All of the elimination Round Videos from the Disney All Star Challenge are posted on YouTube.
Search on Roundup 2010 DASC
Superkalafragelisticexpialadocious!!!
Way to GO! And Thank YOU!
During this past week, I scoured 100’s of you tubes looking for introductory videos to show our very first class in Robotics at my high school.
Wha-La! You did it! These are great for our first 2 weeks of lessons and even later as a refresher and incintive. Please note that the greater majority of these students have no clue as to what robotics is, and less any idea of what they can do.
Some of the students, I know from teaching math. Most, I do not. ROTC has been great at promoting my class, and I suppose, in some ways that I am most excited about that because these are selective and willing students who will be protecting our country.
Most of you do not know much about me or my school. We are located on the Central Gulf Coast, Forrest Gump territory to be precise. Many of my students still struggle due to Hurricane Ivan and the disastrous Hurricane Katrina which destroyed their modest homes, forcing them to find ‘some place’ to live. Such a hard thing for young students to endure.
Some don’t talk about it and and feel embarrassed or isolated because they feel the victims.
You tube is blocked at my school. There is a way to get permission to have them downloaded to our school server, but I have to be at school to do that. Currently, I am having problems with Vista 64 bit home computer not being able to download them, but I will not give up.
Kudos to YOU! You have no clue how much you just helped my newly formed class.
Ann
Shucks! The videos will not download due to ‘copy right protection’. Where there is a will, there is a way… I will bring my personal laptop and air card to school, load the smart board software and connect the video plugs and speakers to it.
I’ve never tried this. My personal laptop is a Windows-7 64 bit, but if that doesn’t work, I’ll bum my son’s XP laptop and use my air card.
Life is like a box of chocolates… Life should not be so hard, but it is. Still, somehow we succeed.
Smiling~~~
Let the Poof copying begin.
Teach me Poof copying, please!
I just had a house full of neighborhood boys driving the ProtoBot in my kitchen, laffing and giggling, picking up a tennis ball, spitting it out and saying “That is Cool! Mama! This is FUN!”. Before I knew it, they were making adjustments on the ‘claw’ to get it just right and driving for more FUN.
One boy, who goes to McGill (private school) said he was thinking about taking a robotics class, and I would not be surprised if he does.
Please teach me. These students need exposure to how much fun it is to learn about robotics, science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
We need the tools…
Ann
I was making a joking comment about teams who took a robot from the video and made exact duplicates of it to compete with in competitions rather than incorporating the general design ideas into their own robot.
Laffing!~
I do understand! However, my newbie class will be learning by using some of the ideas they see in the videos. And yes, in practice, they will probably copy some of the ideas, but the true goal is to learn enough to be inventive and create their own designs.
Somewhere, there is a beginning. My students will be naive and very much eager to learn. Even in textbooks, examples are extremely helpful.
We learn by example, but I can guarantee you that the purpose of our newly formed class is to create our own, using the knowledge base of others who have been there before us.
Right now, they don’t know what a spacer, gear, motor, servo or anything else. We will be starting from scratch.
I know… We are not competing, but I wish for my class to watch the competition and get excited about what they can do.
Cheers!!
Ann
I didn’t mean to criticize learning from the example set by the teams in these videos. I was just making a little joke about some of the teams that made screw for screw copies. Don’t let any post I make stop you guys from learning.
I had that type of design before any videos or knowing that cheesypoofs had it. ^.^
Thank you, Chris!
I do understand more than you think I know. There is a big difference between copying, learning and even beyond that, being ceative.
We have a LONG way to go, but at least we are on our way. I am tremendously grateful for the opportunity. Please never worry about the difference in our learning and your competition. They are two very distinct and different things. We learn from both!
There is never a need to apologize. I just didn’t know the meaning of ‘poofing’.
Thanks!
Ann
You should have asked… link, link, link and link.
Now before someone sends me a nasty e-mail, the Poofs where kind enough to share their design and I have to say it impressed me greatly! As always I asked before I started taking photos.
Now for those will be copycats, go ahead and try it. The Poofs will out Poof you.
On a side note, I’m about 60% done with my art portfolio. As always it will be a mad dash to the finish. Nothing new there.
Happy holidays,
-Cody
Our F team tried to copy their design. And one team from Las Vegas had a similar design to theirs (intake wise).
I didn’t see the “magic” like last year however. They may be planning in secret…
the exothermic team 10B had an extremely similar design (they were also just as successful)
the “idea” was “thought of” by many
but as unsigned said, this design doesn’t stand out as much as last year to the rest of the designs
OMG is that a destroyed ALUMINUM piece i see on the bottom of the pick up?
i cry every time i see a rich team treat their valuable pieces “badly”
our aluminum set hasn’t even been scratched yet! (you get the idea)
and look at their flag spinner! seems like someone had a boring afternoon 
i like the high res pics though
better than my wimpy digital camera
Have you tried Free Youtube Download? It has worked for me on a variety of Windows systems, and you can download the entire channel at once by pasting
http://www.youtube.com/user/VEXRECF2010#p/u
into the program.
You can also check out the VRC Team 254 youtube channel for videos of past competitions and robots.
Don’t worry, I cried too.
oh yeah
didnt think it was mentioned but this competition took place on NOVEMBER 16th
so if 254 was like that then, how would they preform NOW?? 
My teacher does have access to some photos of 254A at Pan Pacific. I don’t know if he is willing to share them to the public though.
254A’s approach in the beginning of Pan Pacific involved vertical movement and a Plexiglas claw. They changed their design to match the photos listed. I presume things didn’t go well with that one.
It does make one wonder how they are doing now…
We all cried after we bent it and realized that it would never be the same. We actually rarely cut/bend aluminum; the entirety of our cut aluminum was on that robot’s intake minus two 2x10 plates that were cut out of an L-channel and a strap or two.
As much as I don’t think direct copying is beneficial to the VEX competition community (I agree that copying can help for educational purposes and to get students interested in something), I would love to see a team do a similar thing with their flag holder. If you watch the videos you can see the flag waving wildly around because it is geared to the drive base.
Really? We cut our aluminum a lot. That’s why our teacher hides a set from us…
Team 2504(Or was it 2540?) B or A had attached their flags to their arm gears via sprocket and chain. As their arm moved, so did their flags.
My first year with Highlands, we attached a motor to our flag holder. Only because we had two claws, and the flag was an indication of which claw was in control.
I would like to see utilize flag movement like 254A. Never cease to amaze me. 
what was the purpose of the flag holder?
other than “we have an afternoon and the programmer is absent”
still, even my teammates were talking of something of that sort when we had a spare motor
but i used it on somewhere more useful before they could get their hands on it
Brilliant flag holders.
Anyway, what is the purpose of the elastic bands on bottom of the pickup mechanism (at the bottom of the intake rollers)? Our robot is a “spin off” of yours, and we have the surgical tubing in the exact same location so that we could pick up single tubes even with tubes already inside the pickup mechanism (and we thought we were being creative 
). I thought it was a strange coincidence…does it serve the same purpose on your robot?
Goal for next three months: Build cooler flag holders.