The prototype sub-team is the division of the robotics team build group which tests ideas and strategies of the team to meet the objectives of the game. This year, the subteam consists of 9 students, lead by Junior Tim Zoski and Sophomore Andrew Dixon. They work with two sophomores, Rebecca Boyle and Zach Kerr, and 5 freshmen, Olivia Debusschere, Ross Pattinson, Andrew Rowinski, Angelo Savino, and Matt Wilton. They invent new ways to accomplish the team’s goals by building a mock-up of individual robot components. They test and develop them during the build season until they are ready to implement in the practice bot, after which the team continues to troubleshoot and adapt them for the best possible results in the competition robot. “We take a problem and solve it in the most efficient way,” said Tim Zoski, the subteam lead. A valuable lesson that the subteam members learn is to utilize the resources around them. Rebecca Boyle said “When I’m in doubt I ‘look around the room’… there are generally scrap materials useful for prototyping, and there is often a piece of a robot from previous years that can be developed to better suit the objectives.”
Another important resource for the subteam is it’s mentors. “The creative mentors help solve problems and help us develop unique solutions” said Zoski.
- Greg Naismith helps the student’s problem-solve with an easy to understand way of explaining things. Greg, like many of our other mentors, works at General Motors as a manufacturing simulation engineer. Greg is a founding member of the team, joining in 2002, our rookie year.
- Mark Johnson has been a mentor since The Foley Freeze’s rookie year in 2002, giving him the knowledge of past ideas that have worked and not worked. As a fabricator who makes assembly line robots, Mr. Johnson is a tremendous asset to everyone on the team.
- John Maten is also an engineer, and helps team members assemble our gearboxes and robot chassis. Working as an assistant chief engineer of transmission at General Motors, Mr. Maten provides valuable insight into robot design solutions. Mr. Maten has been involved in FIRST for many years, and his daughter is a Foley Freeze alumni. He also mentors the FTC team at Guardian Angels Catholic School
- Mike Schaublin has been with team since his oldest son’s freshman year in 2007. He currently works for Ernst & Young and is an alumni of Kettering University. He has a wide range of experience and always brings insightful ideas to the table.
- Greg Hagen is in his third year mentoring. He spends his day as a chief engineer at General Motors. According to the sub-team lead Tim Zoski, Greg Hagen looks at robot components analytically; how they are put together, and where the issues are.
- Pat Causley, also with us for a third year, posesses amazing artistic ability, a terrific sense of humor, and unparalleled enthusiasm. The first time Mr. Causley saw our shooter prototype in action, he said “Pack up the bus, we’re going to St. Louis!” Mr. Causley loves assisting the team wherever he can.
- Michelle Brady assists in prototype development, and teaches team members how to record and analyze data effectively. In her time not spent working with Foley Freeze, Michelle works as a program manager for Matcor-Matsu Automotive.
- John Boyle is a new mentor this year and provides a fresh outlook to the team. Mr. Boyle helps out with robotics in his free time; during the day he works as a consultant and mechanical engineer for Munro and Associates Inc.
- Mike Dixon, a new mentor this year, helps provide creative ideas to solve problems. For example, he helped create the mechanism for gathering gears. Mr. Dixon works as an accountant for IHS Automotive.
These mentors also assist the students in using all the machinery including the lathe, mill, band saw, and many others.
The prototype subteam and its mentors are an integral part of The Foley Freeze. The subteam provides mock-ups and testing data of mechanism conecpts that the Design subteam then integrates into the robot design. They also help to assemble the robot in later weeks and help solve problems that appear. Just like the subteam is critical to the team’s overall success, the mentors are critical to the subteams success, bringing experience and knowledge of engineering, design, and efficient testing.
You can learn more about the Fabrication Subteam and its mentors next week!
