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| Field Building |
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| Wheeled Shooter Prototype |
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| Six-Wheel Drivetrain Prototype |
- Spectrum
Day 2: Field Building and Prototype Testing
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| Castle Tower |
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| Rock Wall |
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| Moat |
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| We use Threadall to keep wheels lined up. We found that our traction wheel (far left) actually has a larger diameter than our pneumatic wheels. During this test we realized that we're going to need a lot of torque or speed to cross some of the defenses. |
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| We ended the day with only one sided being chained. We plan to have this properly powered by the end of tomorrow. |
- Spectrum
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| P.S. Thanks for the food |
Build Season is Underway
FRC Stronghold
The game was officially reveled on Saturday to over 3,000 teams world wide.Stronghold is a medieval themed tower defender style game. Alliances of 3 robots each compete against each other to breach their opponents defensive structures, shoot boulders into their tower, and eventually scale and capture their opponents tower.
A one page game description can be found here.
Below is the video description of the game.
FIRST Stronghold Game Revel
Build Blog
We will be regularly updating our progress on our blog. Blog.Spectrum3847.orgWe encourage everyone to follow along with our progress, leave comments with questions and encouragement, and just stay up to date with what we are working on.
Build Season
Students if you haven't done the spring sign up list, please do so ASAP.SPRING SIGNUP LIST (MEMBERS FILL THIS OUT)
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19Tc97rs8QaRqexg0hqKTmHIxOsjkPxOWJn-9BUHewZA/viewform?edit_requested=true
Build Season Food
Parent's an email went out on Sunday asking for volunteers to bring in meals for the team (If you didn't get this email, get in touch with Allen). Please sign up as soon as possible. The team appreciates your support. We also would love for you to send in snacks and drinks for the team as well.Sponsors
We want to thank all of our fantastic sponsors especially our two schools, St. Agnes Academy & Strake Jesuit College Prep.Solarcraft
One of our most critical sponsors for the past several years has been Solarcraft Inc. They have been providing laser cut and bent sheet metal for all of our past 3 robots. Last week our team was welcomed to their facility to tour their shop and learn about their operations. We even got to watch a part be cut by the laser and then operate the press brake.Volunteer Hours and Contributions
Do you work for a company that grants money to organizations in which you volunteer your time?In the past, Spectrum has been fortunate to receive some grants due to company employees, spouses, and children working at Spectrum-hosted events like our Texas Robotics Invitational and First Lego League Tournaments.
We know that ExxonMobil awards two types of volunteer grants. One is for a five-person team of employees, spouses, and dependents who volunteer a collective 20 hours at a specific Spectrum event. The other is when an employee, spouse, or dependent (only one person) volunteers 20 hours over a period of time. If you, a Spectrum team member’s parent are an employee of ExxonMobil, please let us know.
We would appreciate if you could see if your employer also awards these types of volunteer grants. If so, please also email us so we can create a master list of potential volunteer grant possibilities.
Spring Dates
- Jan 17th 1-6pm - Boot Camp Build 1 (Helping other teams)
- Jan 31st 1-6pm Boot Camp Build 2 (Helping other teams)
- Feb 7th 1-5pm Superbowl Bumper Build (Helping other teams)
- Feb 20 & 21, 10am-6pm Houston Scrimmage in Strake Dinning Hall
- March 16-20 Bayou Regional
- Apirl 7th-9th - Lone Star Regional in Houston
- April 26th(PM)- 31st(AM) - FIRST Championship event in St. Louis
Day 3: 4 Defenses Down, 4 To Go
Today we made a sally port and a portcullis and gathered all the pieces for a cheval de frise and drawbridge. We also hope to get the rocky terrain and ramparts done by Thursday at the latest. In addition, we plan on making sheetmetal duplicates of a few defenses with help from our sponsor, Solarcraft.
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| Portcullis |
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| Sally Port Back |
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| Sally Port Front |
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| As we were chaining up the second side, we over tensioned the chain which caused the gearbox to act up. It made the pinion gear skip and made the left side suffer more resistance. |
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| Our last ditch effort was to toss a flangeless bearing where it was bottoming out in an attempt to make it easy to cross. Unfortunately, it was very ineffective. |
- Spectrum
“Imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattery - it's the sincerest form of learning.” - George Bernard Shaw
Day 4: More field construction
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| The drawbridge is getting stuck instead of rising. |
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| The cheval de frise platforms have too much friction, causing them not fall correctly. |
In teamwork, silence isn't golden, it's deadly. - Mark Sanborn
Day 5: Defense Fixing
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| The drawbridge still slams with a decent amount of force. |
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| The aluminum bump faces the courtyard side |
We've added shields to the sides of our defense platform and covered one ramp with polycarbonate. Unfortunately, our horizontal bandsaw blade didn't come in today, so progress on our ramparts and terrain has stopped for now. On the bright side, our West Coast Products 775pro came in. We're loving the motor's dark chrome/black color.
