Team 56 Robbe Xtreme

Team 56 will joinWorld Science Fair

2009-06-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

FIRST to present at
World Science Festival!

Your team is invited to be part of the show.

Greetings!

FIRST has been invited to be part of the second annual World Science Festival in New York City at Washington Square Park in Manhattan on Sunday, June 14th.

Last year this event enabled us to spread the word about FIRST to hundreds and hundreds of families throughout the metropolitan region.

We still have a few slots available for FRC teams that would like to be part of this important outreach event.

If you have questions or would like more information, please click HERE.

Thank you for all you helping to bring the FIRST experience to kids across New York and New Jersey.

Sincerely,

Randy Schaeffer
Regional Director

World Science Festival Street Fair

Sunday, June 14th

Washington Square Park in Manhattan
(near NYU campus)
Set-up -- 7:00am to 8:30am
Demonstrations-- 10:00am to 6:00pm

For information about the World Science Festival, please click HERE

For directions to Washington Square Park, please click HERE

Teams can bring their 2008 and/or 2009 machines
Pit tables, tents and electricity will be provided
Bring balls, tools, batteries, trophies, banners, etc.
Wear your team shirts
Space will be provided for bots to strut their stuff (not an actual game)
The more action the better.

To register, please click
HERE

Team 56 Picnic

2009-05-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

The Team 56 Annual Picnic serves as a Season Finale for the year.

This year's picnic was held on May 27Th at the Eagles Club in Bridgewater. There was food, fun, videos and photos from the year's accomplishment and of course the Engineer vs. Student volleyball game!

The Engineer vs. Student volleyball game was once again won by the Ethicon Engineers. The students put up a fight during the second of the best two out of three games. Ultimately the engineers took the 2009 title.

The picnic was fun. It was a last chance for the team to recognize the graduating members of the Robotics Family. Amy, Jess and Kris will be missed. We hope they will return from time to time to say hello or maybe join the team as a mentor.

Photos from the Picnic to follow.....

FIRST Night out with the Somerset Patriots

2009-05-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

FIRST Robotics Night with the Somerset Patriots

June 1, 2009 @ 7:05 PM

TD Bank Ballpark Bridgewater, NJ

Monty Madness

2009-05-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

TEAM 56 was the alliance leader for the 2nd seed. Team 56' robot performed extremely well. Thank you to our alliance partners.

Thanks to the Monty Madness team for putting this great event together. Look forward to joining in 2010!

___________________________

Event Details:

Monty Madness 2009 will be held at:
Montgomery Township High School
1016 Route 601
Skillman, NJ 08558-1799

Teams Participating:

