Midwest Comp

This was my very first competion. Our robot has succesfully climbed,autonomous works and shot power cells. I am our teams safety captain. I went to meetings and I got to meet other teams safety captains and got to know their teams. We also saw one of are former members who moved and is now in titan robotics. We also recieved the judges award. We were so happy when we recieved it because we hadn't expected it. We are going for the imagery award, but we recieved a nice surprise. And we are still working towards the imagery in Peoria. Here are some qoutes from are students.

"I was human player, I...

Posted on Mar 10, 2020

Ready set Robots

We have two weeks to have a robot before competition. We are waiting on welding to finish the chamber.

Here are a few quotes from students on how their feeling with welding and competition just around the corner.

"I think the chamber will turn out great, I'm excited for competition." First year student

"I think it will turn out just how we want it, I'm excited to go to my first competition on the team." First year student

"I think it will turn out good, and heck ya i'm ready for competition." Forth year student

How do you feel the chamber will turn out?

Are you excited about competition?

We wo...

Posted on Feb 18, 2020

Welding Wonders

This is the end of week three of the 2020 build season.

This year the Flaming Monkeys have a three person welding team. Three students new to welding have been getting lessons and lots of practice. Since this is week three, the team has to get good very fast to prepare for welding the actual competition robot.

Some struggles we are having is welding the thin aluminum. It is also difficult to grasp the hand-eye coordination that only comes from a lot of practice.

Here are some quotes from some members on the welding team.

"Welding is really cool. It is going well and I am getting better....

Posted on Feb 18, 2020

Chairman's Cheers

This is the middle of week four of the 2020 build season.

Chairman's is all about showing how our team has impacted the people around us. As a team, the Flaming Monkey's write an essay, make a video, answer questions, and brainstorm everything we have done thoughout the year. Also, the impact we have made in our community and in the world is an important part.

We asked some rookies and some long time members of the team, what do you think Chairmans is all about?

"I think it is a good thing to do because you can get our name out there and show off our team. I think it is most important to ex...

Posted on Feb 14, 2020

Safety

It is the middle of week 6 of the 2020 build season.

As a team, safety is number one priority. We want to make sure that any students, mentors, and people we reach are being safe. Today we asked some members, "Why is safety so important in FIRST, and what do you do to stay safe?"

"It is important so we don't get hurt. We always wear safety glasses when working and we make sure that we have mentors nearby when we use power tools. We also do not wear loose clothing when building."

"It is important because it prevents us from getting hurt. To stay safe we always wear safety glasses, we watc...

Posted on Feb 11, 2020

Hook-Tastic

This is the end of week 5 of the 2020 build season.

The lift mechanism that we are prototyping is used to climb at the end of our competition.

We asked some members on the team,"What is the lift mechanism for and how is the build process going?"

"It's for use at the end of the competition. Its pretty well and we are almost finished." The bot cave (Belvidere Township Building) has been crazy this past week because we are scrambling to get all of our work done. With only a week left of build season, we have to work very hard to finish.

Don't forget to check out our Facebook page for weekly u...

Posted on Feb 04, 2020

Ticking Clock

This is the middle of week 5 of the 2020 build season.

The build season has gone by very fast, and we are already in week 5. The entire team is working hard to get things done as fast as possible.

CAD is working on finishing their designs so that build can make the final robot. Programming is still learning about programming so that they can program the robot quickly when it is done. Build is moving from prototyping to the frame, which will need to be welded by the team. Media is ahead of schedule and are excited for the t-shirts that are coming in next week.

We asked some of the stud...

Posted on Jan 28, 2020

Chamber Madness

This is week three of the 2020 build season for Infinate Recharge. This week the blog topic is all about the chamber. The chamber is used to get the balls from the intake to the shooter.

Here are a few quotes from students and mentors on how the chamber prototyping process has been going.

"It has been going good, but kinda tiring. We've designed the holding space for the balls and now we just have to add wheels and a motor." A second year member

"Right now we're kinda figuring out ideas and are thinking of ways to control wheels. We are always brainstorming ideas for prototyping. We are try...

Posted on Jan 19, 2020

Sponsors

This is the end of week 4 of build season.

As a team, we need to do scholarship presentations to show potential sponsors why we need their help. We talk about our team and about how our members have grown on the team. We also talk about the greater impact our scholarships have allowed us to have on our community.

Here are some quotes from members on the team.

"They help support us and the community and we need sponsors to go to competitions. They offer money, tools, support, and so much more to help us through our building process."

"They help us get our tools for building and help us be ...

Posted on Jan 14, 2020