10355 Project Peacock – Robots in a pretty package

Welcome to the official Project Peacock website. Here you can find team info, match videos, past seasons, outreach, and more!

Project Peacock is a community-based FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) robotics team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We are the first of four FTC teams in STEAM Post 26, a Tulsa-based 4H organization. Our members come from all over the Tulsa area, and from many diverse backgrounds. Since 2015, we have been a top team in Oklahoma, bringing innovation, creativity, and ingenuity to the competition.

Our team is very active in the community, leading outreach events across the state to encourage and empower youth to explore STEAM fields. Each season we spend hundreds of hours reaching out to the community to spread the message of FIRST and the principles of Gracious Professionalism, Coopertition, communication, and creative thinking.

Project Peacock prides itself on entirely custom manufactured robots. We make extensive use of CAD, designing every piece of our robots before manufacturing them in-house using our CNC and 3D Printing capabilities. This process is done entirely by our members, with many putting in hundreds or even thousands of hours to the creation of each robot.

Between seasons, our members improve their individual skill sets through classes in CAD, programming, manufacturing, resume writing, and more. Some members compete in international CAD competitions, meeting other students in FIRST from around the globe. These experiences make for a stronger team, and more capable budding engineers for the future.

Our goal is to create an inclusive, community-based environment to encourage high school students to explore STEAM. We spread the message of FIRST through a multitude of outreach events and by our participation in FIRST Tech Challenge. Our members embody gracious professionalism in their interactions with each other and with other teams, working to encourage all students to explore STEAM.

FIRST Power Play season will be Project Peacock’s 8th season. Here’s how we got here:

<res-q: The Debut>

Project Peacock was founded in 2015 by a handful of members from BSA Troop 26. The team was first registered under the name Eagle Factory Robotics, a nod to Troop 26’s nickname: The Eagle Factory. This first season, the team met at the University of Tulsa and made use of a loaner kit of Tetrix parts from Oklahoma FTC. This first robot was named Lucien B. Maxwell, named for the original owner of the Philmont Scout Ranch. Despite not having a field to work with, Lucien and the team made it to the Oklahoma State Championship their first season. Following their debut, the members decided that they wanted to take their hobby another step further and start a second team.

Season 2 saw big changes for Eagle Factory Robotics. First, the members had recruited so many new teammates that a second team was needed. This new team was 11572 Mouse Spit. The second big change was the creation of a new BSA Explorer post to support the two teams. STEAM Post 26 provided the means for the teams to branch out into a true community-based organization instead of being tied to Troop 26. This paved the way for big opportunities and advancements in the future.

This season the team was able to purchase its own field, which made developing Kevin, their Velocity Vortex robot, significantly easier. The team made use of Autodesk Inventor to design parts of their robot before building, which streamlined the process of creating the robot and made it easier to document their changes.

Relic Recovery was a very significant season for the team. Over the summer, many members learned to use Autodesk Fusion 360. This new CAD software was cloud-based, meaning multiple team members could collaborate on the design process. Enterprise 2.0, the team’s new robot, was designed almost entirely in CAD. This allowed the team to enlist the help of John Zinc Hamworthy Combustion to manufacture a custom aluminum chassis for the robot. This was the original

In 2018, Kyler, the co-founder and original team captain of Project Peacock, graduated the program. In his footsteps followed Eric, one of the original members. Under Eric, the team gained several new members for the Rover Ruckus season. The first robot built in this new era was Mousetrap, named for its unique folding chassis.

<skystone: New Leadership: Part 2>

The Skystone season saw another new team captain for Peacock: Jameson. He was one of the new members under Eric, and rose to be team captain in his second year. Under Jameson, the team made more use of CAD than ever, creating a robot comprised mainly of 3D printed, laser cut, and plasma cut parts. This season, the team made it to semifinals at the Oklahoma State Championship and set a new fundraising record at over $7,000 in one season.

This season saw the start of Project Peacock naming robots after Greek goddesses. The first of these robots was Aphrodite. Aphrodite was designed nearly to completion in Fusion 360, and went through several full iterations. This robot was the first show of Peacock’s rapid prototyping ability.

The Ultimate Goal season brought an entirely new challenge to the team: working entirely remotely. In Skystone, the team had worked from home on CAD, but not to the degree required for this new season. However, the team quickly adjusted and thrived in their new environment. Persephone, their Ultimate Goal robot, was their most complex and custom robot to date. It was their first robot to be custom manufactured entirely in house, made with parts produced on their new CNC machine and many 3D printers. The CNC was an investment the team made in the summer of 2020 using funds left over from the Skystone season. This machine changed the way the team designed and prototyped robots, allowing for even faster iteration and less down time.

Ultimate Goal was the team’s most successful season to date, qualifying for Worlds in Arkansas and being on the Finalist Alliance in Oklahoma. The team also won several other awards this season.

In 2021, Project Peacock embarked on its most ambitious season ever. The team decided to pull out all the stops and create an entirely custom, color-coordinated, over the top robot for the Freight Frenzy season. This robot was to be like no other, with every mechanism entirely unlike anything that had been done before. The team pushed the limits of what was possible and created a robot that was acclaimed internationally, making a name for themselves on the global playing field.

This world-renowned robot was Calliope, named for the Greek muse of eloquence and epic poetry. The robot bore a beautiful pink and blue color scheme, with all 148 3D printed parts intentionally made to split colors down the middle. Each part of the robot was a new challenge, and the team put in many thousand hours of CAD, manufacturing, and programming to make it possible. Everything about this robot was entirely unique and over the top, and the performance reflected it.

Calliope placed second in qualifications in Oklahoma, and won 1st place Innovate in Arkansas. She also won 3rd place design in Arkansas, and 1st place Control at the Mustang Qualifier in Oklahoma.

During the 2022 offseason Project Peacock took Calliope to the prestigious offseason competition the Chicago Robotics Invitational(CRI). There the team earned the Gracious professionalism award and made connections with teams from across the world.

Also during the offseason members Julian and Jameson competed as a part of CAD team 789 The Loony Squad in some CAD competitions. The CAD team Won First place in the 2022 LOGICoyote CAD Challenge and placed First and Third as two separate teams in the 2022 Valor CAD Challenge.

As the 2022-2023 season approached Project Peacock began focusing more on skill development. Julian began a weekly cad class in mid-July for any members of the Post that were interested. The team also hosted 3 classes at the Oklahoma FTC kickoff for design, CAD, and Programming.

After kickoff we formed a strategy and built a prototype robot alligned with it. This robot was made to be as simple as possible and was constructed from parts we had on hand to reduce costs and rapidly iterate our design. The result was Barbara, our first robot for the season.

After building Barbara, we decided there were a few improvements we could make to the design. Our new robot, Becca, implemented strong industrial design principles, taking what we learned from Barbara and making a robot that is simple, pretty, and competitive. Her design philosophy was still simplicity, speed, and stability, with a deliberate emphasis on not overcomplicating any of her mechanisms.

Both of our robots used the Loony Claw a claw designed by our very own Captain Emeritus, Jameson. This design was made open sourced and is currently being used by 255+ teams across the world in 14 countries.