PHS Robotics Events

We won the Mechatronics; and Robotics and Automation events this past Saturday. There weren't many competitors in these events, but the Robotics and Automation event did feature Norfolk Technical Center. They have won the Nationals several times over the last 9 years according to their teacher.

Gordon and Anthony displayed great problem solving, team work, and programming skill in solving a very difficult programming problem. The problem involved three different configurations for retrieving and stacking four blocks. They had to sense the presence of blocks via signal from micro switches on the block holders. The most difficult situation would require them to unstack one block to alter the order of stacking. They also had to rotate every other block 90 degrees. Gordon and Anthony had nearly 200 lines of code, and came closest to all situations in their solution. They worked diligently for four and a half hours.

Mike and Joe tackled the reassembly of one of the Festo stations with extreme concentration and continuous effort for four hours. They started with a one-hour written test of probable post-secondary difficulty according to the event coordinator. They had to completely reassemble the Festo Distribution Station. The station also had unknown faults inserted which they had never seen before. Again, Mike and Joe displayed great organization, team work, problem solving, and trouble shooting. Their FIRST Robotics assembly and trouble shooting skills were very evident.

These four will represent Phoebus at the National Skills USA competition in late June. Congratulations to these four students!

In our second year of competition in FIRST, we had the challenge of moving two 40 in. diameter balls around a course complete with a six and a half foot high over-pass for hurdling. Robots scored by maneuvering the robot itself around the course, herding the game-balls around the course, and for hurdling the game balls over the rack. This competition produced various robot designs including herders (that focused on speed and maneuverability), hurdlers (that lifted balls up to clear the over-pass), and launchers (that chucked the game-ball clear over the rack). The team split into five groups, working on chassis, electrical, drive, game mechanism, and programming. Our robot featured a fork lift and mechanical arms meant for holding and lifting the balls above the over-pass. In six weeks the team designed and manufactured the robot, and went to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond for the competition. As a second-year rookie, having placed 5^th in last year’s competition, we went into competition expecting to place in the top twenty teams. However, complications arose with our robots arm that hampered its in-game ability. We made it through the qualifying matches, but we did not make it to the finals as we had the year before. It was valuable learning experience for the PHS Robotics Team. Ten of our senior members from 2008 are now enrolled in Virginia colleges for computer science or engineering degrees.

This was the first year that the Robotics Team decided not to do Battlebots and instead enter another competition. The FIRST Robotics Challenge at Virginia Commonwealth University, located in Richmond, offered a different goal for robots rather than being "king of the ring": rather, robots had to hoist life-size inner tubes onto a moving rack to score points for their team. The team faced an array of new challenges, as the robot this year had to be much larger than those of previous years, a working arm had to be made, and the competition was only a couple of months away. With hard work and dedication the team placed 5th amongst 66 teams - a remarkable accomplishment for a rookie team! Things can only go up for the robotics team from here.

2006 - Battlebots

The Phantom Robotics team had a lot of fun two years ago at the 2006 Battlebots competition in Miami. Their Battlebot was designed to flip the enemy robots over and render them incapable of movement, as pictured above.

The flipping arm was made from a 1"x3"x1/8" thick wall steel tube. It had holes cut in the sides to reduce the weight of it. The flipping arm was designed as a four-bar mechanism powered by a pneumatic cylinder. the pneumatic cylinder had 2.5" bore and a 3.5" stroke. It produced 750 lbs of thrust at 100 psi.

The matches were scheduled to be 3 minutes long. Our first two matches each lasted less than one minute. We flipped the first robot onto is rear end and left it pinned against the arena wall. The second robot was flipped standing up, and then the flipping arm hit it again, and punched through the shell of the the robot and dismembered some of the internal components of it.

As described by Phantom team member Ben Erfe, "The trip was exhilarating. We did great in the competition, and I loved everything about the city. All in all we had a great time." Hopefully, Ben's statement summed up the experiences of all the robotics team members!

Back to the Clubs Page