During March Break after the past couple of weeks, HNMCS Robotics has been busy tweaking our 2023 robot, “Lightning Queen ” and preparing for the McMaster Event the first weekend of April. Mechanically we have geared down our intake arm to easily manipulate cones in addition to cubes. We also replaced the belt drive with a chain drive. In software, we’ve added features to reduce the need for human reaction and fine-tuned our autonomous routine. We used the position sensor of the FalconFX motor to speed up the manual drive of the arm. We have also added position control with cruise velocity and acceleration limits using PID (proportional, integral derivative feedback loop) to reduce the need for operator manipulation and increase speed and accuracy. With one button the arm will go to the target position to intake from the human position, to drop off at the mid-level or to tuck in safely in the robot’s frame. We have been pleased with the success of our hybrid node delivery during autonomous and now we have updated the routine to successfully clear the cable protector.
On March 5, 2023, HNMCS Robotics broke history. As one of three all-girls teams in Canada, the team stepped up into the spotlight representing girls globally. They left the event as winners and a two-time recipient of the Engineering Inspiration Award.
For the past eight weeks, HNMCS Robotics has worked hard to design and build a robot. The mentors and students dedicated their lunch periods and weekends to building the robot and field elements. The team sought innovative ways to build the robot. By integrating robotics into the school curriculum of computer science and physics, students actively worked on programming the autonomous period and the pneumatic system. Thanks to their sponsors, K-Tool, Pratt & Whitney, SOLIDWORKS, Hatch, and FIRST Canada, the build season was an immense success. They are proud to present their robot this season: Lightning Queen.
At competition, HNMCS Robotics stood tall during the qualification matches against 28 other robots. Throughout the challenging matches, the robot remained consistent as it successfully completed the autonomous period, scored cubes, and engaged with the charge station every match. The consistency, strength, and stability of the robot was recognized by the highest ranked team, MakeShift Robotics FRC4039 from St. Mary Catholic Secondary School in Hamilton, Ontario, and the third-highest ranked team, Simbotics FRC 1114 from Governor Simcoe Secondary School in St. Catherine’s, Ontario. Together, the trio formed a powerful alliance, leveraging their unique strengths and working in seamless coordination to outmaneuver and outscore their opponents, ultimately defeating all seven opposing alliances in a thrilling display of innovation and teamwork. HNMCS Robotics’ driver, operator, technician and human players fiercely competed against opponent alliances. Additionally, their robot played a key role in the matches as it successfully defended against opponent robots and engaged the charge station every playoff match. In the finals, HNMCS Robotics brought pride to our school as winners of the competition.
HNMCS Robotics has been breaking down boundaries for girls in STEM. Their theme for this season is Connect, Create, Change. These three C’s embody their mission to create and inspire positive change in their communities. HNMCS Robotics’ impact runs year-long. Their annual events, including Engineering Career Night, Business Brunch, STEM Day, Alumnae Chats, and DropIN Coding, provide valuable learning experiences for youth across the province. Last summer, the team expanded their outreach globally by running coding workshops for all-girls schools in Trinidad and Tobago. Last December, the team hosted and ran the Mississauga FLL Qualifying Tournament, involving 300 attendees. HNMCS Robotics continues to connect with communities, create opportunities, and change perspectives on STEM.
The leads of HNMCS Robotics had been tirelessly meeting in and outside of school to perfect their essay and presentation for the competition. They spent countless hours writing and editing their essay, carefully crafting each sentence to convey the team’s theme and message clearly and effectively. They also spent many hours scripting and rehearsing their presentation, making sure that they were able to deliver their ideas with clarity and confidence. Their tireless effort and dedication paid off in the end, as they delivered a stunning essay and presentation that captivated the judges and earned their team the coveted Engineering Inspiration Award. This award recognizes the team’s initiatives and efforts to respect, appreciate, and promote engineering and technology within and outside their community. Their hard work and determination were a shining example of the power of perseverance and the rewards of unwavering commitment to excellence.
