Nashoba FIRST

New Website

2005-11-12T13:38:00.000-05:00

The New Nashoba FIRST Website is up and running.

The new URL is http://team1768.ath.cx/

Please check this webiste EVERYDAY. You all are responsible for any info I place there.

http://NashobaFIRST.blogspot.com/ will no longer be maintained.

-a.r.levin

Engineering Division Meeting 11/10!

2005-11-07T15:37:00.001-05:00

There will be an Enineering meeting at 6:45AM on thursday 11/10. THIS IS A MANDATORY MEETING FOR ALL ENGINEERS! If you do not have transportation, you must seem me IMMEDIATELY so that something can be arranged. Make sure to read those sections Laura told you to in the Documents and Updates section.

-a.r.levin

P.S.
I have no idea why this post came out as a hyperlink...

Meeting 11/09

2005-11-07T15:37:00.000-05:00

There will be a meeting directly after school in room 109 on Wednesday 11/09. If you haven't already, make sure you submit your Bios to info.team1768@gmail.com. Take a look at http://team1768.ath.cx/ (which will soon be our new website) for examples on the Bios.

Updates

2005-10-30T01:08:00.000-04:00

There may not be a meeting this week, but that doesn't mean there aren't things to do.

Engineering Division:
You all should have received an E-Mail with your instructions. Make sure you choose your desired subgroup by 11/4.

Everyone:
In order to accommodate as many people as possible, I'm going to need updated schedules from everyone by FRIDAY 11/4. Please include every activity you're planning on being involved in from now until the end of February. Please include:

Activity:
Running Dates:
Running Days:
Running Times:

Thanks,

-a.r.levin

Meeting 10.16

2005-10-19T21:02:00.000-04:00

The Next meeting will be on Wed. the 26th.
I haven't been seeing too many posters; if you're in charge of Nashoba PR, make sure you get stuff together.

Take a look at http://Team1768.ath.cx It is our new site and currently under construction. Take a look at the group bio page. Make a little bio about yourself like mine. I'll be bringing in a camera to get profiles of people.

If you were planning to meet Mr. Brand (from Nypro) on MONDAY, I need confrimation NOW that you can go.

-a.r.levin

SC Meeting on NOVEMBER 3RD!

2005-10-15T21:31:00.000-04:00

We will not be meeting w. the SC this week. We are scheduled for 11/03!

If you're planning on going to the SC Meeting, here are the directions:

From Lancaster: Pass the HS. Emerson is on your right just past the old Mobile station directly across the street from the Police Department.

From Stow: Don't Pass the HS. Emerson is on your left a little past the Salt Box directly across the street from the Polic Department.

Emerson will be the first building you see, across from a soccer field. If you go to far, you'll go to Sawyer.

The Main Enterance is by the Circle. The doors are right next to the large EMERSON letters. There will be a stair case directly in front of you. Go up it. The SC Meeting is in the second or third door on the right.

Please be there at 6:00pm unless I tell you otherwise.

-a.r.levin

Meeting 10/17

2005-10-14T16:36:00.000-04:00

The Next meeting will be on Monday, 10/17. Please make sure you've done all of your assignments.

-a.r.levin

Meeting 10/13

2005-10-08T18:49:00.000-04:00

Our next meeting will be Thursday 10/13 directly after school in room 109.
Remember:
-Each of our "MiniTeams" can spend up to $5 on supplies for this weeks activity. Make sure you bring in receipts.
-Make sure you do everything you were assigned last week (including posters, minigrants, letters...).
-Come up w. a cool Nashoba FIRST logo, or tell someone who is artistic to make one.

Also:
I will be doing a small presentation for the School Committee two(?) Thursdays from now. I need one or two more people to come with me to present. If you're interested, let me know.

-a.r.levin

Meeting 10/6 Update!

2005-09-29T22:16:00.000-04:00

Ok, I know I'm driving everyone crazy by moving the meetings around everyday but...
This weeks meeting will be on Thursday right after school. I sent an E-Mail to some people to make sure you are available. Please respond to those E-Mails.

We have some cool things and some very important things planned at this meeting, so please try to attend.

-a.r.levin

SNEC Update

2005-09-28T16:07:00.000-04:00

I just go an E-Mail from FIRST: The location of the SNEC has changed from Quinsig to the old Red Cross building at 61 Harvard St., Worcester. More updates will be forthcoming.

-a.r.levin

SNEC

2005-09-27T17:07:00.000-04:00

The Sothern New England Conferance will be held on October 1st from 7:15 to 4:30. By now, you should already know if you're going. I'll be handing out packets of information at the 9/28 meeting.

