Team 451 - Home - RSS Feed

2012 Robot Named Brightside
- Jan 24

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:21:51 -0500

The name Brightside has been picked as the 2012 robot name. We will soon have a logo for the t-shirt.

Take our Lawnmower Survey - Nov 23

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:54:37 -0500

Did you participate in our lawnmower winterization? If so, please take a few minutes to answer our short survey at http://lawn.survey.thecatattack.org/ and tell us how we did. Thank you!

Thank you for a Sucessful Event! - Nov 20

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 02:00:00 -0500

Thank all of you for a very successful Lawnmower Winterization event! We winterized 186 mowers, an all time record!

Lawnmower Winterization Today!
- Nov 19

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:33:05 -0500

Drop your mower off at Southview High School today before 5PM and we will winterize it! Click the Lawnmower banner above for more info.

Fall season
- Sep 13

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:47:24 -0400

We are beginning our fall preseason, machine shop training is beginning, you can still come to 6201 Trust Dr. Holland, at 5:30 every Tuesday

Open House Next Tuesday! - May 17

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (superdiggs) — Tue, 17 May 2011 21:41:42 -0400

There will be an open house next Tuesday, May 24 at DANA in Maumee from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.
Please come out and see us.
Open House Flier

Competition Pictures Uploaded - Apr 21

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (CWood) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 17:21:02 -0400

Pictures from the 2011 Boilermaker and Smoky Mountain regional competitions have been added to the media section of our website.

Smokey Mountain: Amazing fun! - Apr 04

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:10:31 -0400

We won the imagery award at Smokey Mountain, and got to Quarter Finals! This has been another exceptional season!

Purdue Was Exciting! - Mar 20

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 13:57:42 -0400

Not only did we get a graphics card, but we were Regional Finalists! Photos and videos of this will be posted soon.

Picture Update - Mar 06

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (CWood) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 22:02:53 -0500

Pictures from our build season have been added to the website. Check them out here. Some general website content was also updated and refreshed.

We Have Shipped - Feb 23

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 21:22:38 -0500

Alpha Cat has left the building and is heading to Purdue! We only have 9 meetings left before Purdue to make spare parts, lets get cracking!

New Website Up! - Feb 22

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:38:04 -0500

Our new website design is up!

New Season! - Jan 18

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (superdiggs) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:26:46 -0500

We have a new season among us! This year's game is LogoMotion!

Competition Rules: Rules!
Competition Rules Updates: Updates!

Lawnmower Over - Nov 21

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 17:12:40 -0500

Thanks to all those that had their lawnmower winterized. We had a record number of mowers! If you had your lawnmower winterized, please take our Lawnmower Survey so we can improve it for next year.

Lawnmower - Nov 19

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 15:10:43 -0500

Come one, come all! Our lawnmower fundraiser is tomorrow! Drop by Sylvania Southview (7225 Sylvania Avenue, map) between 9AM and 5PM tomorrow (Saturday, November 20).
More Info on Lawnmower...

Raffle Winners - Oct 26

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (TahaA) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 18:08:26 -0400

Congratulations to our raffle winners from the Sylvania Fall Festival!

$50 Lowe's Gift Card - Tina Estep

Lawn Mower Winterization - Tina Estep

Rave Motion Pictures Movie Passes - Melissa Allen

That's right, folks, it pays to buy more than one ticket!

Lawnmower Winterization - Sep 06

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 14:34:27 -0400

Our annual Lawn Mower Winterization will take place on Saturday, November 20, 9 AM to 5 PM, at Southview High School, 7225 Sylvania Avenue in Sylvania, OH.

More Info

Summer Is Here - Jul 11

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 09:38:18 -0400

We are starting on our summer projects, including a motorized robot car, mecanum wheels, CAN bus, and the community service robot.

Want to join the team? Although our open house has passed, you can still join the team. Simply come to one of our meetings, 5:30PM every Tuesday, at 6201 Trust Dr. Holland OH. Wait at the door next to the docks to be let in.

Open House Today! - May 25

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Tue, 25 May 2010 11:22:12 -0400

Our open house is today, between 6 and 8PM. We are located at 6201 Trust Dr. Holland OH (map)

We will have food, information, and fun, so come see what we are all about!