New but deeply-rooted; unconventional but innovative—HNMCS Robotics makes the most of every opportunity to amplify their impact and strength. This is only the beginning for 7659. The three C’s—Connect, Create, Change—will continue to shape their positive impact on HNMCS, the local community, and the world. We cannot wait to see their performance at the McMaster District Event on March 31-April 2, 2023 and the Provincial Championships on April 5-8, 2023!
HNMCS Robotics is ready for the ONT District Georgian Event! The team put the finishing touches on the competition robot: making bumpers, autonomous programming, drive practice, and tweaking the position control on the arm using PID and the Falcon500 motor. FRC7659 is excited to present for the FIRST Impact Award as we continue to connect with communities, create opportunities, and change perspectives in STEM.
HNMCS Robotics had a busy couple of weeks. Prototyping of the pneumatic intake arm was completed and the team started to build the competition drive train. Electrical and pneumatic components were laid out on the belly pan and the build of the intake arm was started. Team 7659 is looking forward to the first competition in March at the ONT District Georgian Event!
For build weeks 2 and 3, our team members worked on building the field elements. They took time to measure the wood and used power tools including drills and an electric saw to build the charging station. The members also successfully created the key element of the robot.
For build week 4, we started drive practice. The students had so much fun practicing balancing the robot on the ramp which is starting to get more successful. We are working our way toward the FRC tournament!
After the virtual Kickoff on January 7 of the new year, our full team watched the game videos, read the manual, discussed game strategies, and started to work on design concepts. The team worked together and built field elements through after-school team meetings. The students were able to learn more about STEM, learn how to use power tools for the first time, and grow their creativity. It was great to be back in person and have after-school meetings, growing the bond in the team!
FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Challenge is the oldest of three divisions of FIRST LEGO League, and the stepping stone from middle school through FIRST Tech Challenge to the highest level of robotics competition, FIRST Robotics Competition Teams such as HNMCS Senior School Robotics team, FRC Team 7659. The robotics programs of FIRST are designed to inspire youth to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding, and design skills through hands-on STEM research, mechanical design and robotics.
On Saturday 17 December 2022, 24 teams from as far as Niagara Falls converged at HNMCS to compete with the best of the best. Teams spent the day competing in this year’s SuperPowered challenge. They presented their Innovation Projects where they designed and created a unique solution to a specific problem with energy. Teams designed and created a robot that competed in Robot Game missions through innovation in Robot Design, clear mission strategy and functional coding.
HNMCS Senior School Robotics hosted one of the largest in Toronto, and advanced some of the highest-scoring teams to the Ontario Provincials. HNMCS Robotics delivered a flawless program for over 250 guests through the diligent work of the lead students. Sabrina, the Production Manager and team captain, worked closely with the Tournament Director, Dr. Kozma, and was the point-of-contact for all leads and judges. She was involved with all aspects of the competition, coordinated communications with teams and volunteers, oversaw check-in and produced event materials such as volunteer information packets. Sally, the Field Manager and team Business Lead, oversaw all tournament referees with a comprehensive knowledge of the season field setup, mission rules and challenge updates. Brigitte, the Pit Manager and team Technical Lead, organized the home base for teams during the event, scheduling teams for practice rounds, queuing teams for judging sessions and robot rounds and operating the concessions. Veronica, the Technical Advisor, kept technical systems functioning such as DJ, audio, PA announcements and computer needs so that the schedule was maintained throughout the day. Ainsley, lead Master of Ceremonies and team Communication Lead, brought the energy up in the robot field and created and sustained an exciting, fun atmosphere throughout the event. Together with Qi, a high school student from a neighbouring school, Veronica and Ainsley maintained the pace of the event and were consummate FIRST ambassadors.
With the success of our inaugural event, HNMCS Robotics is looking to continue its tradition of promoting STEM with underrepresented youth by launching an all-girls off-season FLL Challenge Event.
