Coming back from the Silicon Valley Regional, the team had a lot to talk about. We had a few scares early on with the bot but after a little tinkering, we had smooth sailing for the rest of competition. A core group arrived on Thursday, March 12th to fix any problems with the bot and start practicing. Another group of students came down in mentors’ cars on the 13th. Friday was filled with cheering and showing team spirit. We left the competition that evening pumped and ready to kick some butt in our last two matches the following morning. On Saturday, we were able to show the rest of the teams what we’ve got. When it came down to the top eight teams picking final alliances, our name was going around. We were graciously chosen by the infamous Team 100 along with Team 987 from Las Vegas. As our team number was called, the stands went wild and there were even a few tears.
For the rest of the day, we fought hard and made it through the semi-finals and the first round of the quarter-finals. We weren’t able to fight the power of the other alliance but fell with grace, losing by only four points. Our team was able to accomplish a lot in San Jose, leaving us confident and ready for Davis. Part of our team will leave on Thursday, March 26th for UC Davis. The rest will come join us on the 27th. Come root for us and watch us make history!
Hello all,
Manufacturing is hard at work trying to finish the robot! Go team go! The prediction is that we’ll be done by the end of this week. On Sunday, February 15th, we’ll be having a team potluck to celebrate our hard work.
While the shop is bustling day in and day out, other groups are working on submitting awards for both the Davis and Silicon Valley competitions. The website award will be submitted on February 12th but we’re still not quite sure which competition to submit it to. Another group is working to complete the Chairman’s award. There will be a meeting tomorrow to finish up the application. Media also needs to attend. It will be due February 19th.
We’re so close to competition it’s insane! Great job team and we’re going to be awesome.
More updates from the build season:
Day 8
- The material was received, it was 1”x1” steel tubing
- The metal was then cut to meet the specifications
- The front angle pieces were cut but may not be used
- Payload was allowed time to look over chassis design
- Test robot was worked on further to be set to the drive system that will be used
- New drive system was brought up (steering) chassis group began construction on the possible new system
Day 9
- Chassis was welded together, the inner corner angle pieces were not added
- The possible new front angle pieces were cut and bent into the correct shape
- The bottom plate was cut from 1/16 AL
- New drive system was tested and it was decided that going with tank drive would be best
- Drive system group worked further with the design to flush it out
- Drive train parts were ordered
Day 10
- Drive system group and payload sat down and talked over the space that will be needed for the payload and electronics
- Had a major shop clean up
Day 11
- Bumper mounting became topic of discussion
- The bumper can’t be unsupported by any part of the bot
- New side rails must be added in to the sides of the bot to mount the bumpers
- Plan on using 1/16 steel C rail
Day 12
- No progress was made on the bot
- The mounting of Weaver’s payload was worked over and the angle of the belt
Day 13 (robotics canceled for the day)
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Thanks guys!!!!
The 2009 season has begun! Over the winter break, a few members of our team attended Kickoff while the rest of the team worked as school to begin brainstorming. The game this year is called “Lunacy”. For further information about the game, please visit usfirst.org. So far, here’s what’s going on:
Day 1: Watched Kickoff and then started to talk about game design
- Printed out 5 copies of the robot design and game play rules
- Split kids up into five groups (making sure the grades were evenly split up as possible)
- Had inventory manager and weight manager + assistants go through kit of parts and get the weight of the items and catalog them
- Reconvened after an hour and a half and had one speaker for each group come up and talk about their main ideas
- After design concepts were talked about the conversation was moved on to what needs to be prototyped
Day 2:
- Programming worked with the Glory Angel chassis to test the camera
- Used the steel chassis to test stopping effects and ramping
- Payload talked further on designs and did some testing on the efficiency of a shooter
Day 3:
- Had all people with ideas stand up and make their pitch to the team
- Allowed team members and mentors to ask questions and had the designer of the idea answer them
- Once all ideas were pitched to the group, went through the room and asked everyone what design they favored and recorded them
- Most people liked the idea of belt drive and using last year’s bot with slight modifications
Day 4: Power outage! Sonoma State University closed.
Day 5:
- Drive started to work out the belt configuration
- Drive decided on going with four wheels
- Chassis was presented with a problem
- Chassis took test robot and set to four wheel drive and tested turning, the turning was not ideal but if driver jack knifed it went smooth
- Chassis tested traction on carpet, only 2 pounds of pressure was gained on the carpet
- Payload group further flushed out the designs for the payload
- Seems like they favored the spiral hoper more testing is required
Day 6:
- Wide design proved to be smoother turning but less control
- Both chassis designs were polished on paper and were given to the CAD group so a rough draft could be made
- Drive was able to move on drawing the drive system up for CADing and reference
- New turning system was brought up possible test on the system tomorrow (1/09/2009)
- Might switch from joysticks to a wheel
Day 7:
- Decided on a final chassis and drew up plans
- Material was ordered to build the chassis
- Steering bot was built but not finished, will be done tomorrow (1/10/09)
- Payload was able to start finalizing their design, they have about 3 that are being worked out
- Design locks have been set on drive system and payload. After set dates are reached,design is stopped and construction begins
- Design lock for payload is Friday of next week (1/16/2008)
- Design lock for drive is Sunday (1/11/2008)