Open House! - May 13

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Thu, 13 May 2010 17:28:56 -0400

Come to our open house May 25 between 6 and 8 PM at our workshop for food, fun, and information about us. You can even drive our robots!

We are located at 6201 Trust Drive, Holland OH

Look for the big Dana sign at the end of the road, that is where we are.

Robot Eye Video - Apr 04

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 18:30:44 -0400

This year, like last year, we used our camera to make videos. This year, unlike last year, we saw it live on our ZomB Dashboard as well. This year, we got more than 3 videos, we got 13!

View them all @ http://thecatattack.org/media/2010/RobotEye%20Videos/ Most videos have a 5-15 second delay while we wait for the game to begin

Cleveland Pictures Posted - Apr 01

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (CWood) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:23:51 -0400

Some of our pictures from the Cleveland regional have been posted in the media section. You can find them here.

More pictures will be uploaded soon, so be sure to check back!

Cleveland Regional - Mar 28

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:17:58 -0400

The Cleveland Regional was just as exciting as Pittsburgh. On Thursday, we fixed Kick Kat's chain, and a few other issues from Pittsburgh, as well as adding a ball cam video feed. Friday we started out good, and we were flipped on our side, and things started to go downhill. we then died on the field three times before the day ended. On Saturday we fixed our dying issues, and jumped up to 8th seed before the seeding matches were over. We became the 4th alliance, but were knocked out in the quarter finals

Pittsburgh posted - Mar 18

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:06:58 -0400

Most of the photos for Pittsburgh have been posted at http://thecatattack.org/media/2010/Pittsburgh/.
Videos will be posted soon
Kick Kat now has a page (http://thecatattack.org/about/robots/kickkat/), and Pittsburgh also has a page (http://thecatattack.org/about/Year/2010Pittsburgh)

Pittsburgh Day 2 - Mar 14

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:27:12 -0400

Not quite as good as day one, we dropped to the 6th seed, and had numerous chain issues, which killed us, along with an alliance partners battery issues, in the quarter finals.

we have not placed this high since 2003, and never done this well in our first competition!

Pittsburgh Day 1 - Mar 12

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:26:49 -0500

What an exciting day, Pittsburg is off to a good start. We are currently the 3rd seed. Good Job to our drivers, Cameron and Patrick. We won the Imagery Award, the Website Award, and Tom O'Neil got the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award.

Today was a good day for Kick Kat!

We're on Fox! - Feb 24

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:14:39 -0500

Fox Toledo has their video of us on their website: http://www.foxtoledo.com/dpp/news/local/Cat-attack-robotics. Media night was a success!

More photos and videos have been posted here as well: http://thecatattack.org/media/2010/

Field Team Set - Feb 23

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (CWood) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:23:48 -0500

The field team has been selected for the competitions. Congratulations to our drivers, Patrick Plenefisch and Cameron Kinsel. Human player is Kenny Boyle, and coach is Ajmeeta Sangtani. These four students will be representing Cat Attack on the field at the competitions!

Kickin' Videos posted - Feb 23

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:41:24 -0500

A video of Kick Kat shooting (and scoring), and a driving and sucking video are posted at http://thecatattack.org/media/recVid/

Kick Kat Kickin' - Feb 21

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:12:02 -0500

After about 4 hours of working on Kick Kat, we tested it, and it Kicks powerfully, and sucks greatly. Although it works, there is still a lot to be done, but it should be running Tuesday (when the media comes!)

Photos posted - Feb 16

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:15:04 -0500

Photos are now being posted at http://thecatattack.org/media/2010/Build/
More coming soon

If you have Photos, please bring them to the meeting and give them to Patrick or Chris

Videos being posted - Feb 15

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:42:14 -0500

Videos are now being posted at http://thecatattack.org/media/2010/Build Videos/
More coming soon

1 week left - Feb 15

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:01:13 -0500

Only 1 week left to build the robot, but fear not, we have a robot that drives nicely, a sucker that sucks (which is good), and a kicker that kicks. Now we only have to put it all together

Kick Kat Logo up - Feb 15

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:56:26 -0500

We finally have the Kick Kat logo up.

It Lives! - Feb 13

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:07:26 -0500

Kick Kat Lives! Saturday, Feburary 13, 2010, at around 5:30PM, our Robot, Kick Kat, moved. And it is fast!

