple community

members come forth to help with FRC. Last year we were a rookie team so our team was quite small, and

the team and community were not familiar with FRC

so they didn’t get impacted very much; however, our

robot entertained the crowd at one of our assemblies.

Also we got the rookie all-star award.

During the First Robotics build season and the follow-

ing weeks our team, 4652, spread the message of First

to the schoolmates and figureheads throughout our

community. Throughout the build season our team

reached out to the members of our school in an effort

to bring more comrades onto our team. We used TSA

Club meetings and morning announcements to relay

info about the First Robotics game, gameplay, and the

total program. We talked with the adults of our com-

munity about the FRC program as well.

In the 2013/2014 year, our team has developed structure which has led to more cooperation between

teammates. Last year, our rookie year, there were few people who participated in FRC because they didn’t

understand what FRC was. The 2013/2014 year has been very different because our classmates have seen

our accomplishments during our rookie year which has inspired more dedication this year. The partner-

ship of our team has allowed us to be more ambitious and our team hopes to go far this year.

During the Oregon City FRC Competition there were a few things that could have gone better, one of

which being two judges giving us different information about what would get us a red card, ultimately

resulting in a red card. Along with that, one member of our team was standing in the question box for five

rounds, never being asked what they needed help with. The judges were doing their best, but even with

that in mind, they could have done a much better job at the tournament.

Hard at work!

33

Dear Bezos Family Foundation,

The school year of 2013-2014 was an extremely good one for Bethel High School’s FRC team

# 3237. As a team, we competed in two events, the Auburn High School event, and the Auburn Moun-

tain View High School event. In the Auburn Mountain View event we were able to form an alliance

and against all odds receive the event Championship Award. The robot we built was largely defensive

and performed to our expectations. We will work on building a more versatile robot for next year. Alt-

hough most of our team is made of first year’s when it comes to robotics, we excelled, and surpassed

the productions of last year’s team. Mr. Mike Collins, our mentor, advised us in such a manner that

allowed us to have his help, but that the final product was totally our creation. Mr. Collin’s previous

experiences and fantastic mechanical knowledge was evident when he mentored to us. He knew exact-

ly where we were going wrong when we had issues, and he always knew how to lead us to the correct

answer. As lead programmer, I can speak to his general ability to help on subjects he isn’t entirely a

master of, one of these areas being programming. Although he didn’t know exactly how to program in

Java, he helped me think through logical processes to get to the right answer. He also was able to con-

nect us with the right mentors when needed. When it comes to student participation in the actual

building of the robot, everyone contributed. No matter what job the person originally had, they helped

in fabricating the parts used to build our robot. Design helped, programming helped, even our secre-

tary stepped in every once and a while to get her hands dirty. All the equipment that was in Bethel

High School’s machine shop was up to date. It was cool getting to use machinery I wouldn’t get to use

anywhere else. That brings an end to my part, as President of the Bethel High School’s Robotics

Team. On behalf of Bethel High School’s Robotics Club, I would personally like to thank your foun-

dation for the financial support that allowed us the experience of FIRST. Without the support, it is

doubtful that we could have ever had the resources to build and compete.

Ewurama Karika

President, Robotics Team 3237

TEAM #3237

Volt Eaters

Bethel High School

Spanaway, WA

34

TEAM #4061

The P.A.R.T. Sciborgs

Pullman, WA

Team 4061 – The Palouse Area Robotics Team – End of Year Report

Performance Metrics

· Students will be mentored by professional engineers and other business professionals to gain valu-

able engineering and business skills; Team 4061 is mentored by two Mechanical Engineers, four Soft-

ware Engineers, two Electrical Engineers, and a PhD in Economics

· 100% of the students on teams will contribute to building a robot of their teams own design; Im-

mediately following kickoff, intensive student lead brainstorming results in a robot design concept that

leads to prototyping and experimentation until a final mechanical and software design is arrived at. We

are a small team. Every student is involved in this process.

· 100% of the students on teams will learn and use state of the art software and hardware to fabri-

cate their robot; In the off season mentors provided classes in C++ programming, Mechanical Design, a

pneumatics workshop, and SolidWorks 3D computer aided design. These skills were then applied by the

students in the design and build process. In the 2014 season the team won two Engineering Excellence

and one creativity award for the robot design and build quality.

