Sunday, December 12, 2010

Instructions :: How to Get In a Parade :: Longest Post Ever


So here it is... a gratifying moment, the night of the parade, when the labor, hours, planning, designing, painting, building, and hoping of the weeks before, all paid off. It began simply enough, with a request from 2102 Team Paradox for a space where they could build a robot for the Holiday Parade. And it finished beautifully, but, as usual, it's the process that I really admire and appreciate. I can't help but share highlights of how Lavender came to life, and make special mention of the talented and dedicated students who participated.

Warning: Robot Construction Ahead.
Don't run off! You may be surprised to see how creative and inspiring robotics is, and sometimes there are fun diversions, like bunnies, and there is always glitter and glue! Also, robotics includes sewing Parrot-Ox dresses, which is totally entertaining stuff. Oh, and let's not forget food! Any robotics activity is bound to include delicious snacks, healthful dinners, even hot apple cider, or at least an In-n-Out run! So, before you close this page, give us a chance to win your hearts and feedback. Channel your inner Geek, and give this absurdly long appropriately lengthed, slightly zealous, totally smitten robotics-float build-post a moment to fill your heart with holiday cheer, and abiding pride in the skills of our nation's youth! Amen.

Okay. And if you are here because you actually are hardcore, then you should begin from the beginning, Monday, November 22, 2010, and please, feel free to ask questions.


Tuesday, November 23. Lauren, Izzie, Erika, Suki

During Thanksgiving break, big progress was made, both on the decorating and the build side. And a really great part was how both marketing and build were working side by side, and cross-contributing! All for the good of the float, builders were decorating and helping make robot costumes, and marketing members were pitching in, using power tools, and helping get the robot, and more elaborate decorative features constructed.


Alex, Kyle

It was really exciting to see everyone arriving, and to see them excited for what was in store. At this time the robot arm was more concept than actual arm. But with designs and a clear vision in mind, new arrivals were soon brought up to speed. To make the arm light, it was constructed of foam, and to make it strong, the foam was wrapped in very thin plywood. The next phase was to get parts bolted together, and aligned.


Andrew

While some team members have been busy with the float, other team members have been focusing on the upcoming FRC kick-off, and games. The great thing about having a large, active robotics club is that there are plenty of projects and activities to go around. Andrew came with a laptop, where he has been using SolidWorks to design concepts for the 2011 FRC season, and he was able to set himself up in our ever improving Geek Laboratory!



Andrew, Kyle, Corey

More build members arrive, and so there is more help for assembling parts.


Andrew, Alex, Corey, Elias, Kyle

Sharing ideas is always a key, and fun, component of building with a team.


Eli, Corey

Corey can fit under the turn table to help Eli attach the arm to the lazy Susan base.



Andrew checks the pre-drilled holes for the giant washers... they were used for the elbow hinges.


Elias, Kyle, Corey, Alex

Attaching the washer to the "elbow" of the robot arm.


Maria, turkey hat, and Erika

Not seen: Me, and Stacy, who covered my shift when I had to get Max and Maria from school. Stacy also made a few supply runs for robot costumes and float decor. Cheers for mentors, super moms, finders of stuff!

Naturally we provided moving boxes. I thought: At last! We will be rid of moving boxes forever! Not. I think we have enough boxes leftover for ten more parades!




Erika, attaching an antenna. Like so many on the marketing team, Erika would show up, and do good work. Awesome.


Also an industrious contributor, Maria. Here she is on a muffin break. Mmmmmm muffins.


Making things from scratch can take a lot of ingenuity, improvisation, and innovations. Parts are not always at the local hardware store. Sometimes this was a problem, and altered the design, and sometimes the solution was a matter of modifying things... like cutting bolts down to size!


Annie, Sammay, Izzie, Alex

A lot was accomplished this day, most notably in the float decorations and robot costumes.