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| We can't wait to test it out and use its absurd 347 watts of power |
- Spectrum
“Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original
manner possible.” ― Richard P. Feynman
Day 6: Portable Defenses
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| We've also started calling them wizards instead of casters. |
The 1x1 piece of L attached to the bottom of the portcullis so it could better simulate the actual field's gate. We also tried to add some foam to dampen its fall.
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| We used nonstick rubber, the same damping material on the drawbridge. Unfortunately it didn't work too well. We decided to keep it, though, to make up for the L's thickness. |
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| We had to use clamps to hold the steel pieces of tubing in place so we could drill them in upside down. |
Our flywheel shooter prototype is in Rev now so it's adjustable. We hope to find a set of variables that gives us a consistent shot.
- Spectrum
"If people want to know who I am, it is all in the work." - Alan Rickman
Day 7: Robot Pullup Bar
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| Instead of building a tower for hanging, we opted to just bolt this to our shelves so we can save space. |
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| We ended the day with 15 out of the 31 pieces attached. The process is slow but we've decided that using metal instead of cut pieces of 4x4 will be worth it. |
“It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.” ― Lou Holtz
Day 8: Defensive Breakdown
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| We decided on an 8 wheel drive train using 200mm pneumatic wheels. |
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| CAD drawing of the current drive train rails, which we will test later. |
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| After the strategy discussion, we started testing possible shooters. |
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| Finally finished off the last defense, the rough terrain. |
-Spectrum
Day 9: Full Speed Ahead
Now that we have finished building all the defenses, we can turn our full focus to working on our prototypes and finalizing our design.
We built a wooden mockup of our chassis design to use as a base for our other prototypes. Right now, we’re using an 8-wheel drive train with the ends tilted up for easier entry onto the various ramps in the field. We’re also in the process of determining the best angle for a wedge that will be added to the front of our robot and lift the portcullis.
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| Current chassis design with the beginnings of a wedge system for lifting the portcullis |
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| Shooter prototype in the process of its construction |
Using some of our various shooter prototypes, we were able to shoot the ball, but it lacked consistency in its trajectory. In the coming days, we will work to improve our shot and develop a way to get consistent results.
- Spectrum
Day 10: Last Day of a Long Weekend
Shooter
The main progress of today was a couple new iterations on our shooter prototypes.
The morning started by trying to add a bottom roller to our horizontal wheeled shooter to try to add spin while maintaining our power. This wasn't that successful. We weren't seeing the spin we wanted and the whole unit would be difficult to package.
The next concept was a double wheeled vertical shooter with a set of bottom wheel that give more time for the ball to accelerate and a top wheel that has it's velocity controlled to adjust the spin on the ball. The prototype was made out of 1/4" hardboard that we cut on our CNC router.
This setup seems slightly easier package inside the frame of our robot while still staying under the low bar. Using two 775pros geared 3:1 we were able to make around a 15 shot from 1 ft off the ground. This setup currently doesn't give us the spin we are looking for. Tomorrow we will likely be slowing down the top roller and making the button two rollers run off separate motors to make sure we aren't slowing down the final wheel to much before the ball ever reaches it. We'll also start running the prototype off of a roboRIO and Talon SRX motor controllers so we can monitor the speed of the wheels and eventually add PID closed loop control to start working on consistency. We will still need to play around with wheel configurations, compression, wheel width, wheel speeds, and more.
Scaling Device
We spent a few minutes looking at some concepts for scaling the tower. We added wheels to a previous prototype to reduce the friction between the arms and the wall. The next step will be to power these wheels and see how much assistance they will be able to give our winch during the climb. The current concept is that this arm would be able to fold down to allow us to go under the low bar.
Programming
We began work on a programmable LED signal system that will be able to give our drivers status updates about the robot without taking their eyes away from the robot.
Purchases
A large part of any season is buying the needed parts to make the robot. So far we have purchased enough AndyMark pneumatic tire hubs for our practice and competition robot. We are purchasing pneumatic tires from MBS a company that specializes in mountain board tires. The inner tubes can be sourced from a variety of sources and even some amazon distributors have them. We put in our first large VEXpro order for the gears we need for our sheet metal ball shifter inspired by 1114's 2014 robot and sprockets for our drive train.
Next Steps
- We are going to continue refining the shooter and working towards a consistent shot.
- Once we have the details of the shooter closer to their final design we will be able to integrate a collector and loader system that reliably feeds the ball to the shooter.
- Our breaching arm will be prototyped this week to make sure it can raise the portcullis and lower the CDF.
- We will be building a prototype sheet metal drive train to make sure that our configuration can successfully get over the defenses under its own power.