· 100% of the students on teams will compete and cooperate in alliances and competitions with stu-

dents from around the world; Due to the new district model and the success that the team had this sea-

son, we had the opportunity to compete at both the Eastern and Central Washington University competi-

tions, the PNW Championship in Portland, and the World Championships in Saint Louis. Getting to at-

tend four competitions this season allowed all students to play multiple roles at competitions from scout-

ing, to PR, safety, pit management, and driving/coaching.

· 100% of the students on teams will learn 21st century workplace skills: teamwork, problem solv-

ing, creative/innovative thinking, communication and financial management; As mentioned earlier,

4061 is a small team with a wealth of mentorship. This allows much direct mentorship and hands-on

learning. We have developed our own challenge brainstorming process and practiced it in advance of

the 2014 season kickoff using a 2009 challenge. This process is student lead and consists of subteams

performing rapid brainstorming and then presenting their ideas to the entire groups. Ideas are ranked

using objective measures and then the best ideas from all teams are merged into a final robot and play

strategy concept. This method has proven successful in promoting teamwork, problem solving, creative/

innovative thinking, and communication.

35

· Students will qualify for more than $25 million in college scholarships offered in 2014; Even

though we are a young team, we already have graduated seniors who are benefitting from FIRST schol-

arship money.

· Students/teams outreach into their communities to raise funds to support their works in FRC in-

cluding building the robot, travel expenses and competition fees; Both during the off-season and build

season our students have presented to local businesses and community organizations to raise funds for

the team. Because this season we went to the World Championships this became particularly important,

where our students raised several thousand more dollars on short notice to pay for the registration fees

and some of the travel expenses through reaching out to the community.

· Students/teams will outreach into their communities/county to grow rookie and rural teams across

all four programs (JrFLL, FLL, FTC and FRC); The Palouse Area Robotics Team is located in a rural

area. We are a multi-school, multi-community 4H club representing five different school districts. Stu-

dents have presented the team and robot at their schools, to younger students, school board meetings,

and to other youth organizations. The team has helped to start and mentor two FLL teams over the last

two years. This year one of our FLL teams won the overall Washington State FLL competition.

TEAM #4061 The P.A.R.T. SciBorgs (cont.)

36

Dear Bezos Family Foundation,

We thank you for being one of our team’s sponsors. As you determine the value of your sponsor-

ships by the team’s adherence to certain performance metrics, we have compiled a list of evidences as to

the efficacy of our team. We got help from Jake Siel, a former Boeing engineer who works at a local

manufacturing facility. He assisted in helping our team refine the design of our robot. Our robot’s design

was drawn up using every single member of our team. Many of the parts of our robot were made by the

students. Specifically, we made every part that was not pre-manufactured. But we did restart our design

with our robot right in between two competitions and had 2 weeks to finish, in the end we completely

changed our set up for the robot on time, showing how efficient we could potentially be for future com-

petitions. All of the students participated in the competition process, and we worked quite well with our

alliances, making it to the extermination matches at the Oregon State University competition. Consider-

ing our team numbered only 14, everyone was valuable and they were always kept busy. Two of our

team members applied for scholarships and one member was nominated as a Dean’s List award. We are

planning on continuing community outreach over the course of the summer. As we were a rookie team,

we were unable to provide much help to other rookie teams since we were also rookies, we wouldn’t re-

ally have anything informative to other teams. However, we did receive aid from Team 4450, which

gives us a reason to help the new teams for next year in the next competition.

Sincerely,

FRC Team 5295

TEAM # 5295

Aldernating Current

Mason County, WA

37

Team 3831 results for 2014,

We had a Great year, and Know we can get better!!!!!! Interest from the community and other stu-

dents is growing.

Being from a small rural community, we struggle to gather enough financial support to adequately

run our Robotics program, but with the help of OSPI, The Bezos Family Foundation, Gear Up and

Gebbers Farms we have been able to compete the last four years. We need to continue to look for

additional sponsors.

