FIRST TEAM 236 The TechnoTicks "It's in your blood"
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FOR PARENTS

Lymelyte – 2021 FIRST Innovation Challenge

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by Phoebe Lampos

The Robotics season has been very different this year for FIRST Team 236-TechnoTicks. We met via Zoom, and programmed using remote collaboration software. Even our challenge was different this year. Instead of building and programming a robot for the FIRST Robotics Challenge, we took on the FIRST Innovation Challenge. Teams were asked to “identify a problem or opportunity and design a solution to help people keep, regain, or achieve optimum physical and/or mental health and fitness through active play or movement.”

The TechnoTicks realized that Old Lyme, Lyme, and East Lyme provide many opportunities to engage with nature through hiking trails and open space, but many of the trails are underused. The team designed a system called “Lymelyte”, which consists of a mobile application called “Trailyte” and a Cube Satellite called “Satlyte” to encourage people to experience our local trails.

The Trailyte app provides a hyper-local, personalized experience of the trails in Lyme, Old Lyme, and East Lyme. Although there are some commercial trail apps available, Trailyte is uniquely focused on trails in our immediate area, providing a detailed level of focus that is not offered by other apps. Trailyte will ultimately be augmented by Satlyte, a compact cube satellite that will provide real-time information to the Trailyte app about weather, trail conditions, and more. The team plans to test our prototype Satlyte via tethered weather balloon soon.

To present our ideas, representatives from the TechnoTicks wrote and delivered a live presentation to a panel of judges in a remote interview. The judges asked questions about the project components and goals. If the TechnoTicks advance to the Semifinals, the team will create a more detailed presentation and advanced prototype. 

Check out our Business Pitch and Technical Presentation below.

How do I attend the online meetings? 

RETURNING MEMBERS  |  You should have received an email from Mr. Derry.  Please complete all four assignments to receive the Zoom link and participate fully. 

NEW MEMBERS  |   To join the team, contact Mr. Derry or fill out this form.  Once we hear from you, we will send you links and instructions on how to sign up.

Join Now

Onshape Design

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by Phoebe Lampos

On December 10th, FIRST Team 226–Technoticks met online via Zoom. Team members and mentors broke into small groups and used a CAD Program called OnShape to create a cube, with each member of the breakout room working to construct one side of the cube. The objective was to create a small keychain with the team logo on it, that could be sent to a 3D printer. Team 236 has different categories for members to focus on, such as programming, design, build, drive, CAD, and electrical. This exercise was led by the CAD group, who shared

their screen and provided a tutorial to teach CAD skills to the other Technoticks. It was interesting to see how quickly and easily CAD can be used to create a piece like a keychain in OnShape. The CAD team provided tips and encouragement to help everyone get through the data management piece. Team members who had experience with Solidworks (another CAD program), added sketches and features to the design. The text was extruded, and the completed work was formatted so the file could be sent to a 3d printer, to produce the actual piece. The keychain turned out great! The Technoticks plan to continue experimenting with their Arduino circuitry kits and are now adding CAD design skills to their repertoire.

How do I attend the online meetings? 

RETURNING MEMBERS  |  You should have received an email from Mr. Derry.  Please complete all four assignments to receive the Zoom link and participate fully. 

NEW MEMBERS  |   To join the team, contact Mr. Derry or fill out this form.  Once we hear from you, we will send you links and instructions on how to sign up.

Join Now

Build Season Hours

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Build Season Hours

The FRC Team 236, the TechnoTicks will be meeting on Mondays and Thursdays from 6:30 to 8:30 pm and Saturdays from 9 to 11 am.  Look for Zoom links in your email or Remind. 

How do I attend the online meetings? 

RETURNING MEMBERS  |  You should have received an email from Mr. Derry.  Please complete all four assignments to receive the Zoom link and participate fully. 

NEW MEMBERS  |   To join the team, contact Mr. Derry or fill out this form.  Once we hear from you, we will send you links and instructions on how to sign up.

Join Now

 

Fall Training So Far

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The TechnoTicks Go Virtual!

By Phia Adkins

The FRC Team 236, TechnoTicks had yet another successful club meeting over Zoom this week. Due to Covid-19, the TechnoTicks have found it most practical to have online meetings until the start of their competition season in January. In an effort to prepare the new students that have taken an interest in everything that is robotics, the mentors and returning students of TechnoTicks have been teaching the rookie engineers new concepts, including OnShape and TinkerCAD, two 3D Design programs made accessible to all devices. 

As we continue to push through pre-season, robotics students have learned about the importance of an Arduino board. The Arduino board is a circuit board system designed for anyone looking to further their knowledge in basic engineering techniques. Arduino interacts with many electronics, including LEDs, motors, speakers, GPS units, cameras, and even cellphones.

In the following weeks, students will continue to advance their skills in basic electronics and start to CAD shapes. As any new skill takes time, not every attempt will be perfect, but it will teach valuable lessons that will show evident as the season truly begins. With the need to adapt under any circumstance, the TechnoTicks have taken every integral moving piece in stride and have shown gracious professionalism through every step. 