"I make progress by having people around me who are smarter than I am and listening to them. And I assume that everyone is smarter about something than I am." - Henry J. Kaiser
Day 11: More Testing
Relatively short build meeting, today.
We were able to make the next iteration on the shooter by adding a third motor to the top of the shooter. Tomorrow we will widen the wheels to make it more like a drum shooter.
We worked a little more on the low bar crossing geometry and how that effects the 15 in allowed extensions. It's feasible to cross under the bar with 15 in extensions out both sides of your robot.
We also improved the scaling test platform as well. We now added a powered motor to the wheels. They make pulling up the robot far easier. This should allow us to winch our selves up the wall even faster.
“Education is the power to think clearly, the power to act well in the world's work, and the power to appreciate life.” - Brigham Young
Day 12: From Deep
We upgraded the shooter prototype even more today by making our Tri-wheeled shooter use multiple wheels so they act like rollers instead of wheels. We still don’t have multiple balls yet (shipping issues) so we can’t comment on consistency across balls yet. We know we have a variety of things to change before it ever gets consistent.
Not bad. 21ft 10in shot, released at 19in, 30 degrees. Still making a lot more changes. #omgrobots @FRCTeams pic.twitter.com/TOGvrDyrbu
— Spectrum3847 (@Spectrum3847) January 21, 2016
This shot is 21ft 10in, from a 19in launch height and 30 degree launch angle and this ball is used but still in a condition that would not get replaced on the field (no major holes or anything like that). Both the back and front wheels compress the ball to roughly 7in with the top wheel.
Details on this configuration:
- Tri Wheel configuration - top and back wheel speed up the ball before moving on to the top and front wheel for the final release.
- Top wheel is smaller and spinning much slower than the bottom wheels to provide back spin on the ball. 4x 2.5in colsons powered by a BAG motor into a 3:1 versaplanetary.
- Back Wheel - 4x 3.5" Colson wheels powered by a 775 pro into a 3:1 versaplanetary
- Front Wheel - 4x 4" AndyMark 70A stealth wheels powered by a 775pro into a 3:1 versaplanetary with a 12:15 speed increase in the chain.
- Mounted to a 2x4 that we clamp in an adjustable vise to set the angle of the shooter.
For this current test we are running all three motors at full battery voltage. We will not be doing this on the real robot we just haven't moved over to testing using a robot and speed control yet.
Improvements we plan to make to this include changing all the wheels/drums to something that provides more grip on the ball. Making the back wheel a smaller diameter and moving it further from the front wheel to allow it more time to speed up the ball before entering the front wheel. We will also be reducing compression after we change to a wheel with more grip in hopes that provides a more consistent shot.
- Spectrum
"All progress is experimental." - John Jay Chapman
January 22, 2016Day 13: Preparing for the Weekend
We are almost finished with our drive train draft CAD. We have started turning parts on the lathe to get ready for assembly. We will be cutting out the drive train on our router to make sure everything works.
We installed VEX versaplanetary shaft encoders on our shooter and we will be able to get some good testing done over the weekend.
Tomorrow we have our 2nd design review to update the entire team about the status of the design .
- Spectrum
"If you don't see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner." - Zig Ziglar
January 22, 2016Day 14: Week 2 Design Review
We had our design review meeting.
Here is a very rough CAD sketch of the current robot plan.
It has two folding arms one for breaching and scaling and another that intakes and stores the boulders. The shooter is integrated into the back of the robot. The shooter uses the tri-wheel design of our latest prototype. It's also able to fit under the low bar.
We started producing a full wooden version of our robot to test systems on today. We should have the drive train finished this weekend.
- Spectrum
"Most of the time you will fail, but you will also occasionally succeed. Those occasional successes make all the hard work and sacrifice worthwhile." - Dean Kamen
January 25, 2016Day 17: Brief Update
We spent the weekend getting things ready for building our wooden prototype. We have two drive rails mostly assembled and should be completed tomorrow with the addition of a VEXpro order that is coming in.
We worked on our Chairman’s submission as well over the weekend getting it ready for the new earlier due date next week.
Our intake and breaching arm should be mocked up out of wood this week and we’ll be able to iterate quickly on the designs and find out what doesn’t work before going to sheet metal.
- Spectrum
“The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.” - Henry Ford
January 26, 2016Day 18: The Q&A
We are over a third of the way through the season and the Q&A has already led to some big rule updates (a critical field dimension even changed).
We want to take the time to highlight some other Q&As that teams may find helpful.
Bumpers
Q594
This means that the brackets inside your robot's frame perimeter but permanently attached to your bumpers have to be between 4" and 12" from the ground like the rest of your bumpers.
Q651
This means that if you have a gap in your bumpers you can have a full sheet metal frame behind the bumper gap to support the two loose ends. This could make for much stronger bumpers.
