Team 3637 is extremely excited for this year’s Steamworks themed competition. Alliances of three teams gear up for the competition on either side of the field, with two human players per alliance in the alliance airship in the middle of the field. There are two main objectives in Steamworks: to score wiffle balls into the goals and to send gears up to the human players. The “fuel,” in the form of wiffle balls, is distributed in hoppers, and can be delivered to the high or low opening of the boilers to increase “pressure.” One point is awarded for three high goals or nine low goals. Gears sent to the airship tower are put in place by the human players in order to make the rotors rotate. Each rotor rotating at the end of the match is awarded 40 points.

Team 3637 would not exist without the generous support of our sponsors. Thank you for all of your contributions!

Mt. Olive

• Team 3637 was Rank 3 with a record of 10-5-0
  
• Imagery Award in honor of Jack Kamen
  
• Hard Hat Safety Pin Award

Montgomery

• Team 3637 was Rank 2 with a record of 14-3-0
• Industrial Safety Award sponsored by Underwriters Laboratories
• Hard Hat Safety Pin Award

District Championships

• Team 3637 was Rank 41 with a record of 4-8-0
• Industrial Safety Award sponsored by Underwriters Laboratories
• Hard Hat Safety Pin Award

Worlds

• Team 3637 was Rank 33 with a record of 4-6-0
  
• Hard Hat Safety Pin Award

Team 3637 wins Runner Up for Safety Animation

Although only the second year submitting a safety animation, Team 3637 won Runner Up for this year’s contest. Several hardworking individuals are to thank for our successes:

Animators: Dennica Mitev and Janine Tomsa

Script: Abby Reid-Green and Allie Kelton

Video Editing: Joe Hernandez

Updates

One of our safety improvements this year has been the implementation of a safety subteam consisting of a member from each mechanical subteam.

The safety team has also been hard at work creating a battery spill clean up video to help team members and other teams ensure they know what to do if a spill occurs. The video can be found here.

This year's updated safety manual can be found here.

Always use tools and machinery properly. Never take shortcuts that appear to be more efficient, as taking shortcuts is one of the leading causes of workplace injury. Using tools properly significantly decreases chances of workplace injury.

The Business and Outreach Team has finalized the chairman’s award submission and business plan for STIMS. They are in the process of producing a Chairman’s video, which includes interviews with our alumni. The BOT team is working on creating a banner and sponsor banners, and have finalized designs for both the t-shirt and safety cards.

Outreach

This year, we have increased the service expectation to a minimum 5 hours per member and 10 for leaders. To date, our team members have volunteered 703 hours this season.

Previous events

• Chamber of commerce business expo

• 4H Fair

• Raritan Valley Community Day

Ongoing

• Mentoring FLL teams

• Tutoring at the Family Success Center

• Recycle for Sight

Future events

• February 25, 2017-Robotics Workshop at Family Success Center

• Planning a second robotics workshop at the local library

• Robotics Expo in May

• Relay for Life, partnered with the Lions Club

• Demonstrations at Family Science Night, Maker Faires, the Hunterdon 4-H Club, and our school’s STEM Consortium

The mechanical team has continued to grow ever-stronger via the addition of a fourth subgroup, whose main focus is fuel manipulation during the competition. They will be the core source of sharpening the robot’s efficiency when gathering and transporting the airship fuel throughout a match.

The team has been working on creating prototypes for individual functions, producing parts using the milling machine. Several prototypes have been tested and are under finalization. One of the key prototypes is a climbing mechanism, intended to lift a 150 lb load. As the season progresses, the team is starting to focus on a gear release system.

The electrical team has completed two component boards for both the Test Drive Base and the Final Drive base. They’ve also created a percussion sensor for the climbing disks to turn on a light indicating the robot has climbed successfully.

The programming team has faced a large increase in membership since last year. Of the twelve members, ten are new to robotics. As many of them are unfamiliar with programming robots, the team has been spending the past few months learning C++ and are currently trying out the code on the practice bot. They are awaiting further instructions as other teams consolidate their decisions about the robot’s design.

Mission

The mission of FIRST is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting Mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

Vision

"To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders." Dean Kamen, Founder

Methodology

Engage kids in kindergarten through high school in exciting, Mentor-based, research and robotics programs that help them become science and technology leaders, as well as well-rounded contributors to society.

More information can be found here.