Jan
25

Engineering Excellence

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FIRST Robotics team 2169, KING TeC designed and built a robot that competed in multiple competitions winning several awards, in the 2011 game Logo-Motion.

In Logo-Motion, two alliances of three robots each competed to score inner tubes on pegs at various
heights: the higher the peg, the more points. In a fifteen second autonomous period, robots placed uber
tubes to double the points from any other tube on that peg. During the last ten seconds, robots could
deploy a minibot in a race to climb a ten foot pole for bonus points.

Everyone contributed to the design utilizing a white board process. After analyzing several options team
2169 decided to build a double jointed arm with a pneumatic pinching claw. The arm and claw extended to a maximum height of eleven feet, easily reaching the highest peg. The claw boasted 270 degrees of rotation so that it could pick up and place tubes at any position. The team used pneumatics to deploy their minibot and were one of the fasted in the country. To help the driver align, a camera on the robot sent a video signal to the drive computer, and an alignment mechanism angled the robot inward to decrease the margin of error. The minibot itself went through 13 iterations, finally ending with a speed of 1.3 seconds to the top of the ten foot pole

For driving, KING TeC decided that a six wheel drive system with drop center wheels would be best. The team also used a two speed shifting transmission for the first time. The shifters were geared at 18ft/ s and 4ft/s. With this set-up, KING TeC had quick maneuverability while being able to push other robots across the 54 foot field.

In the Duluth regional competition KING TeC won them the Excellence in Design award for their
innovative robot design, and were finalists in the tournament competition. The team also won FIRST’s
highest honor, the Chairman’s award, winning the team a ticket to the world competition. At the
Minneapolis regional, KING TeC took home the Engineering Excellence award and again were finalists
for the competition. The cohesive and effective design continued to pay-off at the World Championships
in St. Louis, where KING TeC won the Imagery Award which celebrates attractiveness in engineering
design and outstanding visual aesthetic integration.

The team continued with their building efforts for the 2012 game, Rebound Rumble, and is only a few
weeks away from shipping their robot to its first competition.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an organization that supports
the spread of science and technology globally by sponsoring and hosting yearly robotics competitions
worldwide.

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Jan
07

“Sport of the Mind” Returns

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The 2012 FIRST Robotics competition season has begun with the announcement of the new
game for 2012: Rebound Rumble

January 7th, 2012 – “Greetings techno overlords and welcome to the 2012 FIRST Robotics Competition
Kick-Off,” – proclaimed Stephen Colbert.

The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) began with celebrities, presidents, and CEOs presenting the next
technology challenge, Rebound Rumble, to an estimated crowd of 60,000 people worldwide.

Based loosely on basketball, the goal of Rebound Rumble is to have robots fire foam balls into 4
regulation basketball hoops at various heights while navigating a field with 6 robots, steel girders and
balancing ramps as obstacles. Finally teams try to balance their robots on the teeter-totter like bridges
at the end of the two and a half minute match for bonus points.

FRC robotics high school teams only have six weeks to build robots that will perform what takes
professional athletes years of dedication to accomplish. Accuracy of shooting is paramount along with
agility, maneuverability and team work. Robots compete 3 on 3 in the fast paced matches.

This year, there are 154 active Minnesota FRC teams preparing to test their hoops skills against each
other. As the fastest growing FRC state in the country Minnesota hopes to figure prominently among top
FRC states.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an organization that supports
the spread of science and technology globally. The organization is sponsoring three competitions in
Minnesota: The Lake Superior Regional in Duluth, the 10,000 Lakes Regional and the North Star Regional
both at the University of Minnesota.

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Dec
17

Technology with Flair

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Prior Lake High School – December 17, 2011 – The largest in-house middle-school Vex robotics competition in Minnesota took place in the high school’s gymnasium. The gym was filled with over two hundred Prior Lake Robotics members and parents.

For the last five years, members of KING TeC have created the game and hosted the VEX tournament. This year, the game was named Solar Flair and involved three scoring components: a comet, a moon ball, and the sun ball(a football, a rubbery basketball, and a 20” round exercise ball respectively). The goal was to move these game elements to each side of the field for points or into an off-field crate for even more points. Whoever was in possession of the large sun ball at the end gained a massive amount of points!