Q652
Motors
Q642
This could be cool for shifting or any small actuations that normally need a pneumatic cylinder.
Pneumatic Tires
Q598
If you get a flat tire this year, you have to replace it. Tire sealant won't be allowed.
Spy Box
Q674
We think they are getting a bit tired of answering questions. What will your team bring into the spy box?
- Spectrum
“Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.” - Isaac Asimov
January 27, 2016Day 19: Wooden Chassis and CAD
We wired up our wooden chassis today and have it driving around. It's not the best prototype since it is far less rigid then the real robot will be, but it does give us some idea of how our drive train will behave.
We also have been CADing on our intake geometry and our breaching/scaling arm as well.
The prototypes for these should be up and running this weekend.
- Spectrum
“It's much easier to add some features, increase your network, get some itemized tasks done. Who wants to feel failure? We opt for more instead of better. Better is better than more.” - Seth Godin
January 30, 2016Day 21: Intake
We finished the wooden intake today. It has a few geometry errors that we need to fix before going into production on the real one. We also learned how to stretch 1" ID surgical tubing over 1.25" OD aluminum tubing. The trick is to use both soapy water and a lot of high pressure air plus some brute force.
The drive train CAD is nearing completion, we are working on smaller details like the battery box and adding a few more cross members for strength.
Our first run of production sheet metal should go to the Solarcraft late next week for production. There is going to be a time crunch the last week of the season to get everything assembled before we wrap up the competition robot.
We still have 92 more days before the FRC World Finals are played that's a whole lot of time to iterate.
- Spectrum
“We are all failures- at least the best of us are.”
― J.M. Barrie
January 30, 2016Day 22: Strategy and Scouting
We had a long discussion about our scouting and strategy plan for the 2016 season. We are adopting many of the techniques used by 118 The Robonauts as presented by their Mentor Logan Farrell in this awesome presentation.
Our competition strategy team should be much more effective this year.
- Spectrum
“I don’t love studying. I hate studying. I like learning. Learning is beautiful.” - Natalie Portman
February 1, 2016Day 24: Drive Train CAD
The drive train CAD is nearly complete. We have been referencing a lot of 1114's designs this year and their awesome Solidworks tutorial videos as well.
We still have bumper mounts and a battery box to add to this before it is ready to be sent off to our fabrication shop, Solarcraft. Once we send it off for fabrication we'll post the CAD model to our Grabcad partner space. We discussed bumper mounting today and decided to use an idea from team 1983, Skunkworks, They used fixed clamps to clamp their bumpers in place on one of their prototype drive trains. We'll be supplementing this with bolts and PEM nuts but we want to make sure we have a quick and secure mounting system. We are taking extra steps this year to make sure our robot is as robust as possible. Rookie teams and 2nd year teams, please make sure you build a robust robot, a lot of things you could get away with last year will break on the field when you start jumping over defenses and hitting other robots. Make sure you bolt everything down and tighten all your bolts. Use lock nuts and/or thread locker on all your threaded fasteners.
- Spectrum
“Think left, and think right, and think low, and think high. Oh, the things you can think up, if only you try!” - Dr. Seuss
February 3, 2016Day 26: Production Ready Intake
This is our intake ready for drawing to be made and sent off for production. This model doesn't show the intake rollers that go over the tube axles or the belts that drive the rollers. The intake is so large because we are using it to store the ball as well. That way we don't take up space in our robot, the ball is fed from the intake to the shooter only once we are ready to fire the ball. The first roller will be spinning far faster than the rear two that are design to control the ball and get it ready for the shooter.
- Spectrum
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” ― John F. Kennedy
February 6, 2016Day 28: Helping Hand
A rookie team we are mentoring came to use with some problems with their robot. The drive train wasn’t performing liked they wanted and the pneumatic gripper intake wasn’t collecting balls either.
We started working with them and over the weekend we should have a pretty solid robot for them to base things off of.
We looked at what we had on hand and what parts they already had. They had purchased a full AM14U2 in the off season and had their Kit AM14U3 as well. With all the included wheels, etc. They also had a lot of sprockets too. They were willing to spend some money so they are purchasing the AM14U Wedge kits for the front and back of their robot and moving to a 10 wheel drive train. This should let them get over all the passive defenses. For an intake we looked to the MCC design by WCProducts for inspiration. It’s very simple and allows them to have a full wrap bumper which is stronger and better for defense. They already had a DART linear actuator so we are working with them to find a place to mount that will allow it to accurate out of the frame perimeter. We also looked at 118 Robonauts Everybot design for inspiration as well and we think they can add wheels to the outside of their intake roller to be able to lift up the portcullis. The intake will definitely be able to lower the CDF panels, so in all this robot should be able to do 4 of the defense groups and work with others to do the draw bridge and sally port.
