Team Member Interview

Recently, one of the members of The Flying Platypi, Ryan Yarbrough, animated a video explaining this years FIRST Lego League challenge, Body Forward. We wanted to interview Ryan so he can tell us all about his project and the work that went into it.


Hi Ryan! how are you?

I'm doing great.

So, you're the one that made the new FLL animation right?

Yes, I am the one who made the FLL animation.

Cool! Can you tell me how an animation like that is made?

The FLL animation was made using a form of animation called stop motion. Stop motion is when you use a camera to take a string of pictures of whatever your trying to animate. You move the object, in this case a lego mini-figure, and take a picture. Than you move the object again and take a picture. You would repeat this process again and again until you have enough to make your animation. On the computer you have to compile the pictures in to a movie making software and then you began the editing. In the end it is a little more complex than this but that is a simple overview.

Wow, that sounds like a lot of work. How many pictures did you have to take for the entire animation?

To make this animation I took 3,854 pictures.

Whoa! How long did it take you to make the animation start to finish?

It took about eleven weeks. Three to six hours a night to make the animation.

You did have some help right?

I had four other team members help me with the animation. Trevor Long helped me write the script. Erin Wenig and Phillip Menesick were the voices of Nina and Dr. Justin Case. Also Phillip, along with Ben Agresti, wrote the original music that you hear during the entire video.

And the most important, did you have fun?

At times it felt like I would never finish, but in the end it was one the funnest and most fulfilling projects I have ever worked on!



The entire team would like to thank Ryan (and everyone that helped him) for his hard work in making this animation such a great success. You can watch the video here:

2010 Regionals: Peachtree

Oh wow. It has been quite a while since I updated this blog! As I type the off-season is underway and the team is bringing around the robot to demonstrate at various places. But that is another post. To start off, I'll try and recall the Peachtree Regional...

Going to Peachtree for the second year as the Flying Platypi was much different than the first because of one big factor: teams knew about us. Getting our team's name out there was not an uphill battle and even in the first few minutes I was in the competition building, I saw other teams point us out and make comments about my team. (Hopefully good comments!) But, even better than knowing that our team was recognized was the feeling of walking into the stands to see the field for the first time.

Back in our pit, the team was busy. The pit needed to be assembled and the robot needed to be completed:

The next two days went by in a blur. Talking to teams, scouting, getting the robot through inspection, and dealing with disappointment as our robot ran into problems again, and again. But, despite the problems, my team had a blast helped, in part, by the debut of our mascot. Yesiree, Gary the platypus certainly made an impression.

By the the end of qualifiers, our robot was ranked in the upper thirties and the chances were that we would not be picked for the elimination rounds. Standing in the line, I just about screamed in excitement when team #281 EntTech picked us to be a part of the 8th seed alliance. The group was completed by the wonderfully designed robot from the Gear Devils. In spite of the fact we were knocked out in the quarterfinals, we were proud of our performance. But, the biggest surprise of the tournament came at the end. During the competition, a lot of judges came to talk to our team, and many of them returned to check up on how our robot was doing. (One of the coolest judges was a guy named Morrison who had a scottish(?) accent!) The number of judges talking to us made one wonder...

Later, our team was sitting during the award ceremony when the Judges Award was announced. As the announcer was reading about the team who won, he dropped several hints which made all of us look at each other in shock. He that the team used lego models to help develop the robot concept and the articulated drive system made climbing the bumps as "easy as pi". The team was us! We came home from Peachtree with a shiny, but pointy, Judges Award!

Amazing first regional.

Week Six/Seven - Shipped Robot

Well, the build season is officially over, our robot is on its way to Duluth for Peachtree, and team members are as busy as ever. So much has to be finished before we even run the robot on the field. But before I talk about that there is the robot to discuss. After a little more than six weeks of hard work, my team can be proud in saying that we have a working robot. It drives, climbs over bumps (albeit not very gracefully), and can kick pretty well. The drive train, our gamble of the season, is a thing of beauty. It articulates well and can turn on a dime without much scrub. I was able to see it drive for the first time on the day before ship date and was very impressed.

Here's a video of a driver's test that day:

After boxing it up and shipping it, the team returned to work on Thursday working out the materials that are needed for the tournament and finishing up some fabricated parts. It's been a good build season and can't wait to see other teams at Peachtree!

(Four Days Until Peachtree! I'll see if I can blog on the road. Expect more pictures before then!)

Week Six - A Random Interview

Right now I'm listening to the noise of what is the last day we have our robot with us. People laughing, the beloved pneumatic stapler going off in the background, organized chaos. Since I'll be going out to take a few pictures soon I thought it would be nice to conduct an interview with one of the many (many, many) freshmen on the team this year...