FIRST Media Up - Feb 02

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:39:14 -0500

The 2010 Opener and GDC Video are up, and located at http://thecatattack.org/media/FIRST/
Kick Kat is coming along nicely, the frame is almost built, and we have some nice kicking prototypes

Robot Name - Jan 24

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:52:42 -0500

We have voted on our favorite robot name, and we have come up with Kick Kat

Driverstation Pong Video - Jan 16

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 16:29:01 -0500

Mid December, we finished Driverstation Pong. Now, we have a video.

http://thecatattack.org/DriverStationPong

Game Released - Jan 09

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:57:41 -0500

The game has been released: Breakaway!

Game Animations: Large Medium Small

Manual will be posted soon...

Kickoff Tomorrow - Jan 08

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:10:37 -0500

2010 Kickoff is tomorrow. Be at the Maumee Dana at 9AM tomorrow for kickoff!

Website Updated - Dec 22

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:42:08 -0500

The New website management system is up! After 2GB of uploads, and a few small bugs, it is fully functional!

Please note that old files may still be accessible, but they will be deleted soon.

Website Update - Dec 21

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:45:49 -0500

The new system is now being moved in. If you cannot access a page, wait for a while and try again

Lawnmower Photos Posted! - Dec 03

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:23:16 -0500

The photos from our lawnmower fundraiser are now up!
Look at them here: http://thecatattack.org/media/2010/Lawnmower/

Also, we would like to say Thanks to all those that had their mower winterized, and please take our survey here (http://lawn.survey.thecatattack.org/)

New CMS coming! - Nov 27

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:22:30 -0500

Since Spring break, the webmaster has been working on an entirely new content management system, and now it is finished! It allows for anyone on the team to edit the site without leaving it. Currently to edit a page, you must edit the actual file, but now, everything is database driven. Now the CMS is finished, the site must be copied to the new CMS. This is expected to take 2 or 3 weeks, so we are going to be launching our new CMS the 21st of December.

Sponsor us - Nov 27

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:22:30 -0500

The Season is almost here. And we are still in need of sponsors. If you would like to help sponsor us with a donation of any amount, please contact tom.o'neil@dana.com

Raffle Winners - Nov 16

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:22:30 -0500

We have our Raffle Tickets winners:

Snow Blower: David Kinsel
Lawn Mower: Dennis Boyle
$50 Gift Card from Lowe's: Chris Cheney
Thanks to all those that bought tickets

Lawnmower Survey - Nov 14

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:22:30 -0500

Today is Lawnmower! When you get your lawnmower back, there is a tag on it with an address to a survey. That survey is located at http://lawn.survey.thecatattack.org/

Lawnmower fundraiser - Nov 12

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:22:30 -0500

Our lawnmower fundraiser is this Saturday, November 14, from 9 AM to 5 PM at Southview High School, 7225 Sylvania Ave. If you want your mower winterized, bring your mower to Southview High School, we will be around the back of the building. Please follow the signs.

Pick up service

We are no longer taking new requests for pick-up. If you have already arranged for pick-up service, it will be between 5 and 9 PM on Friday. We will return your mower on Sunday during the day. If we have the opportunity, we may deliver as early as Saturday evening. We request payment at the time of pickup. If no one will be home, a check can be taped to the mower. Please make checks out to Explorer Post 6201. The cost for service with pick-up is $30.

Lawnmower Raffle Tickets - Oct 22

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:28:05 -0400

Want to buy a raffle ticket for a chance to win a Craftsman EZ Walk Lawnmower, with 5.5 HP Honda Engine, Toro CCR 2000, 4.5 HP, single stage Snowblower, or a $50 Lowe's Gift Card.
There are 3 types of tickets: Lawnmower only, Snow-blower only, and Power tickets which have all three prizes. The Power tickets cost $3 each or 2 for $5. The other two cost $2 each or 3 for $5.
The drawing will be held November 15th. Winners will be called and posted here.
All profits go to our robot for the many parts of the robot we will have to buy

Burnout Photos Posted - Sep 08

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:44:23 -0400

Here are the photos and videos of the Burnout Bot: http://thecatattack.org/burnout.php
More will be posted when I get them.

