Boston Dynamics, the company that brought you such robots as “Big Dog” and “Petman” is at it again! This time with a running, four legged robot named “Cheetah”. This robot has broken land speed records for robots, at 18 mph!
Here is a video of Cheetah in action:
more on this robot can be found at The Washington Post
This past weekend, the eight Memphis City School Teams: Manassas, Memphis Business Academy, Kingsbury, Hamilton, Craigmont, Cordova, Memphis Academy of Science and Engineering and the combined team of Carver and Brooker T Washington all competed in the First Robotics Competition – Smoky Mountain Regional.
In what could only be described as a Cinderella story rivaling any from March Madness, the Craigmont RoboChiefs came in as a second year team, but with a valiant effort they were in 2nd place at the end of competition on Friday. The next day they continued to do well and were in 9th place at the end of the qualifying rounds.
Here a little background on how First Tournament is structured: at the end of the qualifying rounds, the top 8 teams are called upon to select their alliance members (each alliance is made of 3 teams). They can pick one of the other 8 top teams if they wish, and if they do, the next team in line then is called to form an alliance of their own. Each team called upon can accept the offer to join the alliance or reject it.
Two of the teams in the top eight joined alliances of other top seated teams bringing the RoboChiefs to head the #7 Alliance in the tournament. Team Cpatain, Keunna Arnold, did a wonderful job selecting Team 2751 (Spark Robotics for Pendleton, SC) and Team 3824 (HVA RoHawktics from Knoxville, TN) to join them on the alliance.
The alliance gave it it’s all and won their Quarter Final round, beating the #2 Alliance (the only alliance to beat a higher numbered alliance in the finals)! Unfortunate, the Cinderella story ended in the next round when they were defeated by the #3 alliance, but not without giving it their all. In the final seconds of each round, teams could go onto the bridge (basically a teeter-totter) and balance for extra points (two robots balancing were even more points). The alliance attempted to get their robots on the bridge and each time they flipped one or more robots. The alliance joked “well at least we left it all on the field…..LITERALLY!”
The RoboChiefs achieved the highest ranking of any MCS team in the 4 year history of the US First program in Memphis and were the first MCS team to get into the Finals. All this in their second year of competition! Last year they didn’t even have a running robot when they headed to the Smoky Mountain Regional, their robot failed inspection because it was way over weight (although they corrected these problems and did compete). But they learned a lot, had a dedicated teacher (Dr Patricial Kilzer), found wonderful mentors, got a Medtronic Sponsorship and look what happened this year!
Congratulations to the RoboChiefs!
For more information on US First Robotics in Memphis goto http://memphisfirstteams.org/
Latter this week, 7 teams from Memphis City Schools will head off to Knoxville for the 2nd annual First Robotics Competition Smoky Mountain Regional Competition.
You might have seen the article in this weeks Commercial Appeal
If you are not familiar with FRC head of to US First for more info.
I will be going to the competition (I volunteer at the event), so I will have pictures and news from the event (or more likely after the event) and post a summary here, and much more will be posted at http://memphisfirstteams.org/
Was just told about a website for Lego NXT Robots that I just had to share.
Damien Kee has a wonderful site and also sells books/Curriculum for using NXT in the classroom.
My favorite is a simple to build NXT base (much easier to build than the one in the instruction book that comes with the NXT Education Kit). These building instructions are at: http://www.damienkee.com/home/2011/8/20/domabot-classroom-robot-design.html
From IEEE Spectrum
Brainlink is a little piece of hardware that can augment (or replace) the brain that’s currently powering your robot. Yes, your robot. Any robot at all, pretty much, as long as it’s controllable with an IR remote or a serial connector or some other common type of interface. Brainlink itself (the plastic triangle thingy in the above pic) talks to your Android phone (or a computer) via Bluetooth, enabling programming and wireless control of whatever it’s attached to.
The US First Robotics Competition (FRC) is about to start it’s 2012 season. This Saturday (Jan 7) teams from all over the region will be gathering at the University of Memphis to participate in Kick Off were they will see this years game for the first time and get their kit of parts to build their robots. 18 teams will be participating in the Memphis Kick off (one of 74 locations).
I will be their (I am actually hosting the event) so I will get pictures and news from the event. Most of the news will be posted on http://memphisfirstteams.org/.
We have 9 teams in Memphis! If you read this blog often, and would like to get involved with a US First Team as a Mentor or a sponsor, please email me at dekohn@memphis.edu and I will be glad to get you involved! The teams really need help from people with technical knowledge (robotics, mechanics, programming (especially LabVIEW), electrical / electronics, CAD and networking).
The following Saturday (Jan 14) Herff College of Engineering (also at UofM) will be hosting a Quick Build for the teams in Memphis to help them get their bots started (basic drive train, base, control system). Again I will post pictures of this event here or on the website mentioned above.
Most of the teams in Memphis will be going to the Smoky Mountain Regional that will be held at the Knoxville Convention Center on March 1-3, 2012 (I’ll be there too!)
Again for more info on US First in Memphis goto http://memphisfirstteams.org/
Was getting ready for the US First Kick Off and ran across this poster on Team 358’s Website and couldn’t resist posting it here:
Click on above image to enlarge.
Want to see the names of all these bots? Click HERE.
Back on Nov 23, 2011 IEEE Reported on Inflatable Robots on Spectrum Online.
It is called Ant-Roach, because it looks like a cross between the two (their opinion not mine….I think it looks like an ant eater myself)
It works via independently controllable pneumatic bags.
They also have a robotic arm using the same principle:
Sorry I haven’t been posting in so long. Just been very busy and now that the University of Memphis is on break, I have time to work on some entries.
Stay tuned for info on the 1st Memphis First Lego League competition, news on US First Robotics (who’s season starts Jan 7 with Kick off) and some stuff I have been saving up to post and just haven’t had the time.
