HSISHISI
January Newsletter
FTC: Preparing for Competition
Both the freshman, left, and sophomore, right, teams are busy working on their
robots to meet their competition deadline on January 24th.
Both the freshman and the soph-
omore FTC Teams have been
working around the clock to pre-
pare for their upcoming competi-
tion on January 24th at the Univer-
sity of Missouri-Kansas City. This
years FTC game is called Cascade
Effect and teams must design a ro-
bot to play the game which features
two different sized wiffle balls and
scoring tubes of various heights.
Both teams have come up with
their own unique strategy and de-
sign for their robot.
S.W.A.T. FTC Team 7359, or
the freshman team, has designed
their robot to effectively collect
wiffle balls and to only retain the
large wiffle balls, which fill up the
2015
Sponsor of the
Month!
FIRST Team 1806 is al-
ways looking to partner
with sponsors and indi-
viduals to help bring ro-
botics into the commu-
nity. For information on
sponsoring S.W.A.T.,
please contact us by
sending an email to
frc1806@gmail.com
scoring tubes quicker than the
smaller wiffle balls. The team also
utilizes linear slides so that their
robot is able to double its height
In this Issue
and score into some of the larger Page 1 FTC: Preparing for
scoring tubes. Competition
S.W.A.T. FTC Team 7507, or
the sophomore team, have also de- Page 2 FRC Build Season:
signed their robot to effectively The First Month
collect the large wiffle balls which Page 3 2015 FRC Game
will travel up a channel in their ro- Recycle Rush
bot and into the scoring tube. Un-
like the freshman, the sophomores S.W.A.T. Member of
robot is fixed at one height the the Month Gabe
height of the shortest scoring tube. Greenfield
Good luck to both teams at com- Page 4 S.W.A.T. Member of
petition, and look for next months the Month Gabe
newsletter for a complete record of Greenfield
the FTC results! (continued)
January Newsletter 2015

FRC Build Season Update: The First Month

With the release of this years FRC game, Recycle
Rush, the Tech Room has been busier than ever. Ro-
botics members, mentors and alumni have been work-
ing together around the clock to create a design and
implement it. After viewing the game on January 3rd,
the team quickly moved into the design phase which
involves analyzing the game, and thoroughly reading
the game manual and rule book. After the members and
mentors had dissected each aspect of the game, groups
formed to create their own design for the game. After
each group had presented their design, the team ana-
lyzed the unique mechanism and solutions from each
idea. The team weighed the pros and cons of each idea,
and devised a design that was a mixture of all the dif-
ferent ideas; taking the best components from each.
Then began prototyping.
The team made mock mechanisms to see their ideas
and designs in action. While part of the team proto-
typed, another group were working hard to create the
frame in Inventor, a modeling software. As soon as the
frame was built in Inventor, the team was able to get to
work on actually building and manufacturing the real
pieces for the practice robot. The robot began to grow
taller and taller, and the electronics department contin-
ued to work on the electronics board for the practice
robot.
At any moment, if you walk into the Tech Room,
your guaranteed to see the team hard at work, either
gathered around a computer, working in the shop, or
grouped around the robot. While the team does spend
many late nights up at the school working, they have
their share of fun with Build Season specialties like
Waffle Wednesday and shared meals. The work doesn't
stop, but the team is happy to be here, together, and
doing what they love.
To stay posted about all things S.W.A.T. FRC,
check out the all new Build Season Blog at http://
frc1806.weebly.com/
 2015 FRC S.W.A.T. Member of the Month
Game Gabe Greenfield
Recycle Rush
This years game centers
around the theme of recycling.
Recycle Rush is played by
two alliances consisting of
three teams each. These alli-
ances compete by stacking
plastic totes on scoring plat-
forms and topping stacked
totes with a recycling bin.
Points are also awarded for
placing litter, pool noodles,
inside of recycling containers.
The first 15 seconds of the
game is the autonomous peri-
od, in which robots act on
their own without human as-
sistance. In this time period,
robots can attempt to score by
moving themselves, yellow
Gabe Greenfield and Leeah Shipley were crowned 2015 Warriorfest King and
totes, or recycling containers
Queen at the girls basketball game on Tuesday, January 20th.
to the area between the scor-
ing platforms named the auto A past president, a giant, and a the 400 best teams in the world.
zone. king walk into a restaurant. The This season, Gabe is loving the
After this time period, the hostess asks, Table for one? How challenge of getting a robot built
robots move into the teleoper- is this possible? The answer: They and programmed in six weeks and
ated period in which human were all Gabe Greenfield. This sen- working full time with people who
players manually operate the ior stands out among the crowd, in share the same passion.
more ways than one. Although he joined our team his
robot. The game is played on
Our former president recently freshman year, Gabe didnt really
a 26ftx27ft playing field com- was named Warriorfest King of get involved until a year later. He
plete with scoring platforms Smithville High School. Gabe is advises our current freshmen to
and a step in the middle of also the vice president of NHS. He really get involved, because thats
the field separating the alli- participates in NEHS and plays the when he started loving it. He was
ances and acts as a platform alto saxophone in band, an activity our president from his junior year
that alliances can stack yellow that includes marching season, mu- up until this month, where he hand-
sical pit band, and basketball pep ed the title over to Zach Fergen.
totes on in coordination with band. Gabe oversaw our monthly meet-
the other alliance. These So far, Gabes favorite ings, competitions, fundraisers, and
points are doubled if the alli- S.W.A.T. memory was winning team events. Now, Gabe works on
ances arrange at least four of regionals with the 2013 robot. the fabrication and business teams,
those yellow totes in a single They hadnt gotten that far since as he doesnt get along with wiring
stack on the step. 2008, so only the mentors had been or programming.
there. He enjoyed going to St. Lou-
is and participating in events with (continued on page 4).
 S.W.A.T. Member of the Month
Check out our
FRC blog!
frc1806.weebly.com

For daily updates about

robot progress and
team events

Visit our Website!

www.smithvillehighrobotics.com/

(continued from page 3) When he graduates this spring, Gabe plans on

attending Missouri S&T and majoring in architectural engineer-
And Follow us on
ing. Although the team will miss him when he leaves, we all hope he Twitter! @frc1806
makes as big an impact on the world as he did on the team and its average
height.

Thank You Sponsors!

Darrell Smith Bill & Bonita Farrell Greg Armstrong

Russell & Betty Woollums Paul Clouse Earl & Diane Soetaert
Dave Telles Denny & Nancy Lowe G. Gupta
Chuck & Joan Hitchborn Ron & Mary Kay Grusenmeyer

January Newsletter 2015