Hello Will!
How is it going?

Hi. Its going pretty good. We finally got the robot to kick. :)

Your sitting across from me right now. Do you know who's computer you're on?

This is true. Yes, I do. Daniel's computer, I believe.

What made you want to join an FRC team?

I thought it was going to be fun, and a good leaning opportunity. And robots are just cool.

So what part do you play on the team?

I am one of the programmers. I am also safety captain.

What have you learned?

I have learned a lot about LabView. And how to safely separate velcro.

Are you excited about Peachtree?

I am, although unfortunately I might not be able to come. :(

Aww too bad. Hopefully things work out!

Watch out! Soon there'll be some new post with the final robot!

Week Five - FLL and Fundraisers

Saturday was a big day for our team. The majority of the team was at an FLL regional selling lunches for a fundraiser, mentoring, or participating in FLL teams. Sold at wholesale, thanks to Apple Spice Junction, the lunches did well. Much better than the previous regional which we sold them at. Along with sandwiches, my team vended soda, water, chips, candy, and, a best seller aided by the cold, coffee. As soon as the competition began, people started coming to buy items, some returning throughout the day.

On the other side of the tables were twenty-eight FLL teams and of those two were mentored by us and of those three were members of our team. However, two of our three mentors were not present since they are a part of our mechanical team. Instead the remaining mentor did his best to cover for both teams. The competition was enjoyable to watch, although it definitely was stressful for those on teams. By the end, both of "our" FLL teams made it through to the State Championship Competition taking place this coming Saturday.

Week Five - Final Stretch

Right now I'm sitting in the lunch room of Blue Ridge Tool. Electrical components are scattered across the table, the mill is on full swing, and voices of mentors and team members mingle as they discuss last minute robot design, joking with each other, and handing out tasks. Programming sits next to me first overjoyed that the latest National Instruments Labview update is out and then miffed when they know they cannot test the update out since the electrical board is currently scattered in pieces everywhere. Tomorrow marks the fifth week of build and the team is working hard to ensure we will be done on the 23rd. Even though we were able to get our drive train completed earlier in the week, there was a hitch. The gears that directed the chains for the wheels scrubbed the top of our newly carpeted bump leaving oils stains and creating aggravation. Back to the mill and lathe for the quick but time eating fix. On the bright side, our robot design will work and smoothly rolls over obstacles. Right now, mechanical is split into two parts: one reconstructing the drive train and the other formulating the shooting mechanism. The drive train looks great and works! It forms and fits the ridges of the hill nicely.

Week Four - Slowly Closing In

As the leftover snow slowly melted away, our team began the charge into the last three weeks of the build. At this point I can make out the finished product of members efforts. The robot is starting to sprout wheels in a number of which an octopus would be proud. (Come to think of it our robot shares some similarities with an octopus. A Space Octopus. hmm...) Gears are being aligned, spacers manufactured, and metal being sanded. The robot is coming alive. I can't wait to see it drive.

At this point in the year all the robot-centric departments are having to step up communication between each other. Electrical needs to know from mechanical how much space it has for the electrical board, mechanical has to relay design aspects to programming so they'd know what features to add, and programming tells electrical what parts they need wired in order to check how their programs function. It goes on in this circle and will begin to pick up more speed as the days that remain, dwindle.

Week Three - Cold Robots

Because I neglected to have a proper week two blog, I decided to write one for the meeting today. Except for the fact there isn't one.

Winter weather was expected for this weekend and the forecasters were right. Starting on Friday evening (our day off from FRC) and continuing through the night the skies poured down snow and sleet. When I woke up this mourning I found the message I was dreading in my inbox:

"There will be no meeting today (Jan 30, 2010) at BRT.

If Monday's meeting will need to be canceled the announcement will be

sent via email by 1:00 PM on Monday. Please check your email before you

come to BRT."

Although I can still work on the website from the warmth of my house, mechanical is not so lucky.

While I watch the white stuff outside, here are some more pictures I took during the week:

Week Two and Three 1/2 -Design to Building

It has been more than a week since my previous blog post and a lot has happened! All the departments are gearing up for the intense last few weeks:

Marketing

Even though marketing works behind the scenes, it has a big impact on the team. Responsible for team promotion, fundraising, and scouting, a lot rides on a successful marketing team.

One of the most enjoyable fund raising events our team has is selling concessions at FLL regionals. Part volunteering, our team arrives at 6:30 in the morning to direct teams and volunteers to parking spots. The rest of the day is spent vending soda, snacks, and lunches to spectators, coaches, and team members. Throughout the competition, we see all sorts of people. Little kids, grandparents, parents, and volunteers all turning out to watch and help make the competition a rewarding event. To be a spectator to this a great experience.

