FIRST Robotics 2024 - Week One Report

Well its a complicated game this year.  A weird little foam rubber donut has to be collected and launched into various targets, one of which can only be accessed if you first elevate your robot clear off the ground while hauling yourself up onto a swinging chain.  Uh....right.

It appears that a fair bit of our off season work may come in handy but there will be a number of brand new challenges to figure out.  For what its worth, the "glam" picture of our robot's preliminary CAD looks like this:

Two different elevator systems, and an over the bumper intake that is so far theoretical.  Oh, and nifty black powder coating, 'cause in victory or ambitious disaster you wanna look sharp.  Some images of Week One.

A prototype of the intake device.

Last year's competition robot stripped down to drive base to serve as a test bed.  It looks as if this will be another "Swerve Drive Rules" game, so our hard work on that last season will not have to be completely repeated.

This year we have a design team that has also thought deeply on strategic goals.  Will things translate from the White Board to the Real World?

Quite a bit got done in our first few sessions.  Saturdays have always been our most productive working days.  A few pictures from Saturday of Week One.

The design has evolved...

Two of the three major field elements are ready for use.

Although we design virtually we still find it useful to put a tape outline of scoring element geometry on the wall of the hallway.  This is a double check on design specs and every year seems to show us something we are happy learning about early rather than late.  We add a few artistic flourishes, call it a mural and the custodians just leave it up for us.

So lots going on.  And now starts the race.  Getting the robot from design to completion requires parts to be ordered and to arrive at the right time.  We hope we don't lose days to snow.  One key component is rather new ground for us and it is anticipated that prototypes 1.0 and 2.0 won't suffice.  "Fail early" is the saying that applies.

Stay tuned.

Return of the Nimrod

The Birkebeiner Ski race is familiar to people in Scandinavia, in northern Wisconsin, and among the cross country ski community in general.  It commemorates a turbulent time in medieval Norway when a royal baby named Haakon needed to be spirited away from some characters called Baglers, who wanted to bump him off as part of a dynastic war.  Brave warriors called Birkebeiners got on their skis and made good an escape, getting Haakon to safety.

The American Birkebeiner race up in Hayward Wisconsin celebrates this legend, with thousands of skiers participating in the most prestigious cross country ski race in North America.  There are always re-enactors to carry Haakon off to safety.

One of my kids who lives in the area has for years participated in a more light hearted aspect of "The Birkie".  One that has just a smidge of controversy here and there but no dynastic strife.  Well, maybe just a smidge of that too.  

The Giant Ski Race, where teams of six stalwarts on a single pair of giant skis, sprint down the main street of Hayward to the bemusement of spectators.  Last year he made an elaborate "mockumentary" of the event.  It was a full length feature film with a local movie theater doing the World Premier and all manner of nonsense.  In case you missed it:

After winning the event five times the Nimrods decided to hang it up.  So ends a mighty sports dynasty.  

Or does it?

Recently a trailer has dropped suggesting a Nimrod revival, something that involves the Legend of Haakon and the whole re-enactor thing.  Worth a couple minutes of your time if you don't have the leisure and a beverage in hand for the full length feature from a year ago.

Obviously much in the same tongue in cheek genre, but being a peripheral member of the Nimrod entourage I see some interesting things hinted at.  It appears that the role of Haakon is being played by one of my grand daughter's dolls.  An old nemesis of mine....Doll Baby.

Given Doll Baby's profound disdain for authority - at least that of grandpas - I suppose it was inevitable that Hollywood would be appealing.  I was wondering what DB had been up to.  Last communique I had was being ordered to get a Covid test around Christmas....

Will the Nimrods rise to the occasion saving both "Baby Haakon" and the Birkie in general (dangerously low snow amounts at press time).  Probably.  Will fame, fortune and a life on the silver screen turn Doll Baby into an insufferable brat?  Too late for that.  Far too late.

H.W. Barker does not approve of Short Sheeting!

Sometimes you get remembered for things other than what you'd predict.

H.W. Barker of Sparta Wisconsin turned out this swell looking patent medicine.

This one is so clean it is almost harder to read than usual.  "H.W. BARKER'S COUGH REMEDY 50 cents".

Over his long life H.W. Barker did a lot of things.  Born near Lacrosse, Wisconsin in 1860 he went over to Minnesota for a visit after his high school graduation and ended up staying 22 years.  He taught school for a while before moving to Parker's Prairie where he apprenticed with a doctor and helped in a drug store.  At that point in history that's all you needed to get a Pharmacy license, so he moved to Elbow Lake and started a drug store.  There he ran for mayor and served as same for three terms.  He became at least a passable fiddler, good enough to play at weddings.  He married and had several children.

In 1902 he moved back to Wisconsin, specifically to Sparta.  Presumably drawing upon his prior pharmacy experience he started producing medicines in a building behind his house.  He had a modest degree of success, selling over an 8 state area and employing several salesmen.  

Barker also returned to politics, serving as a Wisconsin state senator from 1907 to 1909.  

After that he seems to have just carried on.  An news article on the occasion of his 89th birthday in 1949 says that he was still making and selling his products, although by then he was down to a skin medicine and vanilla flavoring extract.

In 1950 he passed away.  His obituary is largely a rehash of the article published the year before.  I think it is interesting how it identifies him:

He appears to be a likeable old coot, whose great accomplishment in life was sponsoring a bill that required hotels to use nine foot long bedsheets!  Hotel patrons with nice warm toes are an appreciative group.

FIRST Robotics - The 2024 Campaign Begins

 

Here we go again.  Another FIRST robotics season.  The "reveal video" describing the game went live on Saturday.  3500 teams around the world are now hard at work.