We are also limited in the availability of mentors that can dedicate enough time to the Robotics pro-

gram. However this is being resolved each year as more people see what we are doing

This last year our team consisted of twelve students, who worked outside of the school day. All of

our team members worked on the designing, and building of our robot. Our current mentor is our

teacher but we use other community people and teachers for different parts of our designing, pro-

gramming and building.

One problem this year is that we changed programming software and struggled to learn it at the level

that we needed to in order to make our Robot work as it was designed to do. During our last compe-

tition we developed some mechanical problems which slowed our robot down and we were unable to

correct during the completion.

This next year we will network with Gebbers Farms and Dan McKinney on the development of the

pneumatics and Ann George for the programming of our Robot .

Sincerely,

Team 3831

The Bears

Brewster, Washington

TEAM #3831

The Bears

Brewster High School Brewster High School

Brewster, WA Brewster, WA

38

Bezos Family Foundation,

This was a fantastic year for us! We went to Regionals! It was such an extraordinary journey. Our team this

year was stacked a mile-high with experience. We had a team of seven seniors and two sophomores. With

a team so small, we were reliant on the contributions of everyone on the team. Whether it was building the

grabber, to wiring electronics, to brainstorming, to buying parts for next year, to managing our funds, eve-

ryone on our team contributed to our robot somehow. And all of these contributions led to a robot that was

100% unique. No other robot at any of the competitions looked quite like ours. And that was something we

were proud of, because it gave us the opportunity to share our designs with everyone else who did it differ-

ently. The amount of times somebody walked by our robot in the pits at competition and said “whoa”, was

immeasurable. We only had two mentors, Mr. Ward (engineering teacher, robotics coach for a different

team, CAD teacher, Construction teacher, etc…), and Mr. Bayes(who from what I can tell is a very good

programmer that works at a shipping company) so you can only imagine how much we relied on these two

gentleman. They taught us so much. From my own experience, Mr. Ward taught me how to CAD things,

he taught me how to check and double check measurements, he taught me how to safely and confidently

use machinery, and he taught me what FIRST was all about, and on countless occasions I would see Mr.

Ward teaching people how to CAD parts before building, how to use this or that piece of machinery , it

was incredible, and he always made us CAD what we wanted to build, and he always helped us do it. And

then there is Mr. Bayes, who in my personal experience taught me that teamwork trumps all other parts of

FIRST, and from what I can tell he taught this to everyone on the team, he showed us how our teamwork

TEAM #2927

Pi Rho Techs Graham Kapowsin High School

Graham, WA

39

could benefit our final product. He taught all of us how to effectively neutralize hostility and hatred, and

how to build a team atmosphere. He taught me how to work with the people around me effectively and

how to be a part of a “team” atmosphere, and he, like Mr. Ward, also helped us to grow into using state of

the art technology to build our robot. He helped multiple of our team members learn how to code a robot,

and he did a darn good job too. Our robot worked flawlessly at competition thanks to our knowledge on

how to use this technology.

This year we helped at our school district’s ABC day, where an

FLL competition was being hosted, I had the honor to be one

judges, and it was an eye opening experience. This is something

that I think is/was most rewarding about being on the team this

year, the outreach with the younger kids. This is not the only thing

that our team did though, we are in the process of helping Yelm High School get an FRC program (one of

our team members was from Yelm High School, he was on our team because they have none), and in fu-

ture years we are going to continue to help get an FRC program started there. We have also, in the past

years, this year included, helped two FTC teams which are located at the Junior High, now a middle school

that is on the same campus / lot that our high school is. On top of these things, we have also started to grow

awareness about FIRST within our high school. Since the end of the season many staff members and stu-

dents alike have expressed interest in becoming a part of our program, and in fact this is how our team does

outreach, we spread the word about FIRST. Spreading the word about first actually generated the funds we

needed so that we could go to Regionals in Oregon. We reached out to local contracting companies that

build houses and asked them if they would support our team, and we got some questions, such as: What is

FIRST?, Where is Graham Kapowsin?, What is Robotics?, etc… And when the contractors found out, they

almost instantly agreed to support us. Outreach is set to be our number one goal for next year. Along with

building a huge robotics team that embodies FIRST ideals of course.

