Our Robot Lives...

Yes!!! Our robot is now fully functional, with a very fast arm that is able to easily reach all levels of the scoring grids and can pick up any shaped tubes from the floor, the human loader or even another robot. The "mini-bot" is able to reach the top in 4-5 seconds and we only need to create the delivery rack to get the mini-bot to the pole. It is looking very good for a high-scoring design this year.

Comming Up This Season...

We have successfully completed the renovations of the Police Bomb robot for Sault Ste. Marie Police Services. The City Police requested that the team adapt their 6-wheel drive to a track-drive and this required addition of the tracks as well as modifications to the frame guards. Work was completed last weekend and the new machine was handed off to a grateful Police Services. Follow this story in local media here: http://sootoday.com/content/students_domain/details.asp?c=33461

New Game Relaesed

January 8, 2011 - New Game - Logomotion

We will be travelling to Waterloo, Ontario for our only FIRST Regional on March 24-26th, and then we are on the road to the World Championships in St. Louis, Missouri on Apr. 27-30. Initial robot design and construction is going well, and we are confident of a great performance from our robot. We will also be working with the local chapters of PEO and OACETT to demonstrate Engineering skills during the Station Mall' Engineering Week displays. Come see ou

Kickoff Tomorow

January 7, 2011 - Kickoff Tomorrow
The FRC 2011 kicks off tomorrow at 10:30am. Join us in the Sault College media center to watch the NASA Simulcast live with the rest of the team. This event officially marks the start of the Knights of Alloy s 6 week build season where FIRST will reveal this year s game challenge

Knights of Alloy Share Some Good News

Knights Of Alloy on www.soonews.ca

This is what they had to say:


Taken from the World Championships in Atlanta in 2009, three of the five students in this photo are now in Engineering programs; Ian Graham (2nd from left - University of Waterloo), Logan Cowley (3rd from left - Lake State U.) and Jesse Conners (4th from left - McMaster U). The other two students, Cody Lucente (left) and Jake Cuglietta (right) are in their senior year at Korah C & VS.

The Sault team, now in its 10th year of building competition robots, has just learned that it has been invited to attend this year’s World Robotics Championships, which will take place in St. Louis, Missouri at the end of April. Teams normally compete to earn invitations to this prestigious event through regional qualifying tournaments around the world, but the league also puts aside approximately 100 invitations for veteran teams, on a rotating basis. This year, as one of the eligible teams, the Sault team accepted and is now planning to attend this event, as well as the Waterloo Regional, at the University of Waterloo, in late March. This will be the forth trip to the World event for this team.


At Sault College’s Multimedia centre one year ago, U.S. President Obama addresses the participating teams, including TKOA team members, during the NASA Simulcast Kickoff event.

Comprised of students from the four local ADSB high schools, this team has spent the past two months training rookie manufacturing, programming, web-page and electronics students. They now wait to learn the nature of this year’s game task. This was revealed to approximately 2500 teams in 14 countries worldwide on Saturday afternoon, via a NASA Simulcast.


The “Knights” were in attendance at the Multimedia Centre at Sault College to observe the simulcast and learn the rules for this year’s competition, which change every year. Once the game is revealed, the team will have 44 days to design, build, test and perfect their machine.


Information about FIRST and the robotics competition can be found : Here

http://www.soonews.ca/viewarticle.php?id=29296">

The Knights Welcome their Newest Member

Knights Of Alloy on www.soonews.ca

This is what they had to say:

The Knights of Alloy is always looking for new talent in the form of mentors, coaches, teachers and student team members but is particularly pleased and proud to welcome their newest team member. The local ADSB robotics team has gratefully welcomed Dr. Roberta Bondar, one of Sault Ste. Marie’s most famous scientists, to its lists of distinguished supporters, as Dr. Bondar has joined the team as Honorary Patron of the local secondary school team.

By joining the team, this world famous neurologist, Canada’s first female astronaut, esteemed university professor and famed nature photographer and environmentalist, has offered support and encouragement to this talented group of budding young engineers. A graduate of Sir James Dunn, Dr. Bondar adds her name to a growing list of local professionals who have been assisting in many aspects of the development of this blossoming program – giving local secondary school students an environment that encourages them to explore science, technology, engineering and computer skills in an extra-curricular team activity.

The local ADSB enterprise, now in its 8th year of building robots, recently wrapped up its efforts to create this year’s competition robot and will soon journey to two of the FIRST league’s Regional Qualifying competitions. Their first efforts will take place in Waterloo, Ontario March 25th to 27th and their second qualifier will occur over the Easter Weekend in Mississauga, Ontario. The team expects to meet Dr. Bondar during the Mississauga tournament, where she will add her encouragement and support to the team.

The qualifier competitions will give The Knights of Alloy an opportunity to gain an invitation to the World FIRST Robotics Championships, in Atlanta Georgia in mid-April. The team has attended this prestigious event in three of its last five years, showing an ever-increasing ability to produce highly competitive and robust machines. Last year, the team earned an invitation to the Championships by winning the Engineering Inspiration Award – a judges’ award that recognizes exceptional engineering connections within the community, strong engineering practices in team organization and manufacturing methods, plus a strongly engineered robot design. The team will be trying to win this award once again as it returns to Mississauga, the same location where they won this award last year.
http://www.soonews.ca/printarticle.php?id=25204

Knights Of Allot Robot

Knights Of Alloy on www.soonews.ca
http://www.soonews.ca/viewarticle.php?id=24820
This is what they had to say:


This year’s robot weighs in at 140 lbs, measures 37inches long, 27 inches wide and about 40 inches tall, with an articulating grappling arm that will extend to a 7-foot height. The main purpose of this year’s game will be a form of robotic soccer, where teams of three robots will face off to score at 4-ft square corner nets on a field the size of a basketball court. Making life more complicated for the teams is the field design, which includes 1-foot high bumps in the field that the robots must traverse to get from one field sector to another. In the final stages of the games, the team can earn bonus points by reaching up and grabbing a 7-ft high horizontal bar and performing a robotic “chin-up” to raise their machine above a 20-inch high platform.


The local efforts of The Knights of Alloy students has produced a solid machine that can score points from multiple distances and angles and can also perform the bonus chin-up maneuver. A unique “Mecanum” wheel design allows the robot to crab sideways or turn on a dime, manipulating the soccer ball with ease while a pneumatic piston provides a kicker “foot” with enough force to propel the ball in excess of 30 feet – easily capable of scoring from almost anywhere on the playing surface.


In a departure of previous seasons, this year’s rules has the robot sealed in a plastic bag, with a zip-tag proving that the robot has remained untouched for the next 5 weeks, and the robot will travel with the team to Waterloo, Ontario for their first regional event, on March 25th to 27th. A second Regional in Mississauga on Easter weekend will provide qualifying opportunities for the team to earn an invitation to Atlanta for the World FIRST Robotics Championships