Suki, Geoff, Corey, Annie, Kyle, Alex

With so many around to help, the team decided to add more to the decor, including a very large gear. Or the impression of a large gear, by making half of an over-sized gear that would rise up out of the trailer bed. Here they are discussing the style of the gear, and how big it should appear.


Once the basic form was sketched on the foam, Suki and Annie went over a few more details, and Annie geared up to try her hand at foam cutting.


Annie and the jigsaw, a team cut out for gearing up! <-----I pun, therefore I am.


As a mentor, I would like to offer an exemplary image of team work, and safety. Ta-da! Because the foam throws up a lot of dust and fibers when it is being cut, we made sure Annie had a mask, and Alex came over with the shop vac to minimize the mess. The cleaner surface helped Annie follow the lines, and let everyone breath easier. Go robotics! <----- I am totally in the habit of saying that whenever anything awesome is going on.
Corey, Kyle, Izzie, Cassidy, Erika, Annie, Lauren, Suki, Eli, Alex, Andrew (Sammay arrived three minutes after the picture was taken)

Big day. Great progress. The float is coming along!

Yay robotics!


Yay clean-up crew!!
Corey, Sammay, Suki, Alex, Eli, and Maria


Thursday, November 26. Arm skeleton

After Thanksgiving, still on break, Alex and William were eager to continue making progress on assembling the arm. The black pipes were for lateral structural integrity, and the all thread rods would cinch the two arm faces together.


Now you can see the two faces of the forearm coming together, and Alex is lining up the all thread rods through the holes. William and I helped shift the top layer around, while Alex checked and adjusted each rod.


Just under the top layer you can see some of the smaller large washers that William cut to fit the black pipes... ABS.


Alex, William
This was such a great moment... when the forearm was ready to be fit in to the base... more and more progress, and happy results. Things were looking good! And a really cool thing: Andrea came over and got to see the robot progress!


William, Alex, Geoff

It fits!


Armed with his handy mallet, Alex matches up the holes for the steel rod. The arm isn't heavy, but William and Geoff had to keep it balanced in place.


Home from school, Andrea came by to see the float. Now the arm is secured, and we have time to take some pictures! Andrea was the 2102 Team Paradox president of marketing for 2009-2010. Now she's taking her sweet skills and lovely spirited self to UCI!


A little lesson in marketing with Maria, or just some fun coloring time!



This is dear to me. I like being a mentor, a team parent, because I want these students to feel supported and encouraged. If I can teach something, or offer ideas that is fine, but mostly I want to facilitate the opportunity for them to use the skills they already posses, and for them to be able to challenge themselves to do more, better. Sometimes the best contribution I can make is my time and attention, and I feel good when I can do this.



So, when Andrea sat with Maria, talking and coloring, and listening... I thought This is dear. My own daughter has a mentor now. A friend, who takes time and gives attention, so that Maria can recognize and use her own skills, and feel encouraged to challenge herself.



Mentoring is a nice opportunity to share what I have, but I can see the rewards to me can be even better! Maria looks up to 2102 Team Paradox. She wants to be on the team. She is inspired, not just in coloring and dancing, cheering, but also in learning about robotics, and design, and believing that she is capable of working with a team to achieve great things. And she has amazing mentors to support her beliefs and dreams... Suki and Andrea, Lonnie, Erika, Alex, William, Eli and James, Kyle, Grant, Andrew D., and Sam, Sammay, Corey, Maile, Emma, Lauren, Annie... all of 2102 Team Paradox is giving Maria inspiration in engineering and team spirit! It's like a triple rainbow of goodness!


Sunday, November 28, 2010. Suki, William, Eli, Alex

The last Sunday before the parade, and the first day of painting.


The thing about doing something for the first time is that everything is new. Including: "How much does it cost to build a robot arm for a holiday parade?"
The budget is spent, but the ideas are not, so the team re-doubles it effort to be creative and economical, and creative.



What color should we paint the robot? was answered, with What do we have on hand? And this is how the robot came to be painted with leftover house paints. Navajo White.