From its humble beginning with only six teams, the program has grown to sixteen teams and sixty-seven members from Hidden Oaks and Twin Oaks.   With only nine weeks, and assistance from KING TeC members, these teams each devised different ways to complete the challenge. From pushing and carrying balls to launching them via a trebuchet, the kids found unique design strategies to effectively play the game and in the process learn mechanical engineering, programming, strategy development problem solving and more. “The kids don’t even recognize all they are learning” commented Joe Passofaro, director of the program. “When you put the kids in a fun competitive environment, it doesn’t matter how tough the challenge is, the kids will rise to the occasion.”

Robots, competition, and fun went hand in hand during the tournament. The stands were filled with cheering parents and fellow students. Even before the stressful final match, a new member to the program exclaimed “My team made it to finals in my first year; I don’t care whether we win or lose. This is awesome.”

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Dec
15

BOMBS AND ROBOTS

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December 15th, Prior Lake High School Auditorium – Prior Lake High School FIRST Robotics Team 2169, KING TeC and the Bloomington Bomb Squad presented to over 200 kids about robotics technology,

The topic of the presentations was practical robotics, as well as its applications in the real world.  The bomb squad comprised of six members, three of which were at the event, brought two robots that they use to destroy, disarm, or contain bombs along with their custom bomb suites the team members where when a robot just doesn’t work.  The squad drove their robots around and demonstrated their abilities which included a water cannon, several cameras and a “jaws of life” like claw mechanism for tearing into metal vessels.

Along with the demonstration a bomb squad member explained the possibilities with technology saying “Take a look at these big robots; there are all kinds of careers around it”.  Robotics team mentor, Joe Passafaro agreed telling the audience that “in playing with technology, everyone can go pro”.

KING TeC brought two competition robots to contrast the big bomb squad machines. They demonstrated the robots’ functions, such as an arm that can grab tubes eleven feet in the air and a shooting mechanism on one of their smaller robots.  While the robots were very different in construction, there were many similarities. “I’m very impressed at what the kids have built, and especially building the big robot in just six weeks” commented the lead Bomb Squad robot operator. The bomb squad and KING TeC rounded off the presentation by allowing the crowd to come on stage and see the robots up close.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an organization that supports the spread of science and technology globally by sponsoring and hosting yearly robotics competitions worldwide.

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Nov
24

Minnesota Tech Competitions Underway

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Prior Lake High School – November 24th 2011 – FIRST Robotics Teams from Eagan, Edina and Prior Lake hosted the Minne Mini-Regional involving twenty-five teams from across the state and one team from North Dakota in what is called the “competition of the mind.”

The game, played at the Minne Mini- Regional, is based off of the 2011 FIRST Robotics season: Logomotion.  Logomotion requires robotics teams with students ages 14-18 to engineer and build a robot that can score tubes on a ten foot rack and deploy a small robot up a ten foot pole.

FIRST robotics teams 2052, 2847, and 3883 from New Brighton MN, Fairmont MN, and Cottage Grove MN, respectively, scored big and took home first place medals in the competition. Prior Lake team KING TeC took home Gracious Professional award and advanced to the semi-finals where they were eliminated when one of their alliance partners committed a red card penalty disqualifying the alliance.

This regional allowed new team members from teams across Minnesota to prepare for the upcoming FIRST Robotics Kick-off on January 7th when the new 2012 game will be released to FIRST robotics teams.

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Sep
09

Local Robotics Team Meets with Boston Scientific Founder

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Minneapolis Convention Center, Minnesota – September 9, 2011 – Well-known medical company Boston Scientific invited FIRST FRC Robotics Team 2169, KING TeC teens to their annual convention with over 4,000 Boston Scientific employees and VIPs.

KING TeC members spoke to hundreds of employees on industry and business including John Abele, co-founder of Boston Scientific and supporter of FIRST Robotics programs. John Abele gave key advice such as “Perfect is the enemy of Good” to “Work outside of your comfort zone” for innovation to the small crowd of listening teens.

The members of KING TeC demonstrated their robot which the team used to compete in robotics competitions this year. The robotics team had shown the robot at other events but not under the eyes of the Boston Scientific co-founder.

The robotics team left the convention with a greater knowledge of business and of the real job world. “This kind of interaction is invaluable to the kids in bringing them a greater awareness of how the business world works” says KING TeC mentor Joe Passofaro. And the kids couldn’t agree more, “We never get this kind of insight from the classroom” commented Tyler Thostenson, current head of KING TeC’s strategy department.