The design is very liberal with it’s use of COTS parts. It’s also simple as it only uses 6 total motors and doesn’t need pneumatics.
We also got our first real sheet metal run sent to the sponsors last night, so we should be getting our drive trains and intakes back early next week.
- Spectrum
"Let me do all the good I can, to all the people I can, as often as I can, for I shall not pass this way again." - John Wesley
February 8, 2016Day 31: Weekend Recap
We spent a lot of time helping other teams this weekend. One rookie and two other teams came by for helping building their robot, building bumpers, or working out control system bugs, we are always happy to help out any teams that need assistance.
We are reconsidering several of the things we decided on early in the season, the core of the design hasn't change but we are a little less sure of some of the details. We are are going to get our drive train and intake 100% complete then go from there.
- Spectrum
“But what if I make a mistake?' Will asked.
Gilan threw back his head and laughed. 'A mistake? One mistake? You should be so lucky. You'll make dozens! I made four or five on my first day alone! Of course you'll make mistakes. Just don't make any of them twice. If you do mess things up, don't try to hide it. Don't try to rationalize it. Recognize it and admit it and learn from it. We never stop learning, none of us.” - John Flanagan, Erak's Ransom
February 14, 2016Day 36: Finally Driving
We had a bit of a scare this week. Our main manufacturing sponsor called on Wednesday afternoon to inform us that they weren't going to be able to do the main laser run of the season because their laser cutter went down and likely wouldn't be fixed until next week. This left us scrambling a bit. Amazingly all the people we told about this problem were very generous, offering to help make parts for us or even in the case of Dallas Jesuit (FRC#2848) offering to send us an entire spare sheet metal chassis in case we couldn't get ours cut in time. We are so thankful to have so many awesome friends in the FRC community. After a few phone calls on Wednesday we were able to secure STAR Precision Manufacturing here in Houston to do a quick laser run for us and still have Solarcraft our main sponsor bend the parts. We also were able to cut some of the parts we needed on our CNC router.
We just got all the parts back this morning. We were able to get the practice robot up and driving and should have the real chassis ready for powder coat on Monday morning. Tomorrow we will mount the intake on the robot and should be able to test the most important two functions of the robot Drive Train and Intake. We still have a few more things we are missing and will get made once our sponsor has their machine running again.
We are missing the intake from the front of the robot, so the weight distribution is very bad in these late night tests. Our defense crossing will improve.
This morning we also continued our monthly food distribution here at our school, we have partnered with several other organizations at the school to host a mobile food pantry on the 2nd Saturday of every month. Over 150 families get much needed food from this pantry.
- Spectrum
“Be leaders, not because you must, but because you’re willing.” - St. Paul of Tarsus
February 23, 2016Day 44: Reveal and CAD
Ultraviolet 2016
Here is the reveal of our 2016 FRC Stronghold robot, Ultraviolet. The video is of our practice robot. The competition robot will be very similar. We have plans for several more additional features for the coming weeks.
CAD Release Solidworks and STEP Files
The above link is the full CAD of the current state of the robot. Feel free to use anything you like from it. It's a bit rough in places but it's mostly complete.
Ultraviolet Details
Drive Train
- 8 x Pnumatic Tires
- AndyMark Hubs
- MBS Vine Tires (up to 80psi)
- Dead Axle
- 1/2" drop for the middle two wheels on each side to reduce scrub while turning
Gearboxes (FRC#1114 Simbot Inspired)
- 4 CIMs (with ability to add 5th and 6th motors if needed)
- Ball Shifting (2.21 Spread)
- 12:40 First Stage
- 14:44 Low Gear
- 24:34 High Gear
- 14:44 Chain Reduction
- Uses SDA20x25 pneumatic cylinders for shifting imported from China
Intake
- Surgical Tubing wrapped aluminum tube intake
- 3D printed HTD 5mm pulleys
- 775pro powered front intake roller
- BAG motor powered middle and rear rollers
- Spectrum
“Power consists in one’s capacity to link his will with the purpose of others, to lead by reason and a gift of cooperation. ~Woodrow Wilson”
March 22, 2016Bayou Finalists and Engineering Inspiration Award
Engineering Inspiration Award
We were Bayou Regional Engineering Inspiration Award winners this past weekend. The Engineering Inspiration Award "celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school or organization and community." This is one of the highest honors a team can receive at a regional event and awards the recipient team a spot at the 2016 FIRST World Championship in St. Louis. In addition the team that earns this award is given a $5,000 grant from NASA to pay for their Championship registration fee. We are honored to have been chosen for this award by the judges at the event.