Suki, William, Alex, and Eli continued painting the robot through the week, including the photo-reactive paint that would glow in the black light. More parts were cut and assembled. William did a lot to prepare for the last night and day before the main event.


Friday, December 3, 2010. The night before the parade.

This was another time when a lot of people came to help with the float, even more new faces, and a couple of mentors too. We'd had pizzas, and barbecue sandwiches, burritos, and pizzas... tonight I made hot dogs, veggies, baked beans, and pop-corn. Lots of pop corn. This was also a good night for hot chocolate, because it was cold out there!


Lauren, Lonnie, Izzie, Sam, Emma, Maile

The box shop... robots made to order!


Already named "Lavender," Suki demonstrates the awesome power of Lavender's Robot arm. Her name comes from one of the house paint options... they chose white, but liked the name "Lavender."


With James' approval, Alex proceeds on wiring for Lavender's controls.



Sam, Suki, Maile, Emma

Did I mention it was cold?! It helped to have so much work left to do... moving around kept us warm.


Weather was still a concern, since there was a light chance of rain in the forecast. But everyone pushed through, undeterred by fog and chill.


By now it was getting down to specifics, details, testing. CJ's robot suit was wired for lights and given a parrot beak. Elias tested it out.


Other details included affixing the warning label William and I made, and procuring more photo-reactive, glow in the dark blue paint.


Then something wonderful happened. Lavender moved! The claw opened and shut... as designed.


Fog rolling in, the hour growing late, and work continuing.


William, giddy with success, has fun with the controller.


CJ, Alex R., James, and EL wire

Electroluminescent wire (often abbreviated to EL wire) is a thin copper wire coated in a phosphor which glows when an alternating current is applied to it, which is, you know, totally cool.


Totally cool... right, CJ?

Yes, the same CJ who came to Las Vegas in his homemade robot suit!


And now, about the arm... it is designed to move. Time to install the large cylinder that will raise the arm.


Wiring parts, and the orange pendant... that will control the three cylinders.

Cylinder One: Turns the arm.
Cylinder Two: Raises the arm.
Cylinder Three: Opens the claw.


Good morning. It is Saturday, December 4, Parade Day!

Left to do:
Find and purchase last bottle of blue, glowing paint.
Get Lavender on trailer bed, secure her.
Secure Dr. Breen, the small compressor.
Secure the generator.
Finish wiring and connecting controls.
Painting.
Loading robot costumes and float decorations.
Create and wire eyes to light up and flash with the music.
Try, try, try to find parts that will make it possible to turn the base with a fourth cylinder.
Get to the registration booth before four PM.
Get float in line before four forty-five PM.
Keep children safe, fed, and in sight.
Forward!


Alex is attaching another bolt. Everyone was aware of safety, and wanting to assure that moving the robot, and the robot itself moving, was not going to shake things apart. No one wanted to see parts flying off in the parade! So, there was a lot of discussion about reinforcing pieces, and the effect of mass with motion.


William, Alex

With only hours left before the parade, it was becoming apparent that the turntable might not get completed in time, which was disappointing. It was built of course, but finding the right size bolts to attach a cylinder of sufficient strength was proving to be a challenge.


I found blue glow in the dark paint! Success at last. On my way home from the hinterlands, I called back to float central and took a lunch order. I think I got most people's requests right... I made an executive decision on drinks and got everyone chocolate shakes.


Meet our latest recruit: Rick!

He is Eli's dad, and was here from out of town. Naturally, we put him right to work. And after he and Eli constructed and wired light-up eyes for the robot, we informed him that working for five hours on a robot automatically makes you a full board member of the league of extraordinary mentors. And Myron confirmed the validity of our declaration.


Myron, Eli, Chris, Andrew

More help! Thank goodness. Though they had kept a diligent pace, there were still things that would have to wait until the last... like lifting the robot arm on to Wayne's trailer, attaching it, and getting the controllers in place. This was a good time for more build skills and support.