FRC Team 11 - MORT - Mt. Olive High School, Flanders, NJ

FRC Team 25 - Raider Ro b oti x - North Brunswick Twp High School, NJ

FRC Team 56 - Robbe Xtreme - Bound Brook High School, NJ

FRC Team 75 - R o b oRai d ers - Hillsborough High School, NJ

FRC Team 102 - Gearheads - Somerville High School, NJ

FRC Team 103 - Cyber s oni cs - Palisades High School, Kintnersville, PA

FRC Team 136 - Killer Kardinals - Plainfield High School, NJ

FRC Team 219 - T e am Impact - Warren Hills Regional HS, Washington, NJ

FRC Team 223 - Xtreme Heat - Lakeland Regional HS, Wanaque, NJ

FRC Team 224 - The Tribe - Piscataway High School, Piscataway, NJ

FRC Team 270 - Deer Park - Deer Park High School, NY

FRC Team 271 - Mechanical Maraduers - Bay Shore High School, NY

FRC Team 293 - SPIKE - Hopewell Valley High School, Hopewell, NJ

FRC Team 303 - Panther Robotics - Bridgewater-Raritan High School, NJ

FRC Team 341 - Miss Daisy - Wissahickon High School, Ambler, PA

FRC Team 369 - RoboBob 2.0 - William E. Grady Tech HS, Brooklyn, NY

FRC Team 371 - Cyber Warriors - Curtis High School, Staten Island, NY

FRC Team 484 - The Haverford Vikings - Haverford HS, Havertown, PA

FRC Team 613 - The RoboWarriors - Franklin High School, Somerset, NJ

FRC Team 694 - StuyPulse - Stuyvesant HS, New York, NY

FRC Team 806 - Brooklyn Blacksmiths - Xavn & Bshp Kearney HS, Brooklyn, NY

FRC Team 834 - SparTechs - Southern Lehigh HS, Center Valley, PA

FRC Team 869 - Power Cord - Middlesex High School, NJ

FRC Team 871 - West Islip Robotechs - West Islip, NY

FRC Team 896 - Central Blue Steel - Central High School, Newark, NJ

FRC Team 1089 - Team Mercury - Hightstown High School, NJ

FRC Team 1237 - L.E.S. Cyborgs - University Neighbor HS, New York, NY

FRC Team 1279 - Cold F u sion - Immaculata High School, Somerville, NJ

FRC Team 1302 - Revolution Robotics - Pope John Regional HS, Sparta, NJ

FRC Team 1366 - Roughriders - West Side HS, Newark, NJ

FRC Team 1370 - The Blue Charge - Middletown HS, Middletown, DE

FRC Team 1396 - P Y R OB O T S - Tottenville High School, Staten Island, NY

FRC Team 1403 - Cougar Robotics - Montgomery Township High School, NJ

FRC Team 1640 - Sab-BOT-age - Downingtn HS E&W, Downingtn & Exton, PA

FRC Team 1647 - Iron Devils - Seneca High School, Tabernacle, NJ

FRC Team 1807 - Redbird Robotics - Allentown, NJ

FRC Team 1923 - MidKnight Inventors - West Wndsr-Plainsboro HS No, NJ

FRC Team 2016 - Mighty Monkey Wrenches - Ewing High School, NJ

FRC Team 2180 - Zero Gravity - Steinert High School, Hamilton, NJ

FRC Team 2577 - Big Blue Robotics - The Pingry School, Martinsville, NJ

FRC Team 2590 - Nemesis - Robbinsville High School, Robbinsville, NJ

FRC Team 2753 - Team Overdrive - Teen Technology, Bridgewater, NJ

Team 56 Delivers in Atlanta

2009-04-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

Team 56 performed exceptionally in Atlanta, GA last week. The team faced fierce competition in the Galileo division where Team 56 made it to the Quarter Finals!

Team 56 lost to the National Champions during the Galileo Quarterfinal games. Team 56 is proud of the Accomplishment for the 2009 year.

Team Photo in Atlanta

56 in the NEWS

2009-04-17T08:49:00.000-07:00

Somerset County FIRST Robotics Competition Teams Competing at championship in Atlanta, Georgia

by Somerset Reporter
Thursday April 16, 2009, 3:05 PM

Dramatic Photos....

2009-03-25T13:40:00.001-07:00

Philadelphia Regional Photos!

2009-03-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

Team 56 & 2Train

2Train & MOE

Team Representatives during the Alliance Partnership 56, 365 and 395

Team 56 Recognized by Bound Brook Mayor at Town Hall

2009-03-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

The hard work and effort put into creating and maintaining the robot were recognized by the Borough of Bound Brook on March 24th. Bound Brook Mayor, Carey Pilato, and council members recognized the Students and Teachers from Bound Brook High School and also Engineers, Mechanics and Electritian from Ethicon. Members were presented with certificates from the Mayor.

Congrats Team 56 on making the community proud.

TEAM 56 WINS Philadelphia!

2009-03-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

TEAM 56 WINS PHILADELPHIA!

Many MANY Thanks to 2Train Robotics (Team 395) and the Amazing MOEs (Team 365) for picking us. We hope to partner with you in Atlanta.

Photos/Details/etc to Follow. The team would like to thank everyone involved in making the Philadelphia Regional possible. Thank you.

Team 56 is headed to PHILLY

2009-03-17T12:13:00.000-07:00

Team 56 is ready and excited about the upcoming PHILADELPHIA regional.

The regional will be held in Philadelphia on March 19th, 20th and 21th.

The team is looking forward to the regional in hopes of winning another event!

Good luck to all teams!!!

ROBBE Making the Headlines

2009-03-16T07:57:00.000-07:00

ROBBE Xtreme Makes the Headlines....

Robotics teams from Bound Brook, Bridgewater area, heading to top competition in Atlanta (BY KARA L. RICHARDSON • STAFF WRITER • MARCH 16, 2009 on mycentraljersey.com)

2009-03-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

On March 6th, 7th and 8th the teams set out to the Jacob Javits Center for the New York regionals.

Congrats Team 56 on WINNING the competition and also taking home the Motorola Quality Award!!!

COMMUNITY SERVICE EVENT- OPERATION SHOEBOX

2009-02-28T16:20:00.000-08:00

On February 21, the robotics team set out to Manville to take part in Operation Shoebox New Jersey. The mission of this all-volunteer organization is to arrange the acquisition and shipment of personal items to our brave men and women serving overseas.

For this event, all the volunteers worked in a sort of assembly line, placing item after item into ziplock bags to be boxed and shipped to U.S. troops. It turned out to be a huge success, and our team really enjoyed participating in it.

February 14, 2009

2009-02-27T20:09:00.000-08:00

It was on Valentine's Day that the backdrop for the pit area was finally completed. The photojournalism group decided to carry on team 56's superhero theme throughout the backdrop with pictures and information in a comic-like form. We also created some signs to hold up at competition, showing the spirit we have for our team. Things were beginning to get packed up in boxes for shipping, and in the end, we were pretty satisfied with ourselves.