KING TeC is a FIRST Robotics team based in Prior Lake, Minnesota. Boston Scientific has sponsored KING TeC since the team’s creation six years ago and continues to support other FIRST Robotics teams.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an organization that supports the spread of science and technology globally by sponsoring and hosting yearly robotics competitions worldwide.

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Sep
03

State Fair Competition Day

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The Great Minnesota Get Together was also a Great Robotics Get Together! Teams across the state came together for one more competition at the State Fair. KING TeC competed with 2220, Blue Twilight in a demonstration for fair-goers. Each team had to complete five tasks for points: Scoring tubes, parking in a corner, de-scoring tubes, stacking tubes, and scoring mini-bot. Teams had three chances to demonstrate their robots and to score as many points as possible. Every demonstration, KING TeC completed each task with style, using methods no other team had tried, such as de-scoring tubes by using an already de-scored tube. Between each demonstration members of KING TeC talked to fair-goers about FIRST robotics programs and the life benefits the programs offer. Kids also had a chance to drive KING TEC’s robot! Kids enjoyed driving and seeing the robot in action, they were excited knowing that they too could build a robot in the future. At the beginning of the day, the high score for the competition was 365. By the end, KING TeC set a new high score at 465 points! KING TeC ended the demonstration by telling the entire education building our team number. 2169!

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Aug
31

STEM at the Minnesota State Fair

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FIRST Team KING TeC as well as other Minnesota First robotics FRC and FTC teams participated in celebrating and spreading STEM at the great Minnesota get together. To show the public what a FIRST robotics team builds we brought the robots from Overdrive, Breakaway, and Logomotion to the fair grounds. Parents and children alike were in awe of the three robots. When they learned each robot was built in only six weeks, jaws dropped. As more people crowded around the robots, more of them asked questions such as ‘What is FIRST, How does this program benefit kids,’ and ‘How can I join the program.’ KING TeC members answered any question the fair-goers had. We also displayed pictures of FRC and FTC robots and competitions for show as well as having a sign-up sheet for anyone interested in learning more about FIRST robotics programs. For kids that are interested in FIRST, we brought FTC robots and a field for the kids to drive on.

Also on Stem Day at the Fair, KING TeC joined senator Al Franken and Dave Stead to announce that the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) is partnering with FIRST to make FIRST robotics competitions even more mainstream in high school. There will now be a state championship competition which teams will qualify for at the FIRST regional competitions. Robotics in the state of Minnesota will now have the same prominence as other high school league sports such as football and basketball.

For more information about this announcement please visit the MSHSL website

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Aug
31

Robotics Becomes Minnesota State High School League Activity

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During the Minnesota State Fair this past August, Senator Al Franken and MSHL Executive Director Dave Stead, along with FIRST FRC Team 2169, KING TeC of Prior Lake, and other Minnesota FRC and FTC teams announced that the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL)  have partnered with FIRST and will now support and recognize FIRST robotics competitions.

The announcement was made on STEM at the Fair day; a day designated to celebrate science and technology in Minnesota.  The day included several robotics demonstrations by various groups with a large section for FIRST robotics. Activities included various science demonstrations, driving FTC robots on a regulation FRIST field, interacting with the large FRC robots, and live science experiments on the main stage put on by the University of Minnesota Physics Department.

With the partnership of FIRST and MSHSL, a state tournament, aside from the yearly FIRST regionals, will be held in late spring. This recognition of science and technology in schools was made possible by the rapid growth of FIRST teams in the state; going from two teams in 2006, to one-hundred-thirty-one in 2011.

Robotics will now have the same status as other state sanctioned events such as football, band, and basketball. FIRST robotics now has the chance to become a larger phenomenon in one of the fastest growing areas for FIRST in the country.

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Aug
07

Lakefront Days Parade 2011

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The Lakefront parade turned out to be an amazing success. KING TeC’s float was a giant robot complete with gray paint,  moving arms and a spinning head. Both sides included the FIRST logo and a few of the team’s accomplishments this season. On the truck pulling the robot, the competition robot was on display for everyone to see. It looked very nice with streamers hanging from its claw. Members of KING TeC surrounded the float on its trailer and on the ground. Some lucky kids received candy too, they looked happy. Not only were the kids happy with us, but we got the crowd pumping with music and our team cheer. The crowd enjoyed this parade as much as we did. After going through the parade and disassembling the float, KING TeC celebrated the 2011 season by having a beach party! With the end of the party came the end of the year for KING TeC, but we will always be working to spread STEM and the message of FIRST.

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