The team thinks they can do it.  And based on the degree of brainstorming and prototyping that has already happened I agree.  Never bet against smart, motivated kids.

And here's a whole batch of 'em.  Once again we hosted the other teams in the area for Reveal Video, snacks and brainstorming.

After coming up 8 seconds short in a Finals match last season our focus this year is efficiency.  How many minutes, hours or even days does it take to distill down to a precious few seconds when it makes all the difference?  My contribution was to make the long drive over to pick up game specific items over in Minnesota.  Getting them back to home base 45 minutes ahead of schedule - and in compliance with speed limits - will be the first contribution to Project T-minus-08.

The Perfidious Squirrels

I use some words just because I like to say them.  Perfidious is one such word.  For reasons I can't fathom it is commonly used by the French to criticize the English.  "Perfidious Albion" being the usual framing.  Evidently it was used by a Spanish-French playwright in the 1700's and just caught on.

Anyway, I've started using this word - so descriptive of dastardly behavior - to describe the Perfidious Squirrels.  My dog hates 'em, and I think he's got the right of it.  

Oddly the etymology of the word is a bit "doggy", making this very appropriate.

Perfidy, meaning treachery, faithlessness, or falsehood, comes from the Latin phrase "per fidem decipere" which means "to deceive through trust".  

Of course dogs would never do this.  That's why they have probably been called Fido, meaning faithful, for a very long time.  But oddly, it was Abraham Lincoln who popularized it, having a dog by that name that he regretfully left behind when be became president.  Supposedly his wife was concerned he'd chew on things and soil the carpets!  

Presidential dogs have gotten away with worse behavior in recent times.

An ER Miracle

If you are expecting a heart warming tale of a miraculous recovery from a serious illness, sorry.  That sort of thing is actually pretty common.  Oh, sure, the first few times you see an apparently comatose patient wake up and look around after you give them a dose of Narcan (reverses opioid overdose) or glucose ( 'cause having a blood sugar near zero ain't healthy),  its pretty impressive.  But this story is about something far, far less probable.

It was a night about this time of year.  There is usually a cold, dark, unhopeful stretch right after the holidays.  It was snowing.  And I was the only doctor working a small ER in Northern Wisconsin.

The ambulance brought in a man suffering from severe depression.  This is of the "no hope, suicidal" variety and as such not something that a pep talk and a prescription for anti depressants that will start working next week is in order.  No, this man needed inpatient psych care.

But there was a problem.  He was a VA patient.

Things have gotten better in recent years but for a long time the Veteran's Administration health care system was legendary for its callous, inefficient, slow nature.  Patients could not get in the door, and if they did they could expect to sit on gurneys in the hallways for a very long time.  Probably it started with the attitude that "You GIs are used to waiting in lines and obeying orders, so just keep waiting around and do what we say".  This of course is not being fair to the many VA employees who cared a lot, nor is it unreasonable to note that some segments of their clientele are patients of the most challenging sort.  For a long time, if you had "better" health care options you used them.  Those who did not, had much higher rates of homelessness, mental health and substance issues.

But that's not relevant to our story.  

The patient was a nice guy.  He was trying to do his best in a situation where he had little support.  He was not one of our "regulars", that challenging cohort whose creativity and tenacity in seeking narcotics was as impressive as it was aggravating.

What I'm about to say next will not be believed by anyone who has ever worked in an ER, or who has had extensive contact with the VA healthcare system.  I understand your disbelief.

Within 90 minutes I had spoken to the nearest VA hospital that had inpatient psychiatric services.  It was in Minneapolis, probably three hours away in good weather, longer under current conditions.  I had him approved for admission, the receiving resident briefed on the details, the records faxed and the ambulance putting wheels to slick pavement.

How is this possible?  That would be a longer story.  But it is always important to know who makes the decisions in any system and what motivates them.  It never hurts to be relaxed and pleasant in your conversations....none of which should be delegated to others.  Most inefficient systems are actually staffed by good people, you just have to appeal to that goodness and encourage them to do the little bit of extra work that their protocols don't strictly require.  

I hope the old soldier did OK.  I never saw him back in my ER, so most likely things worked out.  As a victory over bureaucratic inertia this was way up there in the difficulty level.  But I don't gloat over this one as I have on a few other occasions*.  A simple and sincere thank you from the patient, which I duly passed along to the VA, was sufficient reward on a cold, bleak night.                            ---------------------------------------------

Medical Software Gone Wild

Bureucraticus Victrix

Another Time Around

New Years Day.  Another circuit 'round the seasons.  Looking back, I'd rate it a pretty good year.  

I got back to England to dig up fun Roman stuff and hang out with my fun digging friends.  This is a spear head circa 2nd century AD if you are curious.

The Robotics team had its best season ever, coming within inches, or seconds depending on perspective, of qualifying for Worlds.

                                                                                                 

For the first time in a long, long while we went somewhere warm when Wisconsin was cold.  The robotics team managed without me for a week.  Honestly, they did better in my absence.

Lots of good family time.  Picking up a new daughter in law and grandkid just about defines a Good Year.

There were no major health concerns.  Our old house only needed an annoying degree of financial outlay.  I caught several species of new fish.

I did not get a deer.  But I did acquire a dog.  Here's Hank and his pal Reba, hard at work.

Yep, pretty good 2023.

Looking ahead....it will be back to Florida for a bit in March.  And off to England again in May.  The robotics team looks formidable.  Perhaps my long work in that area will reach its final goal this year.  Or next.  Anyway, my Official Predictions for the season have been made.

Here they are:

Stay tuned.....