Pi Rho Techs

TEAM #2927 Pi Rho Techs (cont.)

40

Final report Team 3575:

The team was mentored primarily by Lonnie Dixon, and Joe Bryson. The team decided to design a robot

that would be defensive in nature and used several method to attain that goal. All members of the team

participated in some way to develop the robot. The robot was designed in three stages---motors and move-

ment, frame and coverings, then the defensive apparatus. The students involved had the robot operational

in two weeks and completed the build by the February due date. Students worked a combined 425

hours on the robot. Students are encourage to use any technology available to them this year we used Au-

toCAD and Java for our main programs. Every student was given the opportunity to develop their own

ideas and put those ideas into the whole of the robot. Students were encourage to attend the competitions

in Cheney and Ellensberg, some students chose to not attend for several reasons (sports, finances or school

responsibilities). In Cheney team 3575 was selected to participate in an alliance and placed fairly high in

the competition. Ellensberg our team had a bit more of hard time and competed in every match but was not

selected to participate in an alliance.

All students involved were given an opportunity to advance their skills in fabrication, design and econom-

ics by participating in the building, design and fund raising for the robot. Students worked hard to make

the project a success and our team competed on the highest level to date. No seniors participated on this

year's team but all students were informed on the scholarships available to them and how to make an appli-

cation for those scholarships. Our FFA in association with Team 3575 developed a fund raiser to help off-

set some of the cost of participating in the FRC events. We held a dinner and auction and a gift basket

Christmas fundraiser and raised almost $2500.00 for the FRC robotics competition. We plan to develop

more fund raising opportunities over the next year to offset more of the cost.

Team 3575 has reached out to the Middle school and Elementary school to try to get other teacher to devel-

op the other programs available at this point in time we have not been successful---we are going to keep

trying and see if we can get others involved to help grow the program in the future.

Respectfully submitted,

Team 3575

TEAM #3575

Okanogan FFA Okanogan, WA

41

Moses Lake High School Robotics

Year-End Report

http://fremontrobotics.com/firstLogo.gif

Part I:

Institutional Name: Moses Lake High School

Institutional City, State: Moses Lake Washington

Part II: Executive Summary

Robotics at Moses Lake High School gave students who normally would not be in the field of STEM

(Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) a practical look at how those things could

apply in real life, and that anyone could learn it.

For example, students who were interested in programming learned the basics in a very short time

and were able to help create code to supplement our robot within days.

Part III Community Involvement:

We as a school reached out to local businesses and people for funding, materials, and information to

help us build. Many people became involved in the process of our building and our trip to the

competitions. A few examples on the fly would be Genie, REC silicon, and Moses Lake Industries.

Probably the best practices we’ve developed as a result would be to get out there and be social,

promote what we are doing, all to see how many more people we can get involved, because its more

easy, and more fun when there are more people who are interested involved.

Around 30 people originally were signed up to be in robotics, but we ended up taking about 8 to

competition, but every member was involved in some point of getting our bot done and ready for or

competition. We plan on extending both community involvement and member involvement

through fundraisers and other activities this next season.

TEAM #4105

ChiefBOTSFTS Moses Lake High School Moses Lake, WA

42

TEAM # 3711

The Iron Mustangs

Trout Lake School

Trout Lake, WA

Bezos Family Foundation

Team Report Form 2014

Name of Team: The Iron Mustangs

Team Number: 3711

Number of years Team has existed: 3

Name of School(s): Trout Lake School

Town, State: Trout Lake, WA

Coach: Sally Wells

Number of students on Team (separated by school): 12, all from Trout Lake

Number of Mentors: 5

43

TEAM #3711 The Iron Mustangs (cont.)