Electrical

This year, the space for the electrical board is cut in two so department members have to really watch their space. In addition to the normal components, they also have to deal with an air compressor and related parts.

Website

The website is coming along marvelously and should be ready before the deadline. (A change for the better. I was up past midnight last year fixing up the remaining pages. A move I would not want to repeat.) Actually, I have a test page up on the old website that is a teaser for the new one.

See if you can try to find it!

Mecanical

After moving out of the designing phase, the mechanical department is now in the process of constructing the robot. Parts are coming in and are being fabricated by team members. On part, a hub for a wheel, was going to be ordered but the part was back logged. So instead, mechanical team members are using a lathe to reconstruct the part. After watching for more than a half hour, I was pretty impressed. Those working the lathe had to have the part down to one tenth of an inch and had to calculate how many turns of the lathe it would take to get it there. (1 turn is 4/10 of an inch) Patience and precision are key.

Programming

Gyroscopes, Booleans, and Jaguars. The programming team is responsible for the software of all these things and more. They have to make everything talk to each other. This year, the programming team is attempting to have a live-feed camera. This feature would be a plus for the drive team, especially for the secondary driver. It would allow for a first-person view of what the robot is facing, making it easier to score.

The last thing I want to do is thank our mentors. They come in every day to help us lending their time and knowledge in order to help us learn. Being able to see this is inspiring and about the best part of being on a FIRST team.

Week One - Robot Design

This first week of build season has gone by very fast. After meeting for six days starting the Monday after kickoff, we have our chassis design finalized. (I can't saw what it is but it is very space-like.)

Here is a quick breakdown of how what we discussed and decided this week:

MONDAY

All team members worked on defining what we wanted our 2010 robot to do.

We came up with two lists; scoring options and strategics options. After compiling the list, we took the scoring options list and discussed methods to score

TUESDAY

I'll use pictures to illustrate this second day of design:

WEDNESDAY

This meeting was split up into three parts; chassis, control mechanism, and scoring mechanism.

"Chassis" was led by the head of mechanical. After asking the team if they had any new robot frame ideas, two were offered in addition to the "space" chassis. One was a triangle, and the other, a eight wheeled monster. Our team then went on to list pros and cons of each and, in the end, the "space" chassis prevailed.

For the second section, control mechanism, the team split of into groups to design one based off of the decisions that were made the previous day. All the groups designed different version of the same mechanism. The vacuum won.

In the last part of the assembly, scoring mechanism, the team broke down onto groups again. and two design emerged from the fire of pros and cons. A kicker/puncher hybrid and a pure puncher.

THURSDAY

Taking where we left off the previous day, the discussion leader (Justin, team president) asked if there were any more designs for the scoring mechanism. The room was quiet. Finally reaching a consensus about the robot, the team split off into their own subteams to discuss their build season goals.

SATURDAY

Saturday meetings are the longest of the week being nine hours long. This particular meeting the team broke off into departments to work on their individual projects. During the course of the

day you could hear interjections from all the subteams, often mixing and covering the discussions of others. Ideas were being thrown around like, well, moon rocks. Some of them made their goal, while others fell short. Take for instance the octopus idea offered by a member of the mechanical crew. This idea basically was finding an octopus in our area and using it to capture soccer balls for our team during a match. Entertaining to think about, but not practical in the least.

Besides coming up with strange ways of scoring, the entire team made great progress. By the time we had to leave, the trailer we met at smelled like pizza and we were ready to be finshed with robotics.

Until Monday anyways.

Kickoff!

So the season begins! This morning several team members and I started out for the first North Carolina FRC Kickoff at 7am. It was cold, it was early, yet because of the excitement staying awake wasn't a factor. After an exciting 2009 season, we were wondering what FIRST would throw at us this time. (Water game?) Arriving at Penske Racing around 9, we were able to take a tour and have a behind-the-scenes look at how race cars are manufactured. Just being able to view the bare bones of a vehicle was really neat, especially since they weld the body of the car on location.

Finally we filed into a conference room to watch the broadcast. Waiting was hard. After each speaker, the excitement built. We all wanted to see the game! During Dean Kamen's speech, he dropped a big hint. "...kicking soccer balls..." A soccer game? Next we were shown a clip of a camera on a robot tracking a target. A soccer game with a target??! Last came Dave Lavery. After teasing teams on ChiefDelphi.com, I was looking forward to what he would have to say.

And the 2010 game is...Breakaway!

We were not expecting that at all. Driving back to our team, ideas were brought up and many questions were asked.

Once we got to our meeting we opened our Kit Of Parts (KOP) and checked to see if all the parts were present. After that came brainstorming and reading.

We have a long, fun, crazy six weeks ahead of us.

-Webmaster