February 11, 2009

2009-02-27T19:42:00.000-08:00

The web design team had one of their proudest moments on Wednesday the 11th when they finally got team56.com up on the web. We all appreciate the time and effort they put into the site; the end result looked even better than we had imagined. Great work, guys!

February 7, 2009

2009-02-27T19:15:00.001-08:00

Saturday the 7th was a rare meeting in which the team split up in two different places to get some necessary work done. With the drive and design subgroup gone doing technical work, the rest of the team gathered at Bound Brook High School to work on buttons and other hand-outs for the competitions.

January 31, 2009

2009-02-15T18:10:00.000-08:00

By the end of the January 31st meeting, when the team gathered give a progress update on all the work going on, each subgroup was pleasantly surprised to see how far the others had gotten. With each group having so many tasks to tackle on their own, we tended to lose notice of how much our friends had on their plates, so it was nice to finally share our progress with the team as a whole.

January 28, 2009

2009-02-09T16:41:00.000-08:00

Bound Brook High School was off today for a snow day, and, as a result, Team 56 got a break as well.

January 26, 2009

2009-02-09T16:25:00.001-08:00

On Monday we were amazed to see how progressed the robot was becoming. Web design was working on some awesome slideshow videos; photojournalism was taking care of odds and ends like picture sorting, typing answers and finishing up the subgroup write-ups, and marketing was busy making endless buttons.

January 24, 2009

2009-01-24T08:13:00.002-08:00

The team decked out in red for the group photo on Saturday, which was taken in between all the tasks everyone was working on.

January 21, 2009

2009-01-24T08:13:00.001-08:00

Back to work on Wednesday, Marketing made some phone calls for community service offers such as girl scouts, and web design got some work done on the logo.

January 19, 2009

2009-01-24T08:11:00.003-08:00

We had the day off today for MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY!!!

January 17, 2009

2009-01-24T08:11:00.001-08:00

On Saturday, the team questionnaires were handed out and answered, and we each posed for individual and subgroup pictures to go on the website.

January 14, 2009

2009-01-17T08:00:00.001-08:00

While the marketing team was busy coming up with community service ideas, sponsors for the t-shirts, and t-shirt designs, the drive and design team was continually making progress on their strategies…

January 12, 2009

2009-01-17T07:59:00.004-08:00

On Monday, Dan “Sunshine” Avery won the human player game. The photojournalism team got the hang of setting up the backdrop for the pit area in less than five minutes, and the marketing team began work on the Chairman’s Award…

January 10, 2009

2009-01-17T07:59:00.003-08:00

On our second Saturday meeting, the marketing team was busy coming up with options for this year’s theme, and then all of the robotics members came together to vote on the ultimate decision. Many members were attached to the idea of dressing as high-style secret agents, while others got excited to wear the equally stylish 80s basketball short-shorts, but the final resolution was to sport capes and masks as Robbe Xtreme superheroes. This wonderful blog you are currently reading also got its first dose of attention from the photojournalism crew on Saturday the 10th, as did the new website layout by the web design team…

January 7, 2009

2009-01-17T07:59:00.001-08:00

We were first introduced to this year’s prototype on the Wednesday meeting, and we had driver and human player tryouts for anyone in the group who wanted to try. With each new attempt at driving we discovered new tactics of maneuvering the robot…

January 5, 2009

2009-01-17T07:58:00.000-08:00

On Monday, we reviewed more videos to get a clearer idea of what Lunacy is all about, re-examined and utilized what ideas worked and didn’t work from previous years, and ultimately set out prioritize our ideas from the kickoff meeting…

January 3, 2009

2009-01-17T07:54:00.000-08:00

At the kickoff meeting, we heard speeches from many of the most well-known individuals in the First program, watched video clips from previous years and devoured plenty of muffins and pizza; but of course the most focal part of the day was learning about the 2009 game. The rules to this year’s unique competition were enforced by a very amusing, apparently lost episode of “Who Wants To Be An Engineer,” and the required “cells” and wheels for the robot were passed around the crowd. We then split up into three groups to brainstorm what we each thought were the most important things the robot must have and do…

FUNDRAISING SUCCESS- Billian-Legion Park

2008-10-21T07:51:00.000-07:00

The Billian-Legion Park in Bound Brook, NJ celebrated its 10th anniversary on October 18th. It therefore was not a surprise that our ROBBE XTREME team joined in the celebration this Saturday in full gear.

The goal of this event for Team 56 was to make the community aware of the FIRST Robotics Program, to showcase the achievement of TEAM 56 and also to fund raise for the 2009 FRC.

Students and mentors from BBHS had set up a booth to showcase TEAM 56. Students at the table both fund raised and also answered any questions from the community.

This was a successful event and a great start to the 2009 season!

Well Done TEAM 56!

