N.McCabe,J.Iannuzzi,a group
of Mt. Olive students and a CCM alum "strategize in the pits" before test runs
on Thursday.....at this point, the left side motor was running faster than the
right side motor, causing the robot to turn right at full throttle....we had several
choices.....re-write software, to "adjust" the left side motor to run slower
or replace the(possibly ailing) right side motor.
This is about
half of the team. In the "madhouse" pit area, it was impossible to get everyone to
stand still for any amount of time. Overall, the team included three CCM faculty,
four CCM alumni, and four students presently attending CCM.
A rather casual Prof. McCabe
with three CCM alums....A. Blinder (left) performed yeoman work in electronics troubleshooting
.....M.Wood (second from right)is a three year team member, specializing in mechanical
design......P.Wood (right)does prototype work for Rame-Hart Engineering (he built a
number of major components on the robot)
The entire Klages family supported
the team in one way or another.........Mt. Olive High student Andy Klages was
one of the team's computer specialists. His talents came in handy on the last day;
our robot crashed (physically) into an opponent, ruining our twin-motor "ball
catcher"......Andy had to re-write software to drive a spare single motor "ball
catcher" that we cobbled together.
The team gets ready to compete....
..robot drivers set up their radio-control gear behind a clear Lexan safety
shield.....in all, the team uses five members during the contest; a driver,
an arm controller, a spotter, a human player and a coach.
Safety
is a big part of the contest; here a Safety Judge confers with Jason and Alex
Team members Gargan (robot driver), Vin and Vik (or is it Vik and
Vin?)plus Prof Klages, await the announcment for the next "round".
Our team got a lot of exposure during the announcments, because we had the longest
name! ("THE MOUNT OLIVE HIGH-BASF-COUNTY COLLEGE OF MORRIS-MARAUDERS!!!!!")
CPP Coordinator
Linda Lower and N.McCabe in the pit area prior to the FIRST "Teams Party" in
the Rutgers Student Center. Despite the contest date (March 17)other members
of the team refused to go along with Prof. McCabe's suggestion that the
robot be painted green (they said it would add too much weight!).
Our team sits on the sidelines,
analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of other teams....most teams used a computerized
spread sheet to assist in evaluating the other forty five teams (and most teams,
including ours, used a "scout/analyst" member who wandered around the pits
collecting data that could be tabulated)
We finally decided
to switch the right side motor.....a difficult job, but a wise decision, since the
original one was on the verge of burning out
The catalyst
for the entire project, Mt.Olive High School teacher Bill McGowan (with N.McCabe)
Prof. Dom D'Stefan, CCM's Tech Prep Coordinator
CCM faculty members
McCabe and D'Stefan (Prof. D'Stefan is a Rutgers Engineering Alum)