PLEASE BRING SOMETHING TO TAKE NOTES WITH!

We will be discussing transportation at the meeting.

-a.r.levin

Meeting 9/28

2005-09-21T16:50:00.000-04:00

We will be holding a meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 28th. It is very important that all members come, as we will be making long term plans and we need to know what your going-ons are.

I also need to know (BY FRIDAY!) if you are planning to attend the SNEC on October 1st. For more information, go to http://www.nefirst.org/ and click on Southern New England Conference on the Upcoming Events sidebar.

-a.r.levin

First FIRST Meeting II

2005-09-13T22:15:00.000-04:00

We'll be holding an informational meeting in room 109 directly after school on Wednesday the 14th. I'll be bringing in a 'real live' robot from last year's competition for everyone to look at. Let me just say that it is a BEAST standing 5 feet tall and weighing in at 120lbs.

-a.r.levin

First FIRST Meeting

2005-09-03T22:49:00.000-04:00

I'm hoping to have the first FIRST meeting on Wednesday the 14th after school. That will give us plenty of time to figure out how many interested students there are before we have to register @ the end of September.

-a.r.levin

2006 Competition Calendar

2005-08-28T21:48:00.000-04:00

The 2006 Calendar of Important Deadlines is now available from the FIRST website. http://www.usfirst.org/robotics/2006/frc_time.htm

-a.r.levin

Meeting w. Brad

2005-08-21T22:34:00.000-04:00

We will be Meeting w. Brad Lauer on Monday the 22nd in room 109 @ 2:30. Anyone interested in joining the Nashoba FIRST Robotics team is encouraged to come (let me know so I can do a head count) Brad will be bringing a robot for us to see. Come prepared w. any questions you may have.

-a.r.levin

Teams in MASS

2005-08-14T20:10:00.000-04:00

Here are a few teams in Mass. They have nice websites and you can read about their team dynamics and what its like to be a FIRST team:

NYPRO, Inc & Clinton High School

Leominster High School

Intel & Shrewsbury High School

For information on more teams in Mass. click here.

-a.r.levin

Awards

2005-08-10T12:04:00.000-04:00

Here are a few awards we could be shooting for this year:

-Chairman's Award: This is the big one, awarded to a team that shows respect for science/technology and had an impact on their community. (This award is not applicable to rookie teams so, it was probably a bad one to start on.)
-Founder's Award: An individual who has "contributed significantly to the growth of FIRST."
-Woodie Flowers Award: This one's important. We write an essay on one of our adult mentors who supported us and influenced us the most. Included in our submission is a 600 word essay and up to 6 pictures. This would be a great way to recognize one of our mentors.
-Autodesk Inventor Award: To the team that best uses Autodesk Inventor software to design their robot. Anyone w. CAD experience should talk to me about this one.
-Autodesk Visualization Award: Best use of Discreet 3ds max (R) software via a 30 second animation describing our thoughts on FIRST. (FYI: Discreet 3ds max (R) was used in the making of Halo/Halo 2.)
-Website Award: Ok, now we're talking. There are 2 subcategories to this award: Website Excellence and Best Website. Websites will be judged on:
Content- Promotion of FIRST, Team info, pictures....
Struct/Nav- Organization, accessibility, link to FIRST and sponsors...
Visuals- FIRST Logo, team photos....
Funct/Interact- Does it work?, load time, does it take into account diverse user requirements (cough*firefox*)...

Award information courtesy of 2005 Manual, Section 9.

So, that should give you some idea of what's available to us.

-a.r.levin

Allowable Materials

2005-08-07T16:57:00.000-04:00

Here's a nice flow chart showing what type of materials are allowed, I'm suspecting this will change, but it will give you a nice feel for what's allowed:.

Courtesy of FIRST Robotics Documents and Updates

-a.r.levin

Schedule!

2005-08-07T00:44:00.000-04:00

I need everyones schedules by Friday, September 2nd. This should include sports, vacation, drama, work and other activities that might conflict with FIRST. I'll be putting together a master calendar so that we can find the best times to accommodate everyone. I suspect that we'll be meeting the first week of school, so I need to know when you're free.

-a.r.levin

2005 Competion

2005-08-06T12:44:00.000-04:00

Here are some diagrams for the 2005 competition. The 2006 competition will obviously be completely different, but it will be good to get some idea of what is required of the robots:

Diagrams courtesy of FIRST Robotics Documents and Updates

-a.r.levin