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History of team 1033- BHS/SGHS
Building a Tradition
March 2001-
Mrs. Hogan took the
engineering club to see the FIRST Competition at VCU Siegel
center. The boys were very excited but Mrs. Hogan was not sure
that a robotics program would be supported. Instead, a one
semester elective using Lego Mindstorm was created to assess the
interest in robotics.
Fall
2001 & spring 2002- The
Lego elective was taught and the same boys were still
enthusiastic about the robotics team.
April
2002- Mrs. Hogan held an
organizing meeting. Mr. Tucker, Mr. Veillette, Mr.
Fulton, Ms. Harrison, and Mrs. McGowan
attended and formed the core group. Mrs. Hogan contacted the
Development Department and found Mr. Hess at Dupont and
Mr. Boyd at Alcoa. Dr. Kolb (then headmaster) agreed to
create a yearlong class to support the team because so many of
the students play sports after school.
Summer 2002-
Five students: Forrest
Winks, Joseph Parrott, Mark Seredni and Ross Veillette
attended a week long robotics camp at VCU School of engineering.
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Fall
2002-
Ten students enrolled in the advanced
robotics class. E-tech, owned by Frank Boehling provided
the know-how and labor to turn the physics lab into a robotics
lab (moving tables, removing the compressed air, and running
power to the now-mobile tables.) St. Michael's in Bon Air gave
us their operator interface and robot controller from the 2001
competition to help us get started. Maggie L. Walker Governors
School gave us spare motors from the 2002 competition. Mrs.
Hogan contacted the following area businesses, owned by alumni,
for support:
Ø
Intellibot, owned by Buck Ward
Ø
Dibert valve and fitting, owned by the
Dibert Family
Ø
Capital Equipment Sales, owned by Walter Stumpf
A Virginia
state grant was made available for $5000, the exact amount of
the competition fee. Various alumni donated tools and equipment
and friends. (Jim Lucas and Chuck Tinsley among
many)
In the first
fall semester class, the boys prepared for the upcoming release
of the 2003 challenge by learning about gearing, electronics,
and mechanics.
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Winter
2003-
On January 5, 2003 the 2003 challenge
was released and the cadets went to work. Six weeks later, in
March 2003, the cadets entered their first competition and
finished 42 out of field of 63.
The team began
to redesign and improve the ’03 robot right after competition in
hopes of entering an informal competition in the fall.
Fall
2003-
Team 1033 lost 10 graduating seniors,
but all remaining students returned and 22 new faces came on
board. Weekly after school classes were held on a broad range of
topics including electronics and mechanics.
Eight team
members brought the “new and improved” robot to an informal
competition in October in Wissahicken High outside of
Philadelphia PA.
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Winter
2004- Team 1033 began work
on the 2004 challenge. A new sub-team was added- Business. After
an exhausting 6 weeks the team attended a “warm-up” competition
in DC and decided to tear down and rebuild the robot with just 4
days to ship!
VCU/NASA
regional was an unqualified success. Team 1033 finished 20th
in a field of 62 schools!
Spring
2004-
Never satisfied with less than the
best, 1033 continues to add and improve the 2004 robot in hopes
of participating in informal matches.
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Winter
2004- The 2004 challenge
was released and Team 1033 went to work, joined by 2 new
mentors, Mr. Don Cain and Mr. Jim Maguire. 1033
welcomed two eighth graders from St’ Edward and St. Benedict
feeder schools. The mentors reorganized the team into 6 subteams:
Ø
Drive train- locomotion
Ø
Special Auxiliary- point scoring
Ø
Electrical- speed controller, sensors and wiring
Ø
Controls- programming using C
Ø
Mission- details of the competition
Ø
Business- marketing and fund raising
Team 1033 had a
successful competition at VCU, finishing 20th in a
field of 62.
1033
is now improving the design, hoping to enter another informal
competition.
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