The students and mentors have been working in TinkerCAD in breakout rooms on Zoom.  After watching videos, they have been taking what they learn and creating their own designs, and then talk about real-world projects. The photo here is a model of an Arduino circuit built in TinkerCad. It is set up to control a Red, Yellow and Green LED. The code on the right is in a language called Blockly which allows a graphical approach to programming making the initial lessons more straightforward for new Arduino programmers.

 

Lessons

1 Blink LED
2 LEDs and Breadboards
3 Fading LEDs
4 RGB LEDs
5 Pushbutton
6 Potentiometer

How do I attend the online training? 

RETURNING MEMBERS  |  You should have received an email from Mr. Derry.  Please complete all four assignments to receive the Zoom link and participate fully. 

NEW MEMBERS  |   To join the team, contact Mr. Derry or fill out this form.  Once we hear from you, we will send you links and instructions on how to sign up.

Join Now

 

New and returning students are invited to sign up for the season

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Fall Training is starting…

 The TechnoTicks fall season looks a little different this year, but it will still be exciting, educational, and fun. 

We will be working online though Zoom every Thursday night.  Students (and mentors!) will learn circuit building, programming, and solid modeling using Arduinos and the online programs TinkerCAD and Education Onshape.

How do I attend the online T

How do I attend the online training? 

RETURNING MEMBERS: You should have received an email from Mr. Derry.  Please complete all four assignments to receive the Zoom link and participate fully. 

NEW MEMBERS: To join the team, fill out this form and we will send you links and instructions on how to sign up.

Join Now

 

2019 Bash@theBeach – October 19

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Blast Off One more time!

The 21st Bash@theBeach
Sponsored by Dominion Energy

Join 24 Connecticut teams as they kick off the school year, recruit new drivers and have a beach blast at Lyme Old Lyme High School!
REGISTER

Hosted by FIRST Teams

  • 236 – The TechnoTicks
  • 1699 – The Robocats
  • 1740 – Ledyard Cyber Colonels
  • 3719 – STEM Whalers

Schedule

  • Doors open 8:00
  • Opening ceremonies at 9

A $250 donation is requested. If that is a hardship please register and let us know.

Lunch

As always, lunch will be available. Pre-order delicious Sal’s Pizza or sandwiches

ORDER LUNCH

Team 236 Calendar

2018 Calendar for Team 236/The TechnoTicks   View PDF version of the 2018 calendar   FIRST Robotics Competition Kickoff Saturday, January 6 All Day Millstone  ​​Build Season January 7 to February 20 M, W, Th, F – 6 to 8:30 pm Sat – 8 am to 4 pm (Saturdays...

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Build Season Lunches

Please help keep our team fed during the build season! SIGN UP NOW! During the six weeks of the robot build season (through mid-February), the students and mentors will be meeting on Saturdays and Sundays at Lyme-Old Lyme High School. These are long days and teenagers (and mentos!) get...

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Welcome to Parents

Old Parents, New Parents and Returning Parents. This will be where parents can find the information that we think will be of most use to you. If you want us to add something to this section, please let us know. info@technoticks236.com

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Jared DiCarlo – ’12-’15

Being involved in FRC in high school was what got me into my dream school of MIT. FIRST gave me an opportunity to learn valuable engineering skills in high school, which has been incredible useful to me at school.   I’m a member of MIT’s FSAE electric race car...

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Day 14 – Saturday Playday
 Gallery

The Elevator Team worked on fabricating aluminium parts and welding.

The Wiring Team harvested and tested PWM cables and testing out the PMW motor and control signals and looking at them on the oscilloscope to determine what signals the robot is actually receiving.

The Programming Team’s work schedule included looking at the format of the code and working on the elevator and drive subsystems.

The Chassis Team worked on finishing chassis construction, adding lightening holes and producing chain tighteners. They also worked on designing an encoding mount to be 3d printed.

The CAD team worked with Solidworks on testing PWM wires, planning the code and mounting encoders on transmitters and Hunter worked with Mr Trudeau on Solidworks to determine the exact location of the lightening holes.

The PR team worked on creating a schedule for our visiting Journalist from The Day next Saturday and sourcing some great give-aways for our district competitions.

The Intake team worked on refining their prototype and integrating the intake with the forks. They worked on the space available and location.

The intake team with Sam and Hayden work on refining the prototype and integrating the intake with the forks. Their work plan also included working on the space available and location.
Gabrielle and Matt harvesting and testing PWM cable
Hunter works with Mr Trudeau on Solidworks to design the exact placement of the lightening holes
The chassis/drive team are working on finishing the chassis construction and adding lightening holes to reduce weight. Work also includes a chain tightener and designing an encoding mount to be 3d printed.
Tom works on solidworks designing and testing the PWM wires and planning the code and mounting encoders on the transmitters
Gabrielle works with Mrs Di Carlo on formatting the code.
Nate cuts foot-long sections of tubing for the spaces for the elevator system
The Fork Team worked on prototyping a dual fork system testing horizontal vs vertical systems
Jared reviews his chassis/drive drawings

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