Due to snow, the robotics meeting tonight is cancelled.

Also as a reminder, we will be meeting at the usual time, 6-9, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

To participate in the up-coming season, students MUST register! Follow these instructions:

1. Go to https://my.usfirst.org/stims/site.lasso
2. If you remember your email & password combination from last year, sign in.
3 .Or click on “New Student User” on the right.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions.
5. We are in the FRC – FIRST Robotics Competition, and our team # is 1756
6. You must have your parent or guardian activate their account and fill in the information.

Argos, we will be meeting for the last time before the kickoff event on Monday, December 12, from 3:30 to 5:30 PM! Wear clothes you won’t mind getting paint on! We will be meeting at the following address:

Easter Seals
507 East Armstrong Avenue
Peoria, Illinois 61603

We will be meeting Monday November 28 at the usual time, 6:30 to 8:30, but we will NOT be meeting Wednesday the 30th. We will meet again both Monday & Wednesday, the following week, the first week of December.

We’re well into our Pre-Season, and things are going great! We came up with several designs for bird houses, but ultimately narrowed it down to one. Last night we built a prototype, and with a few adjustments, we are going to be working on them starting tomorrow.

Please remember everyone, attendance is crucial! Let’s get in the habit now for the build season! Also, another reminder that we will not be meeting next week, Thanksgiving Week. We will go to Easter Seals about the second week in December and help the kids there paint the birdhouses prior to them being auctioned off.

Today, news has been released announcing that FIRST is partnering with Microsoft to ship the Xbox 360′s KINECT as part of the basic kit for this year’s upcoming game!

“Kinect for Xbox 360 to be used with Robots in Autonomous Mode. The addition of Kinect for Xbox 360 will allow the competitors to “be the robot,” using a natural user interface to control and interact with their robots with gestures, without the need to use a joystick, game controller, or other input device. They will be able to either program their robots to respond to their own custom gestures made by their human teammates, or use default code and gestures. (Source)

This is huge news, as we can start brainstorming some ideas ahead of time! Don’t forget Argos! We will meet every Monday and Wednesday in November, starting Wednesday November 2, at Limestone Community High School! For directions to Limestone, look here.