Regional Finalist
In addition to the Engineering Inspiration Award. Spectrum was also Regional Finalist at the Bayou Regional. We were chosen by the #2 alliance captain FRC#3841 Bronc Botz from San Antonio to be the 2nd robot on their alliance. We then picked FRC#5819 Mecha Makos from Key Biscayne, FL. We formed a strong alliance and worked our way to the finals. We lost a close finals round to three very qualified teams and the final match came down to only 3 points. Here is a video of one of our semifinal rounds.
Lone Star Regional April 7th-9th
Our next event is the Lone Star Regional which will take place on April 7th-9th at George R. Brown Convention Center. This is a free event and everyone is invited to come and see the competition.
FIRST Championship
April 27th - May 1st
Over 600 FRC teams will compete in St. Louis for 4 days. The best of the best will be on hand to determine who has best met the engineering challenge this year. Now that we have punched our ticket to championship we will begin the planning process for the trip. We have our hotels booked but we still need to get our charter bus reserved.
Spring Dates
- Apirl 7th-9th - Lone Star Regional in Houston
- April 26th(PM)- 31st(AM) - FIRST Championship event in St. Louis
- May 13th - Engineering Team Banquet
There will be more dates added, but these are the ones we know about now.
March 24, 2016Jim Zondag - This Is How I Work
It has been a long time since the last How I Work article has come out, so we’re coming back with with Jim Zondag from FRC team 33, a veteran mentor who has been in FRC since 1998. In this interview, he talks about how his interest in STEM at a young age inspired him to pursue a career in engineering, which led him to join FRC. He joined the Killer Bees in their early years and has become an integral part of the team since. Read more about his amazing stories and advice from his many years in FRC, and learn how a veteran mentor works!
[Responses from August 28, 2015]
Name: Jim Zondag
CD Username: Jim Zondag
Current Gig/Job: Apps
Development Manager – Chrysler Uconnect System
Alma Mater/Degree: Oakland
University - Master of Science – Electrical Engineering - Calvin College –
Bachelor of Science – Electrical Engineering
Current Team(s): FRC team 33 The Killer Bees
Former Team(s): None
Location: Auburn
Hills, Mi
Hobbies: Robotics,
Woodworking, Electronics, Programming, Reading and anything that involves
Making or Learning; preferably both.
What inspired you to do what you
do? Tell us a story.
I have always had a love of
machines and how things work. I spent my youth fixing, building and rebuilding
bikes, lawnmowers, stereos, motorcycles, farm equipment, cars, and anything
else I could find with my brothers. When I was a young, I had a mentor. He had
a lifetime of experience and from my young perspective, he had an almost
inhuman ability to fix or build anything almost effortlessly. I found this to
be very inspirational. He taught me many things about tools use, mechanics,
internal combustion, electricity and many other subjects. He did this for no
reason other than I asked, and he was always there to help. Because of his
teaching, at a young age I found myself far ahead of many of my peers in my
ability to build, fix and understand machines. This inspiration and confidence
led me to become who I am today. I always figured that I would want to do the
same favor for others someday if I had the chance. A few years after I became a
professional, I found FIRST Robotics, and it was a natural fit for me. It has
become a way of life for me.
What is your day job, and how’d you
get there?
I have a really cool job. I am the
Apps Development Manager for Chrysler Uconnect Systems. Basically, my group
takes a lot of the cool stuff that you have on your smartphone, tablet or
laptop, and we figure out how to integrate this into your car. Pandora Music,
Google Search, Siri, you name it. This is very high tech, very fast-paced, and
very challenging work. I have a great staff of young engineers who make all of
this possible. We work with Google, Apple, Sprint, QNX, and lots of other
technology companies every day on these projects. We make cool, awesome stuff
like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d6gTQdxTnw#t=149,
or this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VWZ4RVeCsc
I am a farm kid from Ontario, Canada.
I have always loved cars, and I always wanted to design vehicles of some kind
when I grew up. I worked hard and got good grades in high school. I was
fortunate enough to get a scholarship from my church which allowed me to go to
the U.S. for college, where I majored in Electrical Engineering. I landed a job
at Chrysler in vehicle engineering shortly after graduation, which was pretty
much a dream come true for me. I have spent my career in a variety of EE roles
in vehicle design, mostly in embedded systems and software design. Electronics
have evolved tremendously over these years and there are always new
technologies to learn. My current job is fast, fun, and very technical.
What is your favorite story to tell
about robotics?
I have many, here is an early one:
I joined our team in its 3rd year of existence for the 1998 season.
