Cascade Bruin Robotics Kicks Off a New Competition Season

by Michael

Hello! We are Cascade Bruin Robotics. We build robots and compete with them throughout the year. We also go to cool places for outreach events to teach others about US FIRST Robotics.

We compete in two separate competitions, FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) and FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). 

The FTC season started with a kickoff at the Microsoft Redmond campus on September 12th. After kickoff, teams have 12 weeks to build a robot that is tailored for this year’s game. What makes it challenging is that each year the game changes. We have to design a new robot each year that can do different things.

The FRC season starts right after the new year and we have 6 weeks to build a robot. The challenges are harder and the robots are bigger than those of FTC. Last season we built a robot that stacked crates and was over 6 feet tall! The FTC season prepares us for FRC because FRC is more intense and faster paced than FTC.

During both seasons our mentors teach us skills such as programming, safe operation of machinery, problem solving, developing a business plan, and fundraising! Colleges are looking for students with FIRST Robotics experience. More than $20,000,000 in scholarships are available through US FIRST Robotics! The best part of robotics is that we accept anyone who is motivated to be part of the team. We need students who can also contribute to the nonengineering aspects of our organization, such as photographers, videographers, film editors, artists, musicians, designers, and more! We are here every Monday through Thursday after 2:30 PM in the Robotics Room (between building 4 and the auto shop). Feel free to join anytime!

CBR Directors Meet Dean Kamen!

Cascade Bruin Robotics Directors, along with coach, advisor and lead mentor Neil Palachuk, had the opportunity to hear inventor and FIRST founder Dean Kamen speak at FIRST Washington luncheon in Bellevue on Friday, May 29. They continue to be inspired by Mr. Kamen's vision and commitment. This year's directors are shown here, and they will also be the directors for our organization next year.

Julia, John Paul, James, Dean Kamen, Michael

Cascade Bruin Robotics directors with Coach Neil

Bruins go to Boeing!

by William

In late May, several team members from Cascade Bruin Robotics and some of our friends Everett High School’s Robotics program had the pleasure to see how the engineering process works in real-life jobs at the Boeing Interior Responsibilities Center.

Touring the plant as work was in full swing and observing actual experimentation was eye-opening. As we entered the towering, gleaming-white walls of the most voluminous building in the world (472,370,319 cubic feet!) we were greeted with smiles and the noise of innovation at work.

Chris, our guide around the PPC, took us to his baby of a project, the Pre-Production Center, a formerly deserted room now used to prototype interior plane components. There we sat down and played with the absolute coolest little 3D-printed knick-knacks, then watched a presentation about the evolving culture of additive manufacturing and automation of manually repeated work.

Thanks to Boeing for their support of FIRST Robotics, Cascade Bruin Robotics and for this opportunity.

Our New 3-D Printer!

by William

This past February we were honored to receive an EKOCYCLE Cube 3D Printer, courtesy of will.i.am and Coca-Cola. According to the Coca-Cola Journey Staff, “There are three types of people: those who have tried 3D printing, those who are fascinated by it and can’t wait to try it and those who have no idea what it is — yet. But a new collaboration between EKOCYCLE and 3DSystems is making the technology more accessible for novices and experienced users alike.” We found this to be completely true.

As we waited patiently for a solid 10 minutes in front of the smoothly-designed, futuristically-cool cube to calibrate, warm up, and create whatever we wanted (as long as it fit in the 6x6x6-inch space), we realized that we were experiencing, while still in high school, how cutting-edge technology is applied to major projects in all sorts of engineering fields.

We are currently planning on training new members about the software and hardware that make 3D printing possible. We hope to create a habit of using 3D printing and computer-aided design as viable alternatives to professionally-made custom parts.

Possibly the greatest thing about this (alongside our keeping up with innovation and joining the 3D printing revolution we see throughout FIRST) is the standard of eco-friendly engineering that will.i.am and EKOCYCLE hope to promote. The printer uses recycled plastic material. Many of our ideas can be prototyped using this versatile tool.