Mentors

Terry Schmid - Owns Terry Schmid Gravel Co.- pneumatics and mechanical advice and sup-

port. Terry also came up with the idea for collecting scrap metal as a fundraiser. He personally has

hauled our loads to Portland, Oregon, which is nearly 100 miles from Trout Lake

Patrick Betalle - Electrical engineer for Cloud Cap Industries - programming

Fred Paxson – furniture builder, sawmill owner - fabrication

Ken Tiffan - Fisheries Biologist for U.S.G.S - Fabrication

Brian Dennis – mechanical engineer Innovative Composite Engineering – fabrication

Ben McKinney – self-employed software engineer

Rod Nelson – Nelson Brothers’ Engineering – electrical engineer

Sally Wells – coach – “queen bee” – logistics – paper work and anything else that needs to be

don

Changes in Program from 2013 to 2014:

Three seniors graduated

Two students did not return to team

Five new students

Seven returning students

Added two new mentors

Major Activities

Competition

For our 2014 robotics season we attended two district competitions: Eastern Washingtion and

Central Washington Regionals. We placed well in both events, making it to the finals at both competi-

tions. Our fifth place finish at Ellensburg was our highest rank we have received after the qualifying

rounds. In addition, we received the Innovation and Design Award at Eastern and the Judges Award at

Central. We were seeded 51st entering the Portland Regional competition and finished in 34th place.

Off Season activities

Girl’s Generation held at Catlin Gable School - Girl’s Generation was a great way for the girls on

our team to get more experience and involvement in the team.

Rookie Rumble was added to Catlin Gable’s competition weekend – we sent several students to

participate who had not previously been drivers.

44

TEAM #3711 The Iron Mustangs (cont.)

All-school and community assembly - Student team members showcased this year's experience and

demonstrated the robot's functions. This gave us an opportunity to recruit potential students for

next year and to thank our community for its amazing support.

WSSDA – Washington State School Directors Association – Five students presented to an audience of

about 100 people promoting FIRST in general. Additionally, we demonstrated our 2013 robot and

fielded questions from the audience.

WASSA – Washington Association of School Superintendents and Administrators – As a result of our

presentation at WSSDA, we were invited to present to the Small Schools Task Force at the annual

WASSA conference. We focused on the challenges of fund raising in small rural districts, as well

as the community support we receive.

FLL Mentoring – One of the seniors, Josh Clark, coached an FLL team as his senior project.

Web Site – A junior on the team, Corbin Steffy, redesigned our web site through an on-line class.

Overall, the project activities we attended provided great educational experience, increased commu-

nity awareness of our team, increased FIRST exposure, helped with fundraising, gave team members pub-

lic speaking opportunities and most of all encouraged new teams from small and rural schools by present-

ing them a successful role model through our example.

Pre-Build Season

The team started meeting on a weekly basis in late September. We worked on grant writing, our

website, fund raising activities and publicity. In addition, we spent time in the shop going over safety pro-

cedures and use of various tools. Team members practiced driving our 2013 robot and prepared for Girls’

Generation and Rookie Rumble hosted by Catlin-Gable’s team 1540.

Everyone went through safety training on all of the power tools. Everyone, especially the new girls

were given opportunities and encouraged to use the equipment.

Robot - Build Period

The first week of the building season started with a dinner where we showed the Kick-off video to

families, friends, mentors and interested community members. This was a good way to involve parents

from the very beginning. We also asked parents and community members to sign up for dinners, which

made our late evening work sessions a bit more enjoyable.

Initially, we broke into several teams to work on different functions for the robot: chassis and drive

system, yoga ball launcher and strategy. The chassis and launcher ideas progressed quite well, going

through several different options in the prototype phase.

Lillie Rodriguez took an active role in the electrical wiring, following last year’s wiring and study-

ing the wiring diagrams in the FRC manual.

Our launching mechanism is a hoop that holds the yoga ball in a webbing strap. As the hoop rotates, the

ball is launched at the target. Our “Whipper Snapper” design was quite successful, but not accurate 100%

of the time. It could shoot over the truss and acquire balls on the field whether it is picking up off the floor

or being fed by a human player. It could shoot at both low and high goals.

Adding numerous sensors, a ultrasonic range finder, a photo-eye and an encoder improved our ac-

curacy. Additionally, programming these sensors was a challenge for the programmers and was a major

contribution to being awarded the Innovation and Design Award.

There seems to be constant revision and tweaking of the robot, not just between district competi-

tions, but also between almost every match. The spontaneous troubleshooting is dynamic and creative.

