Recent News

Westside Boiler Invasion traveled to the West Lafayette Public Library today to present a story time and robot demonstration to 30 elementary school-aged children.

The presentation, which marks our third at the library this year, was well received by the kids.  After reading a story about robots, we demonstrated our off-season robot project, "Jump Drive."  We also gave them a chance to drive smaller VEX and LEGO robots on their own.

Anna Chen, a WBI senior said of the children, "They were so excited!  I think they really loved working with the robots, and their parents were impressed with how quickly they understood them.  They were able to drive the robots really well."

LIbrary demonstrations are  good chance to engage the younger members of our community in the exciting world of robotics.

After a full year of hard work, which began immediately after the 2009 Championships, Team 461 was honored to receive the Best Website Award at the 2010 FRC Championships. The team's website competed with teams from all over the world during the Championship Competition. This is the second Best Website awarded to the team, the first having been earned in 2006. The team also earned best website at the Boilermaker and Buckeye Regional competitions. Though this is the end of the competitions for the website, WBI will continue to work hard to improve for next year.

From March 25^th to 27^th, Westside Boiler Invasion, FIRST Robotics Competition team 461, was competing at the Buckeye Regional competition in Cleveland, Ohio. One of the sixty teams in attendance, team 461 gave an admirable performance throughout the competition that was eventually rewarded by being able to compete in the quarterfinals.

461 stood out from the beginning: during Thursday’s practice matches, they were the only robot able to successfully hang their robot, a feat which, in the 2010 FRC game, “Breakaway”, awards a team two bonus points. Successful performances continued to occur during the qualifying matches on Friday and Saturday. The team earned a win-loss record of 5-4, with three out of the four losses being by merely one point.

As well as competing with the robot, team 461 submitted both its website and its FRC Chairman’s Award submission for judging at the Buckeye Regional. Although they were not chosen for the latter award, the team won Buckeye’s Regional Website Award. This qualifies the team to submit its website for judging at the national FRC event which will take place in Atlanta, Georgia, in April.

After the day of great qualification matches (http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv/team/461
), WBI won the Best Website Award in Cleveland, being commended for depth of content, easy navigation, and quick load times.  This is the second Best Website Award won by the team this season, and the website will be competing for the Championship Best Website Award next month in Atlanta.

Team 461 competed at the Boilermaker Regional at the Purdue Armory in the past weekend (3/18-3/20).  Plagued by technical issues involving the robot controller, the team was seeded 38th at the end of qualification rounds.  WBI was selected by the third seed alliance, headed by team 3232 as its second pick.  Backup team 3180 was eventually called in to replace team 461.  The alliance ultimately advanced to the semifinals and was defeated by the second seeded alliance lead by team 45.

The team took home the Best Website Award during the Friday night awards ceremony, qualifying the website to be judged for the Championship Website Award.  In addition, team 461 was awarded the Engineering Inspiration Award for it's efforts to "invade" its surrounding community for the sake of science and technology, qualifying the team for the FIRST Championship in Atlanta, GA.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of the entire website team, WBI took home the gold with the 2010 Boilermaker Best Website Award.

Team 461 will visit the Tippecanoe mall on March 5, from 5-8 p.m. and March 6 form 1-4 p.m.

We will have a display set up with what FIRST and Team 461. We will also have VEX and Lego robots for children to observe. This is an outreach activity to show the community what we are and what we do. Please come and enjoy the wonderful display.

The first “Dodge” Cancer dodge ball fundraiser for the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research was a success. After rushing to set up the event, twelve teams of 4-6 people participated. Students from the school, parents and others came to watch and pitch in. A total of $200 was raised, and the team is matching this to make a total donation of $400. In addition the event was covered by both WLFI and the Journal and Courier, the local TV station and newspaper. Members of our team did a great job of helping run the event. A special thanks to all the donors for the event: Marcos Pizza, Hotbox Pizza, and Payless.

To sum it up, the article on www.wlfi.com says it all: “At the end of the day, a few bruises is a small sacrifice to pay for a charity that has such a big meaning.”

See these photos here.

After the students’ arrival at the Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering, there was huge anticipation for the 2010 Kickoff video to begin. Through the majority of the video, several different people were speaking about FIRST, its mission, as well as its rules and regulations. As the speeches were dragging on, the students began to get impatient—What was this year’s game? It was the question everyone was silently asking. Minutes ticked by like hours before the announcement of this year’s new game.

Finally, the speeches were done, and the excitement of the anticipation was felt all around the room. As a brief animation explaining the rules, students were introduced to Breakaway, the official 2010 game where robots have to score standard sized soccer balls into the goals at either end of the field. Now that the students know the rules of Breakaway, 461 can begin planning their robot design in order to win this year’s competitions!

For the convenience of team members and the community, the game documents have been posted here.  Please note that the manual is updated every so often.

Team 461 will be hosting a dodge ball tournament on January 24, 2010 from 2-4 PM in the West Lafayette High School Gymnasium. The entrance fee will be fifteen dollars per team. All the proceeds will be going to a cancer research organization. Food will be provided.

Rules

• A team consists of 6 players.
• Only 4 of those 6 players can play on the field at a time.

Today, four invaders went to the West Lafayette Public Library and hosted a story time for kids. Along with listening to Benjamin McFadden and the Robot Babysitter by Timothy Bush, children were introduced to the basics of robotics such as omni wheels and motors, and then were given the opportunity to drive around VEX robots.  This was also the debut of our invasion bookmarks, which will appear again at Barnes and Noble tomorrow where we will be gift wrapping for the community. Westside Boiler Invasion will host another story time on February 20 at both 2 and 3 pm at the West Lafayette Public Library.

On Sunday, December 13, 2009, WBI members will be gift wrapping in Barnes and Noble in order to reach out to the community. More information to be told later.