Team Name: Huskie Brigade   

School: Pontiac Northern High School

Sponsor: General Motors Powertrain

Location: Pontiac, MI

Team #: 65

Team Motto: "Making a Difference...Since 1997."

2006 Chairman Theme: "10 years, 10 games, 1 goal...Making a Difference"

Robot Name: PD X-Generation

Team Size: 21 Students

Rookie Year: 1997

Lead Teacher: Anna Nitowski

Lead Engineer: Ken Patton

Overview of the Team: The Huskie Brigade is a living extension of the goals and objectives of FIRST. We are community oriented, we spread the positive message of FIRST, we inspire new children, and while competitive, we extend our help to other teams and individuals. Adversity has only mad us a stronger team. The diversity of you team promotes cohesiveness, cooperative spirit, and an unlimited wealth of creativity.

Building Phase: Building the Huskie Brigade Robot highlights the team effort between Pontiac Northern and GM Powertrain. This is the ninth year the team has built a robot.

Key Concepts: Monday after kickoff, the team meets to learn the game. We play games, create scenarios, and discuss until EVERYONE knows the game inside and out.

The Team has group discussion on what the strategy should be, how the robot will look and the time frame of building the robot. Everyone has input on the building phase.

After brainstorming, the design phase begins.

The design phase has input from everyone, but the engineering team does a majority of the designing.

The engineering team has two divisions: mechanisms and drive-train system. Team meetings are EVERY Wednesday, SCHOOL OR NO SCHOOL.

Everyone on the engineering team will have exposure to Unix-Graphics and CAD.

After the design process is the machining process.

All students will have hands on experience with the actual machine shop with the engineers.

After the robot is assembled, we hold an annual shipping party. The GM Powertrain staff and Pontiac Northern High School Staff are invited.