45

TEAM #3711 The Iron Mustangs (cont.)

The programming process for the robot was much more satisfying than in previous years. A new

mentor, Ben McKinney, worked closely with several students to program in C++. The communication

between the programmers and the fabricators was stronger than any previous year. This was largely due

to having many team members trying their hand in all areas of the FIRST process. Everyone took part in

building the robot. Everyone worked on the media team, taking or sorting pictures, making slide shows,

writing articles for the school and local news papers, and presenting to audiences.

Fundraising

Fundraising for the 2014 season was truly a team effort. Team members helped with community

fundraisers, different activities and applied for grants. Grant writing was more difficult this year than in

previous years. We received grants from the Bezos Family Foundation, Boeing, and Google. The grant

dollar amounts from several of our granters was less than in previous years. We lost grants from jcpenny

and Platt. We did increase the number of local business supporters. Our signature Team fundraiser re-

mains collecting and recycling scrap metal. Based in a dairy farming community, we gathered close to 7

tons of scrap metal bringing us over $1700. We continue to brainstorm ways in which we could both

raise funds and promote FIRST in our community.

Robotic Articulation

Chassis - We to use a four-wheel independent drive system with Mecanum wheels.

Our launcher utilized two CIM motors attached to a hoop that rotated 360 degrees that could both

launch the ball and assist in the capture of balls on the field.

The pick up devise used two wheels with one motor to draw the yoga ball into the robot with the

help of the hoop arm to hold the ball in place.

In the coming year, we are looking at several areas for possible change. Some of these may be

too ambitious to attack next year, but we're looking ahead. Here is our wish list:

expand the number of students who are interested in programming in C++

learn how to use CAD software

explore 3-D printing

participate in more community outreach

act as mentors to another team

start another FLL team for our middle school students

maintain our 2013 and 2014 robots to practice driving

improve our robotics' shop space, which we currently share with the school's wood shop in a small

area that used to be a welding area.

expand our fundraising efforts

46

TEAM #3711 The Iron Mustangs (cont.)

Please describe the direct results of your project activities. In reviewing the activities carried out in

this grant program, what happened as a result of each one?

Trout Lake Fair was a great way to introduce our robot and FIRST to the community. It sparked inter-

est in all age groups, from kindergarteners to grandparents and the team got to share how important

FIRST is to the future of technology.

Girls Generation, held at Catlin Gable School, was a wonderful experience for the girls on our team and

boys as well. The Girls got to drive the robot and get a sense for what it feels like to be on the field

and engaged. It's a great way to get more girls interested in robotics and on teams. It really boosted

confidence and made the girls feel more comfortable around the robots.

Community and school Assemblies were another outreach to let the community know how we are pro-

gressing and how their money is being used. The town loves to hear about all that we have accom-

plished and how FIRST is affecting the community.

Four students traveled to Bellingham to do a presentation at the WASSDA (Washington Association of

State School Directors Association). Their presentation promoted FIRST programs, in general, and

specifically addressed the challenges of maintaining a program in a small school district. We shared

a Power Point presentation and demonstrated our 2013 robot.

In March another four students did a similar presentation at the WASSA (Washington Association of

School Superintendents and Administrators). These two presentations gave students real world

practice in presenting to an audience and promoted FIRST programs in Washington state.

Iron Mustang Budget Summary

Income

Grants

Boeing $3700

Bezos Family Foundation $2300

Google $1350

Contributions

Individuals & local businessses $1,825

Scrap Metal

2 loads $1870

TOTAL INCOME $11,045

Expenses

Robot $2955.00

T-shirts 340.00

Food - practices, Cheney, Ellensburg, Portland $848.00

Tools $200.00

Mileage $1200

Lodging

Cheney – 2 nights 980

Portland – 3 nights $2134

Parking $190

Ellensburg- 2 nights $860

Registrations - 2 district & regional $9,000

TOTAL EXPENSES $18,000

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TEAM #3711 The Iron Mustangs (cont.)