Cascade Bruin Robotics gives our sincerest thanks to FIRST, the Coca-Cola Company, will.i.am, and our hard-working mentors for helping us get to where we are now.

Julia Loewen is a Dean's List Finalist!

FRC Team 4512 had its last competition of the year at Shorewood High on March 22. The team performed well, making it to the playoffs, but unfortunately did not qualify for the Pacific Northwest Regional Event. However, it was an exciting moment during the awards ceremony when we found out that Julia, our veteran director, would be advancing to the Pacific Northwest Regional event as a Dean's List semifinalist.

BEARbots Coach Neil Palachuk, BEARbots director Julia Loewen, FIRST Washington Founding Chairman Kevin Ross

Although Julia was unable to attend the Pacific Northwest Regional Event, she was selected to be a Dean's List finalist and go on to the FIRST World Championship in St, Louis later this month.

The term “Dean’s List” comes from Dean Kamen, inventor and founder of US FIRST Robotics. The Dean’s List Award goes to sophomores and juniors and is based on a mentor-submitted essay and student interviews. According to the FIRST website, criteria for the FIRST Dean’s List includes:

• Demonstrated leadership and commitment to the ideals of FIRST
• Interest in and passion for a long term commitment to FIRST
• Overall individual contribution to their team
• Technical expertise and passion
• Entrepreneurship and creativity
• Ability to motivate and lead fellow team members
• Effectiveness at increasing awareness of FIRST in their school and community

Julia has been with our team since our first year at Cascade. She has provided strong leadership on our FTC and FRC teams for the last three years. We look forward to being a much stronger organization next year with Julia at the helm!

Bear Feeder Project: Feeding the Bears at Woodland Park Zoo

Cascade Bruin Robotics takes on the challenge of keeping zoo keepers safe!

by Neil Palachuk, coach and lead mentor 

The Cascade Bruin Robotics Team of the Everett School District has accepted a challenge proposed by zoo keepers at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo to help design and build not a better mouse trap but a better bear feeder!

The zoo keepers at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo work hard at feeding the animals every day—no question about that. However, the keepers caring for the bears have to put a little more muscle into it. In order to stay safe, the keepers are required to feed the bears from outside the enclosure. This means throwing the food into the enclosure from 20-30 feet away. This process can definitely become tiresome very quickly.

Thus, the zoo keepers decided to challenge the Cascade Bruin Robotics Team to develop a new way to feed the bears. At the start of the project, the students came up with 2 designs. They then submitted the designs to the Zoo keeper, who in turn selected the design that uses an extendable PVC slide to feed the bears. Way to go, Bruins!
                          

Our New FTC Season!

By Julia

It’s almost that time again! FTC competitions are two weeks away and the Cascade Robotics teams have been working for nine long weeks to perfect every aspect of their robots. From initial design to finishing touches last-minute changes, the teams have started off a great season! Six work sessions left, and the robots are almost ready to compete. You can see the game animation on the FTC game page.

The BEAR Bots are almost finished with their robot; they still need to attach the part of the arm that picks up the blocks, wire the robot, and add some finishing touches to the code. After that, they will be ready to test all of the robot’s capabilities on the field that mentor Neil Palachuk built.

The Hibernotics, being a rookie team, still have a lot to do on their robot, but will be ready in time for the first competition. They are currently working on the arm to pick up the blocks. They still need to wire, program, and decide what else to add if they have time. They also have discussed the FTC awards and hope to earn a few like the Motivate Award or the Rockwell Collins Award. They are ordering flair items to help themselves stand out from the other teams at the competition.

The overall organization, Cascade Robotics, is still in the process of ordering T-shirts and we hope to get them before the first competition round. We are also working on various outreach events, including volunteering for FLL competitions, fundraising, attending school events, and presentations at local businesses. We are also trying to improve our media presence with Facebook and our blog, and we have plans to start sending out monthly e-newsletters in the future.

Thanks to all the mentors, sponsors, and parents for their help so far! Good luck to all the team members on the rest of their season!