The Green Machine thanks Edina High School teachers, administrators, staff, as well as friends and the many young robotics enthusiasts who visited with the team during its second-annual “Edina Robotics Education Day,” Saturday, Jan. 26. Occurring right in the middle of the six-week build season, this day was a perfect chance for visitors to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse at what building a FIRST robot is really about. This year’s event included a scale mock-up of a key element of FIRSTOverdrive: “The Overpass,” a bridge that will stand six-and a-half feet off the competition racetrack. The overpass will be used by robot alliances to either place Trackballs, which are 40” in diameter, 7.3 pounds each, for bonus points, or will need to carefully maneuver Trackballs underneath the overpass while avoiding being hit by a falling Trackball. The team’s 2007 and 2006 competition robots were on display along with past year’s competition videos. These made for good compare/contrast scenarios for team members, who guided visitors through the intricacies of how each year’s robot is carefully crafted to meet the current year’s game challenge. This year, the team’s new animation subteam demonstrated samples of various objections rendered using Autodesk’s 3d StudioMax animation program, while members of the computer-aided design (CAD) subteam showed various parts and views of our 2008 robot-in-process. The day was an informative, exciting snapshot into the middle of FIRST Overdrive!
