Bobcaygeon Robotics Club

The final competition of the year on Wednesday May 16th at Gravenhurst High School. Battle Bots!!!!

Details:
TLDSB RoboFair
Date: May 16, 2018
Location: Gravenhurst Highschool
Time: 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM
Buses will leave earlier and we may have to meet buses at another school. Stay tuned for an email from me.

We are back!!! After far too long, we have resumed. Wednesday after school for 1.5 hours (pickup 5pm).

We are shifting gears now from precision and planned sequences to strategic offensive and defensive operation that is very exciting and chock full of learning experiences.

BATTLE BOTS!

We will compete in a board competition at Halliburton High sometime in May with many other schools using an 8 bot playing field. The object is to gain the most points by lasting the longest (without being pushed off the field or being disabled) and by pushing other bots off the field. Teams of 3-4 can design their bot to be offensive, defensive or hybrid.

This requires knowledge of gearing ratios (Power vs. Speed), ultrasonic sensor use to detect other bots near them, gyroscope readings to detect if their bot is being tipped over or pushed in a direction other than what they want, rotation sensors to sense stalled wheel rotation and touch sensors to know when they have made contact!

Strategic and Tactical Planning
Our kids must understand and analyze what could happen in the ring and then plan overall strategy for coming out on top. Then create tactical maneuvers to carry out that strategy.

Programming
We will take programming to a new level this term, by running multi-threaded processes to monitor various sensors and react accordingly. Those processes will interact based on strategy - for example, one process may be carrying out a push attack on a bot, but if the edge sensor process sees we are going to be pushed off the edge, it seizes control of the processor and takes evasive moves to stop that from happening - since that is a catastrophic event (once pushed off, you are eliminated).

As you can see, the kids will learn so very much and it’s fun. We have built a playing surface at the school so we will have matches every meeting to see what they have accomplished and feel proud of their learning put into action!

If your child as not attended yet, not to worry. We are just getting started and they are more than welcome to start this coming Wednesday!

Dave Bowland
Parent Mentor

P.s. I want to thank those community members who donated to the club last year to purchase computers. They are being put to very good use! And to the Principal for providing an extra kit for us to have 3 teams this year with quality supplies!

ATTENTION FAMILIES: Robotics Club will start our new 2018 year in a few weeks - an announcement will be made at school. If a particular day is NOT good for your child, please let me know.

After an awesome result from the First Lego League competition in Toronto in December, we are switching gears and working on Sumo Robots. It’s a kid favourite!

Robot Sumo 🤖
Two or robots face off on a playing surface and try to push the other one(s) off while avoiding being pushed off themselves.
Remember these are AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS - not remote controlled. Once started, they run based on the program the kids provided in advance.

The robot uses sensors such as light sensors, ultrasonic distance sensors and touch sensors to find other robots and either go on the offensive or avoid them. Once engaged, a gyro sensor and accelerometer sensor can help them detect adverse situations and make evasive moves. This is advanced stuff!

Stay tuned!

We are running a little late. We should be back at the School between 7:30 and 8. See you all then. We are one tired bunch of competitors

It’s been a long but awesome day!!! Closing ceremonies!

Looks like our teams scored very close to the playoffs at 9th and 10th place out of 18. 5 points off! Great showing for a first year group. We are all so proud of them!!!! More pictures to come.

And we're off...

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 6am heading to Markham for their first tournament of the year! Wish them well!

This kids are ready for the big tournament tomorrow!!!

Want to know what this Tournament is all about? This video explains it all:

Welcome to the HYDRO DYNAMICS Season - Robot Game The 2017/2018 FIRST LEGO League HYDRO DYNAMICS Challenge tasks students to explore the human water cycle. Download the Challenge on our website: www.firstleg...