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Crescent School's Robotics Program is the envy of many schools, and has become a signature hallmark of Crescent. It is also an expensive program to implement and maintain. In order to ensure the program's ongoing success and sustainability,  Crescent is seeking modest financial support from the parents of those in the Robotics Program,

and from the Crescent community. You might wish to provide a tax-deductible donation to help support the operational costs of the program. Please contact John Lynch, Director of Advancement, at (416) 466-4290 ext 242 or jlynch@crescentschool.org to discuss how your family can support Robotics with a tax-deductible gift. Thank you!

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our second contestfirst place prize - premium spirit packagesecond place prize - spirit packagethird place prize - three buttons

the questions:what is the name of team 610’s rebound rumble robot?what was our highest score during the 2012 season?in which us states has team 610 competed in?

contest rules:to be eligible to win you must ‘like’ the team 610 facebook page

to win a prize, send your answers to contestteam610@gmail.com

we will have a contest in all remaining issues of the newsletter

those who participate in at least three weekly contests until the final issue will have their names put forth to win an official 610 jersey

the contents of the awards:premium spirit package: team 610 hat, three rally towels, three buttonsspirit package: three rally towels, three buttonsthree buttons: self-explanatory

students, mentors, and alumni of 610 cannot win a prize

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As the team enters the final stretch of the build season, the robot is beginning to come together. It’s one thing to build a robot that looks like one of the best in the world, but it’s an entirely different thing to make it perform like one of the best in the world. This is the challenge that the Programming Division faces every year. Their job is to ensure that the robot can perform the tasks that the team set out to achieve. Our programming division utilizes the Java programming language and a program called NetBeans to program the robot. The programming division works all season creating subsystem classes for every part of the robot, such as the drivetrain and the shooter. As well, they create multiple commands that can be used in autonomous and tele-op, such as shooting. There are also many sensors on the robot that the programmers can utilize to get accurate values for every subsystem command. The most difficult job for the programming division is tuning the values that they use for all the commands; these values are incredibly difficult to get perfect, and with only six weeks it seems nearly impossible, but our dedicated programmers work very hard to find the optimal values that will help the robot perform properly. The programmers are the final piece of the puzzle that completes our robots. Mechanical builds the robot, Energy Systems prepares the robot to be used, and the Programming Division allows the robot to move and complete specific tasks.

As Head of Programming this year, Warfa has been an effective leader of the division that makes the magic happen. Ever since

grade 9, Warfa’s knack for booleans and methods has helped create the advanced robots our team has been known to build. His extensive knowledge of Java for FRC and his ability to troubleshoot is what brings our code to the highest level of complexity and efficiency. Warfa is poised to make an impact on this team during his final year as a 610 student, and we’ll surely need his programming prowess to succeed this year.

Ian Lo is the Assistant Head of Programming this year. The best part – he’s only in grade

10! This not only shows that Ian is an exceptional programmer, but he will

be around to program the robot for 2 more seasons. Ian has been instrumental in his division this year, and his already vast knowledge of the robot translates to cool new features such as Kinect target tracking.

We are glad to have Ian on the programming team and look

forward to seeing great things from him in the future.

At the start of the season, Scott took aninterest in the Kinect. He has been working with mentor Mr. Lo on the Kinect vision tracking using RoboRealm. A committed member, Scott has helped improve the Kinect Tracking Code to track multiple objects with a push of the button. Continuing to learn more about the competition code, Scott is a valuable asset to the team.

Jeffrey is another young, important member of the programming division. He is an astute programmer that contributes many important lines to our competition code. Devoted to making the subsystems move, Jeffrey is a stupendous asset to our team.

division feature:programming

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We are in the final 10 days of build season and we have tracked the progress of every division thus far! Now is the time when all the work from each division begins to come together and create a masterpiece. The robot has made great progress so far. Nevertheless, the machines in the shop are running constantly, as we continue to refine and finalize our robot for this year. As a result, the lab is in a flurry as parts are machined, added to the robot, programmed and tested. As the design process reaches its end, we see how every part of the robot contributes to a much larger creation. Similarly, the contributions of every individual team member add to our success as a whole. The team’s first regional begins on February 28th, and we’ll be able to see the fruit of our labour in action. The most rewarding part of the entire FIRST process is seeing your creation - the result of your crazy ideas, hard work and long hours - succeed in competition. We hope that the work we put into this year’s robot will yield results as successful as last year, or even more. To achieve these goals, students will be spending more time in the lab after school and on weekends in an attempt to make the best robot we’ve ever built!

the home stretch

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week 5 photos

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newsletter made possible bySeto Family Pearce FamilyRavindran Family Spevack FamilyRiley Family DiMenna FamilyRose Family Lang FamilyLiu Family Chien FamilyGanguli Family Harrs FamilyDhar Family Haughton FamilyBianchini Family McCauley FamilyMenon Family Kachura Family

we would like to thank all of our parent sponsors for donating food

BAE Granite State Regional February 27 – March 3

Manchester, NH

Waterloo Regional (parents welcome) March 20 – March 23

Waterloo, ON

competition dates