Our team was not very capable back then. We did not really design things; we
just built things. This sort of worked, but was chaotic. I found this rather
odd, but I was the new guy and initially I was just trying to figure this whole
FIRST thing out. Somehow I ended up being the competition coach. Our machine
did not perform very well, and the student drivers were frustrated by this. We
made the most of what we had, but were clearly a second class team compared to
a few others around us. We went to the CMP, did fairly well, but were
eliminated in the quarterfinals. Later, we were watching the semifinals and
Team 67 was playing. HOT had a very capable robot that year, and they drove it
very well. I commented about some of the design features of their machine to
one of my fellow mentors. He replied with, “Our team could never build a robot
like that.” I was surprised by this and when I asked him why, he really had no
good answer other than we were simply not that good, and probably never would
be. I took as somewhat of a personal challenge. The following year, I revamped
our entire design process, and led a large percentage of the robot build
effort. We were an actual contender in 1999 and have improved our process every
year since. The moral of this story: “Don’t let your perceptions limit your
reality. Anything is possible if you make a plan and find a way to execute it. “
What’s your favorite robot that you
didn’t help build?
There have been lots of great
robots over the years, but I think 254 really set a new standard this year with
Barrage. I had the privilege of getting to play with the Poofs in Elims at the
CMP way back in 2001, and I was impressed by their machine already then. Every
year since they build a machine that is capable, efficient, and beautiful. They
set the benchmark for all of us, and in 2014, they certainly outdid even
themselves. I particularly like the fact that this robot did not take advantage
of any chokehold approach; it simply outperformed us all through excellent
design and execution. Very impressive.
What apps/software/tools can’t you
live without? (Work/Robotics/Home)
I love cloud services; anything
which allows high accessibility and is device agnostic. I love streaming music,
my eBook library, Dropbox, Flickr, and I find Google Docs indispensable. I also
use CAD extensively for many things, robotic and otherwise, and I think
learning to design in 3D is one of the most empowering skills I have ever
learned. I like Inventor and Solidworks, and I use them somewhat
interchangeably.
I really don’t use social media
much. I think it is an enormously powerful thing, but it is also the most
distracting thing that mankind has ever created. I use all social media
sparingly, even CD.
What’s your workspace setup like?
(Work/Robotics/Home)
I love workshops. I have many and I
seem to build them wherever I go. I am not a great multi-tasker and I find that
I can best focus my attention if I have environments dedicated to specific
tasks. If I go into my shops, I work on the things I built them for until I
leave. Even though I am a software guy, I have a lot of mechanical shop spaces.
I have about 6 shops in my current life:
I have a garage bay at my
home which is a setup as a woodshop. I like to make things out of wood and I
make stuff all the time there. I build cabinets, furniture, and lots of other
items for my never ending home renovation projects.
I have a small electronics/metal
shop in my basement. I make smaller, less messy items there. Lately I have been
into desktop manufacturing, and I have a small 3 axis CNC mill that I built
with my son this summer and we have been learning to use it.
I have a dedicated robotics machine
shop at the Chrysler Tech Center. It is not real big, but it is perfect for us.
We build all of the Killer Bees Robots here and we have all the machine tools
we need to do what we do. We gradually upgrade our equipment as we find
decommissioned machines throughout the complex.
I have a dedicated robotics
computer room at the Chrysler Tech Center. I had an unused copy/vending alcove
converted into a private lab. We got about a dozen computers from corporate IT
and set up a central server. We do all of our CAD, Website, programming,
Graphics and media stuff in this space.
I have a really cool electronics
area at work where my work team does our product development. We have test
benches, simulators, lots and lots of test equipment, and over 100 smartphones
and mobile devices.
I have a small woodshop at my
church. For the past 13 years, I have taught a weekly shop class for the 1st through 5th graders at my church. We make
birdhouses, stepstools, pinewood derby cars, and all sorts of crafty things. I
believe that everyone should learn to make things with their own hands, and
starting young is the key to a lifetime of making.
What do you listen to while you
work?
I prefer mostly stuff from the
Hardrock/Heavy Metal category. Old, new, from Foghat to Five Finger Death
Punch. Anything with a hard driving beat is good background music while I work
or drive (and much of my real work is driving). Metalworking and Metallica just
naturally go together. AC/DC and Android are also a great combo.
What’s your schedule like during
build season?
We put in a lot of time. I am kind
of an obsessive person, and I am at almost every session. I am usually the
first one there and the last to leave. I pretty much work on robotics every
single day from Jan 1 – to May 1. My typical weekday I will put in 5-7 hours in
the evening, and then we will do about 12 hours on most Saturdays. We never
have official meetings on Sundays, but I started a tradition of “Software
Sundays” years ago where I work on CAD, Programming, Analysis, Scouting,
Program Management, whatever, at home. Others sometimes join me, and a lot of
online sharing occurs. These sessions allow me to focus on design and details
without having to manage a large group of kids. Once the robots are done at the
end of Feb., we have scheduled practice daily for 2-3 hours until the CMP is
over. On weekends when my team is not competing, I will MC or game announce at
other District events and VEX events. It is kind of crazy, but I love it, and
it has become a way of life.
What everyday thing are you better
at than anyone else?