Suki, Maria, Myron

Maria's favorite contribution has been to match people to their favorite Winnie the Pooh character, which she serves to them in a cookie shape. Costco jumbo cookie bucket. She knows I won't let her have any, or many, but she is just as happy sharing them as eating them


Fog!
It works!
Maybe a bit reckless testing Lonnie's fog machine at the last moment, but there were no disappointments, and Suki had the brilliant idea to send the fog up through a wide tube, which looked great.


Lavender!

After moving her, and making more attachments, they ran more tests. Imagining something, then designing it, then finding and building parts, and bringing all of it together is a long process, challenging... seeing it work... it's wonderful! There is tremendous satisfaction in seeing Lavender move, as planned.


James tests Lavender's temperament and strength.


She is very strong, and also gentle.


William, Geoff, Andrew, Chris

Even as one group is loading, everyone else is still throwing stuff together.


Suki, happy that more blue paint was found. In black light the blue glows, and gives Lavender her particular luminous shade. Suki glows in any light.


Ever notice, in good circumstances, the right person shows up, or the right part becomes available? Like Rick helping with wiring, and Andrew helping secure Lavender to the trailer. We really needed them, and they came through. Geoff was under the trailer, and Andrew was above, and together they were bolting the robot to the trailer, and all around the carport, everyone was in motion to bring everything together, and in place.


Wow... so much like the last twenty-fours of FRC build when everything is getting tense, and everyone is working hard, and the minutes are ticking away!


I got caught up in the excitement and threw together a mini-float for Maria.


Wayne, Rick, Eli

Wayne arrives to hook up his trailer to his truck. He also has the sound system that Eli will connect with his laptop. Rick and Eli are discussing logistics. We have to get people, costumes, and the float downtown before all the streets are closed. Which reminds me: Suki what time do you have to register?! With minutes to spare, Suki, Maria, Izzie, and I get downtown to register, hold our place, and meet up with arriving team members.

Hello?
Is anyone here?
I'm done.
Honest.
You made it through the longest Chciekenblog Chickenblog post ever!
You are automatically a full board member of the league of extraordinary Paradox supporters!


The parade is about to start.


Thank you. Your support and enthusiasm generates amazing, bottomless oodles of energy, which inspires math, science, engineering, art, music, tinkering, play, learning, and joy!

11 comments:

Rick Watson said...

Wow! You guys don't go half way. You know what I always say, "You can't fly on one wing."
Rick

Anna Banana said...

you really are some kind of nut, you know. I love nuts! hope you're getting some sleep now.

ArtyZen said...

Super-hyper-fantastically well done! I have not a clue what it's all about other than it is fantastic to see a group of people working so hard together to achieve a common goal and learning so much along the way.. and doing it with such pleasure, commitment and creativity. Ah...that's what it's all about, isn't it!

judy in ky said...

I'm here! I'm here! I am now a member of the League of Paradox Supporters. I am honored. These kids are headed for greatness... no, wait... they already there. So cool!

Cheyenne -Millie said...

Wow! So much work!! Good job!! Interesting to see the process!

Jennifer said...

AWESOME!!!

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

Ah... thanks everyone! You are AWESOME!!!

Golden West said...

What a wonderful, collaborative effort! As one who has yet to take the plunge and to even use a cell phone, I salute you!

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

Golden West... I've seen what you and Amanda accomplish... your amazing skills would be hugely appreciated in robotics!

Random said...

Board member! Yay!

Assembling a working float like that is fantastic; I love that you chose a giant claw and just let it be what it was. It looks like it belongs in the original Star Wars trilogy (other than its logo, which of course gives away its origins). I can just picture it in the Aperture labs, trying to snap at the little floating British personality core you get in the upcoming game...

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

Random... you are so totally a Board Member! William and Alex love that you see and appreciate the purity of the claw! Alex painted on the Aperture labs symbol... and they get a kick when someone knows what it is actually about. Hey, I hope you are heading in to a *fiasco-free* holiday, and New Year!