Lawnmower is Here! - Aug 19

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:32:42 -0400

Fall is just around the corner, and once you finish mowing the lawn, send it to us for winterization at Southview High School on Saturday, November 14 between 9am and 5pm. We will sharpen the blade, change the oil, stabilize the gas, and power wash it clean! Call us at (419)887-3490 or send us an email at lawnmower@thecatattack.org. The cost is $25 for push mowers (Sorry, no riding mowers) and if you live in Sylvania, we can pick up your mower on Friday night, clean it, and return it Sunday morning for just $5 more! (see The Brochure here)

Join! - Jun 19

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:32:42 -0400

Want to join the Cat Attack Robotics team? Don't worry, you don't need to know anything (but some common sense will be beneficial). You can choose to learn how to Build, Wire, Program, Do CAD (Virtual Design), Website, and so much more! To see what it is all about, come during the summer for free and work on learning diffrent things. Email Tom.O'Neil [at] dana .com for more details.

2009 Year video up - Jun 11

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:32:42 -0400

Yay! While working on the new CMS's Media Manager, I needed a program to translate any movie type to flv so that it could be put on the website safely. I looked around and found ffmpeg, and saw it could convert VOBs,the DVD format to flv, my web format. I then tried it out on the Year dvd, and it worked, so here is the 2009 end of year video: (note: this is 85MB, but it streams as you watch it, so you will have to watch the bar at the bottom to see how far ahead you can jump) http://thecatattack.org/VOB/2009Year/

New CMS! - May 18

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:32:42 -0400

Admit it, we have a nice website. Or rather a nice design. Our custom build CMS is rather yucky (admit it!), so I (the webmaster) am working on our new easy CMS, DAECIMS (Dynamic Ajax Editable Content and Integration Management System) So far, the pages will be directed to a master page, which will pull the page from a database, and spit it out. the Home page (in it's current state) looks like this on the test server:
[#TAB]
[#CONTENT]
[#MOVIE(HomeSlideShow.swf)]
[CENTER][I]If you can't fix it with a hammer, you're thinking too hard.[/I][/CENTER]

Website Award - May 01

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:32:42 -0400

We have Won the Website Excellence Award!!!
This is an award for a Good Website!

Join and Sponsor - Apr 08

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:32:42 -0400

Right now, we are on spring break, and won't be coming back until the 28th. But, you can still become a sponsor of our team. Since we are a non-profit organization, it is fully tax deductable. And you will be helping us learn about engineering. More here

Right after spring break ends, you can join. We are planning an open house for new students on Tuesday May 12th at 6201 Trust Drive, Holland, OH. If you want to come, check this website for new details after we come back from spring break, as it will contain more info on joining after we get it all planned.

Competition Videos - Mar 20

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:32:42 -0400

Our Videos of Thurday's Practice matches 3 and 4 are up, Here (3) and Here (4). Also our footage of Seeding match #4 can be found Here. These are the videos of what our Axis 206 Camera saw during these matches. We saved the images our camera saw during the competition, onto the 2GB "hard drive", then after the match, we retrieved the seperate images (one match of 160x120 images takes up about 1000 images and 15MB) and combined them into a video player made just for this purpose, and after showing them to judges and other people, converted them to a "Real" movie file, where we uploaded them to here. Sunday I will post Saturdays matches that are good.

Dashboard Up - Mar 08

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:28:05 -0400

Just to let everyone know, the dashboard officially works! It tells the distance to target, the "View" of the targets, and a taco-meter. We will probably have a demo at the meeting Tuesday.

Competition Highlights - Mar 01

rsswebmaster@thecatattack.org (PatrickP) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:28:05 -0500

We're back and here are some of the highlights:

Enemy robot shot a ball at us, missed, landed in our hopper, and we shot it and scored in their trailer
DriverStation ethernet ports shot on 1 1/2 DS's causing us to not work in 1 match, and before it started, we corrupted communications for all robots on the field (luckily we have found the fix to that problem)
In auto, we drove forward, and hit another robot with our harvester, causing it to not work for that match, but in teleop, we pinned them, and caused us to score , winning us the match

Please, if you took photos or videos at the competition, bring them Tuesday to the meeting, where we will put them on the website