Team Meeting at BBHS

2008-10-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

On October 15, 2008 students at BBHS and Mentors from Ethicon met at Bound Brook High School for a general meeting. This meeting was in efforts to show off the great 2008 ROBOT to new team members and also to have a Catapult Competition!

About two weeks prior to this meeting, students were given a Catapult building kit. They allowed to either work in pairs or work by them selves to design a catapult that would be able to hit a certain target. The target distance was not disclosed to the group. Students were also told that they must use the kitted parts, but were not forbidden from altering the design with additional parts.

On the day of the competition, 16 teams presented their catapult designs to the Ethicon panel of judges. They were judged based on several criterion. Before the actual firing of the catapults, each design was judged on the Construction Quality, Team Imagery, Engineering Quality and Experimental Design. To assess point value for each of the categories, teams were asked questions to inquire their engineering know how about the catapult. Upon completion of the initial evaluation by a panel of judges, each team was given 3 tries to fire the catapult to a target of 25 feet. Winner of the Catapult competition were based on combine score from both sections.

The winner of the Catapult competition was TEAM 8! They had the highest scores in the initial judging competition and came 4 inches from the target point. CONGRATULATIONS TEAM 8!

Upon completion of the Catapult competition, each team was given a price for competing! Overall the event was a GREAT SUCCESS!

The general meeting ended with new students getting a feel for driving 2008 ROBBE.

The next meeting will be held October 29th!!

PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT TO FOLLOW!!

FIRST BLOG- Some History

2008-10-15T09:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Team 56 Blog.!

This is our first Blog for the 2009 Season. There are plenty of activities going on to get ready for the 2009 FIRST Robotics Season. This blog's intent is to provide some history about ROBBE Xtreme TEAM 56.

You can find more information about TEAM 56 at www.team56.com

Read on....

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Ethicon/Bound Brook H.S. partnership began with FIRST Robotics twelve years ago and was originally designed to be temporary. Ethicon's initial intention was to start additional teams. However, the focus became quality, not quantity and we developed a synergy that has remained incredibly strong throughout our ten year friendship. To date, Ethicon has provided over $200,000 in scholarship funds and helped BBHS with numerous enhancements both in and out of the classroom.

Team 56 was the first Johnson and Johnson team and the first team in New Jersey. We were instrumental in establishing the Mid-Atlantic Regional after staging a demonstration at the Liberty Science Center. This helped bring Johnson and Johnson support into the program. We also worked with three other teams to stage a match at Drexel University, a move that resulted in the formation of the Philadelphia Regional. Twelve years later, Team 56 continues to strive to promote science and technology.

Team 56 begins early in the school year with team-building activities, design challenges and community services to encourage communication between new members. During the six week build period, we meet at least three times a week and each meeting; students update each other as to what their sub teams achieved that day. After competitions, students continue with community services and participate in local post season competitions. Keeping active keeps the students interested and retention high.

Team 56 has successfully expanded beyond the robotics program. Its involvement within the school includes: Project Lead the Way, Middle School Robotics, Bridge to Employment and the introduction of several engineering classes into the mainstream curriculum. Team 56 actively engages in "giving back" by volunteering community services such as raking for senior citizens, raising donations for the Salvation Army, computer training for community members and raising donations in times of need.

The mission of Team 56 is to incorporate the talents, experience and enthusiasm of the students of Bound Brook High School and the professionals of Ethicon to focus on solving the challenges presented by FIRST competitions. We recognize that every member of the team is important and contributes to the team's success. We respect the talents of our competitors and we see every team as an ally in achieving the objectives of Team 56 and FIRST. Team 56 views integrity, professionalism, collaboration, and cooperation as the standards that guide our team.

The ROBBE Xtreme team tries to pass the concepts and goals of FIRST along to all the students and into other parts of the community. The team has given numerous robot demonstrations both in and out of the school district. Locally, we coordinated an Annual Robotics Day at the Somerset Patriots Baseball Stadium to promote the message of FIRST to a more diverse audience. In 2004 the team was featured on a nation-wide Discovery Channel program spotlighting the team's achievements within FIRST.

Team 56 exemplifies the characteristics needed to excel in the FIRST organization. As veterans, we respect the value of working hard to achieve while encouraging teamwork by assisting several other local teams. We have been recognized for our sportsmanship and technological innovations and are a model of integrity and professionalism. Year after year, we continue to represent the ideals of FIRST so that our gracious professionalism and etiquette are a consistent example for others to follow.

Students develop meaningful skills, such as informed creative thinking, collaborative teamwork, managing complex tasks, marketing skills, web-page and power point design, persuasive communication and game strategy. Students learn the value of helping others and feel rewarded and satisfied from initiating and performing these actions. In addition, students gain valuable insights into the world of work and form lasting relationships with individuals who are dedicated, caring professionals.