Our expenses exceeded our revenue significantly this year, though we did have a healthy carryover bal-

ance from the previous three years. In the coming years, we need to become more creative with fund rais-

ing. We wanted to keep last year’s robot operational during the build season so that more team members

could practice driving and the programmers could experiment with adding sensors without waiting for the

2014 robot to be completely fabricated.

What makes your Team great?

This year’s team felt like a well-oiled machine. The group dynamics were smooth with a great deal

of respect for each other, personal responsibility and lots of good humor. Perseverance, open minds and

elbow grease hold our robot and team together. We are great because we press forward. We are great be-

cause we think. We explore new ideas, new technology, and new solutions. We redesign, reprogram and

recreate until perfection is an understatement. We are great because we work hard and we have a lot of fun

together. We are proud to be Team 3711, the Iron Mustangs from Trout Lake Washington, because we are

defined by who we are, not by what we have done.

Challenges:

We will always face the challenge of being a very small, rural school. There are only about fifty

students in our high school. Most of our team members were also involved in sports after school and/or

band, which is a zero period class before school. In addition, the students are involved in student govern-

ment, senior projects, junior place based learning trip (one week), National Honor Society, and the list

goes on. Our meetings often started at 5:30 pm to accommodate basketball and track practices, all day Sat-

urday and Sunday afternoons.

Our rural community is fifty miles from the closest Home Depot and 25 miles from a carry out piz-

za shop. Finding a shop that can help fabricate parts or weld aluminum is another challenge. Fortunately,

our mentor, Terry Schmid, seems to know everyone in the surrounding area with any mechanical talent.

His connections led us to some wonderful people who were often willing to drop what they were doing to

help out the Iron Mustang team.

Impact of team: (For example, all graduation seniors got scholarships to colleges.) How many students

intend to pursue a STEM major? List Colleges/universities seniors will be attending if known.

Because we are such a small team, many people played many different roles on the Iron Mustangs.

We had a media and communications team this year, which included Emma Tiffan, Lillie Rodriguez,

Devin Van Laar, Emily Shields, Corbin Steffy and Tamaira Huffsmith. Emma was the media liaison. Ri-

ley Steffy and Mandy Lee were the safety coordinators.

The Mustangs also had a fabrication team, which included the robot’s drive team: Corbin Steffy,

Micah Melkonian, Josh Clark and Devin Van Laar. Other crucial members of the team included Seth Tif-

fan, Corbin Steffy, Emma Tiffan, and Lillie Rodriguez, as well as their mentors, Terry Schmid, Brian Den-

nis and Ken Tiffan. Sebastian Lewis, new to the team, took on the role as head programmer. He brought

experience programming in both C++ and Java and did an excellent job, with the help of new mentor, Ben

McKinney. These roles were the main ones that the team members fell into, but many people had to take

on new and different roles in order to get everything that needed to be done accomplished.

Last summer 2013, Corbin Steffy attend Insitu’s Roboflight Academy. Josh Clark worked as a high

school intern at Insitu. This summer, 2014, Corbin will serve as an intern with Insitu and Micah

Melkonian will intern with a small technology firm in Husum, WA.

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Being involved in this First Team has inspired many students to pursue a STEM major. Many

new students have expressed interest in an engineering or software career that they wouldn't have even

thought possible without FIRST. The Students are excited about the new opportunities that FIRST of-

fers and the scholarships that can help them reach their goals. Without FIRST, many would not have

discovered that they were interested in programming, or engineering. Our Graduating Seniors are excit-

ed to pursue STEM education. Josh Clark will attend the University of Washington and has been accept-

ed into the pre-engineering dept. Devin Van Laar will attend Seattle Pacific University with an interest

in communication. Seth Tiffan will attend Clark Community College with plans to transfer to Washing-

ton State University to pursue mechanical engineering. Amanda Lee and Riley Steffy plan to attend

community colleges.

2014 Report created by Seth Tiffan, Micah Melkonian, Corbin Steffy and Sebastian Lewis with editing

assistance from coach, Sally Wells

TEAM #3711 The Iron Mustangs (cont.)

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Washington FIRST Robotics 21238 68th Avenue South

Kent, WA 98032 W: WWW.FIRSTWA.ORG WASHINGTONFIRSTROBOTICS

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