“I would like to express my deep gratitude to you and all of the volunteers for the time and effort that you invested, both leading up to and during Saturday’s event, to help make the FIRST LEGO League Challenge Qualifying Tournament at Holy Name of Mary College School such an enjoyable experience for participating teams. I will never forget this exemplary inaugural event!”
Annika Pint, Program Manager, FIRST Lego League Challenge.
Team 7659 is ready and excited for Ruckus 2022 we have from October 21st to 22nd in Rochester, NY! We are building team spirit with our new members; one of the initiatives we’ve been working on is making matching team bracelets for the upcoming competition.
In other exciting news, our team has also started after school build sessions again! Every Saturday from 10 AM to 1 PM, we have been working hard to get our robot ready! We are also having drive practices with our drivers every Monday and Thursday.
FRC 7659 has had an eventful 2021-2022. Here is a recap of all the events we have hosted and participated in this year.
In October 2021 we had our first event: Engineering Career night! We heard from those who are currently working in the engineering field. Though the event was online our audience was from a multitude of a different teams and were filled with excitement about STEM!
Next we hosted drop in coding, we had younger participants work with scratch and taught them the basics of coding. We got valuable feedback from the kids who attended and we were able to share our love of coding with a younger audience.
Next in November we hosted STEM Day, STEM day is an event that is run annually for grade 5-12 at our school. Some of the activities the grades participated in are as follows Gr 5 make your own bouncy ball, Gr 6 Ballon Cars, Gr 7 LED Cards, Gr 8 CEMC Computer workshop, Gr 9 Ice cream making, Gr 10 Tinkercad 3D design, Gr 11 heart rate and blood pressure activity, and Gr 12 Women In White Coats Presentation.
In November we also hosted our annual Business Brunch. We hosted 40 participants and 5 speakers who are in the business field. We heard about their academic and personal journeys. This was our fourth annual business brunch and needless to say it was a success!
In December we hosted STEAM night for grades 5-8. They participated in activities such as driving the robot, making obleck, math colouring and making catapults. With a great combination of pizza and STEM it was an amazing night!
In March 2022 we had our first competition at Humber College. The team had a great mix of veterans and first-timers on the playing field.
In May we hosted our annual alumnae chats. We had 6 alumnae speak to participants gr 7-12 about their post secondary journeys and how robotics has shaped them as a person. Participants and panelists participated in a Q&A during the session. This event is a Team 7659 staple and was a success.
We had our next competition in April at St Mary’s. This was an eventful competition as we won the Engineering Career Inspiration Award. The team was ecstatic and full of spirit and drive for provincials.
We participated in the Ontario provincial championships from Thursday April 14- Sunday April 16. The team came dressed in purple and black and ready for three days of fun. We networked, made adjustments to our robots and competed in 12 matches with our robot climbing to the low and medium rung!
In May we hosted Fun with Tech, 22 eager participants from JK to Grade 9 came early on a Saturday morning to learn about robotics, coding and STEM. Participants were especially excited to drive the robot and make cards.
Also in May we participated in our schools Spring Cafe. The robot made an appearance while dancing to the Imperial March from Star Wars.
In June we had students attend FIRST’s Girls and Allies in STEM conference. We would like to thank FIRST Youth Council for running and planning such a wonderful event.
To wrap up the year our mentors came and we all had a celebration of the hard work done this year!
Team 7659 has had an eventful year and is ready for a restful summer before getting going for next year.
Our team has taken the time to practice coding and driving the robot! Friday, April 1st some team members went off-site to drive the robot in a field. We worked on troubleshooting any issues that came up, team spirit and, of course, we practiced driving the robot!
The team had a great time and we are all excited for the competition we have this weekend, Sunday, April 10th at St. Marys!
We would also like to thank FRC team 1360 for letting us use their practise space!
HNMCS Robotics Team 7659 