One of my strengths is managing
chaos. I work best under pressure and I seem to be drawn to projects which have
high degrees of complexity and high degrees of risk (Probably why I enjoy FIRST
J). I like to take on programs which are a complete mess and figure out how to
make them successful. I seem to be a sucker for punishment in this area, but I
definitely have a strong sense of accomplishment as a result. I have created
some very cool stuff in my life, worked on some really great teams, and on many
award winning vehicle programs.
What's the best advice you've ever received?
“Don’t be afraid to ask for what
you want.” Never assume that people will know what you want if you don’t tell
them. This applies to everyone, your boss, parents, professors, spouse,
roommate, children, everyone. Too many people never ask for what they really
want, and spend much of their life waiting for things that will never happen as
a result.
What is your favorite guilty
pleasure?
Reading. I know this sounds lame,
but I have a very busy life, and I am usually completely booked for almost
every waking hour of every day. Sometimes when I feel overwhelmed, I just put
everything on hold for an hour and read something off my reading list. It is
sometimes refreshing to be deliberately non-productive and mentally reset. I am
a big fan of short form science fiction, and my reading wish list is very long.
Fill in the blank. I’d love to see Brandon Holly (125) answer
these same questions.
Anything else you want people to
know about you?
I could not do most of what I do
without the support of my wife, Lorianne. She is simply the best.
“There go my people. I must follow
them, for I am their leader.” – Gandhi
March 26, 2016Stronghold Jumps
We’ll be updating this post with some of our better defense crossings of the year.
Asking our partners politely to move, so we can jump over the CDF.
In the same match we realize that we should cross the rock wall after all.
More to come through out the season.
- Spectrum
April 5, 2016Lone Star Regional and Bayou Recap
Bayou Recap Video
Lone Star Regional
FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) Lone Star Regional April 7th-9th at George R. Brown Convention Center
Spectrum 3847, the combined Strake Jesuit/St. Agnes Robotics Team will compete in the FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) Lone Star Regional.
Please come and cheer the team (and their robot) as they compete against other engineering teams from Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Turkey & Mexico! The event is free and great for children too.
When: Friday April 8 & Saturday, April 9.
Schedule: https://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2016txho
Where: George R. Brown Convention Center
Admission is free.
Teams: https://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2016txho
Live Stream: Live Stream
https://www.thebluealliance.com/ will have the link as soon as it's available
April 25, 2016Championship This Week
Championship This Week
This week is the 2016 FRC World Championship in St. Louis, MO. We will compete Thursday - Saturday.
We are competing in the Archimedes division this year. Over 600 FRC teams will compete in St. Louis for 4 days. The best of the best will be on hand to determine who has best met the engineering challenge this year.
Full Championship Schedule
Here is our tentative match schedule for the weekend. These times are in eastern times, starting on Thursday and moving to Friday for matches 60 and over.
You can watch the events at TheBlueAlliance.com
Spring Dates
- May 13th - Engineering Team Banquet
- 6:30 pm, Friday, May 13
- CLICK HERE to register for the banquet and make donations to the coaches' gifts.
- Please contact Gretchen Smith at gwegmannsmith@sbcglobal.net with any questions.
There will be more dates added, but these are the ones we know about now.
June 6, 2016TRI Team Update #2
1. Waitlist
2. Payment
3. Houston FIRST World Champio
1. Waitlist
If you will not be attending TRI, please let me know ASAP. We have several teams on the wait list that would love to take your place.
2. Payments
If you have not sent your payments please do so ASAP and email me letting me know you are still coming.
Registration is $250 per team.
Please make checks payable to
St. Agnes Academy
Memo Line: Engineering Team and your team number.
Send Checks to
St. Agnes Academy
9000 Bellaire Blvd.
Houston, TX, 77036
If I owe you a receipt or an invoice please email me again. I think I went through and got most of the people that asked for them, but I'm betting I missed someone. Apologizes in advance.
3. Houston FIRST World Championsh
5. Pre-Order Lunch
If you would like to pre-order lunches please fill out the form below. We will have some concession but not hot food (no pizza or sandwiches, etc). There are many places around the school to eat if you would rather do that.
"Please fill out this pre-order lunch form. You will be expected to pay for the lunches before you retrieve your lunches. You will need to pay with cash or check at the time of the event (or mail a check before the event, email Allen if you are doing this). Each lunch will cost $6 for a Subway 6" sandwich (Italian bread, American Cheese, tomato, lettuce, & pickle), chips, cookie/dessert, and drink (can of soda or water bottle). Orders are due by 11:59PM 6/20/2016, Please put in orders early or let Allen@Spectrum3847.org know if you are planning on ordering lunches (helps us know how many cookie/desserts, chips, etc to buy.
Checks are made out to
St. Agnes Academy
Memo Line: Engineering Team"
