Hello Readers! I hope to keep you updated as we continue moving forward.
Today we had a lot of people and projects going on in our build area. I got to say that we are heading off with a great start for this year. We have lots of members ready to work and here is what we did! :D
Mechanical people worked on a prototype for the shooting mechanism. After the design for going in a circular motion around a wheel mostly failed, we moved onto a straight edged shooter. We had better results than before with the circular design. There are still a fair amount of bugs we need to work out, but I sincerely believe we are heading in the right direction. We also had some Mechanical group members start brainstorming designs for a mechanism to climb the pyramid and one to pick up fallen discs.
Electrical people mostly focused on taking apart some of last years robot. I believe they did this to get the electronics board from last year, which was built thoroughly into the chassis. They also worked with the Software group to start preparing the field elements for this years game. Namely, they began to cut the pipes we shall be using to make our steel pyramid.
I have some pictures that I will compile from the past few days. Keep an eye out for when I post them XD
Sincerely,
Hailey Sanidad
PR/Business Lead
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
The Day After Kick-off
Another busy day today, the first of many to come during this six week build season.
As I have mentioned before in a previous email, our team structure is divided into a variety of groups. Our team consists of a Mechanical, Electrical, Software and PR/Business groups. Each group is working hard now to prepare, plan and design for this years game. Since I fall into the Mechanical Group, I do not have extensive knowledge as to what the Electrical and Software groups are currently working on. I believe they were doing some inventory for our build area and going over last years robot for comparison.
The Mechanical Group has partially broken down into three sub groups for prototyping purposes. We have divided so there are some who will focus on designing and prototyping a shooting mechanism, some on a climbing mechanism and some on a disc gathering system. Today, everyone in the Mechanical group mainly focused on prototyping a system for shooting. Prototyping was done for a plausible design for a shooter. I would say, it was enough for us to do some testing but nothing really concrete. I hope we do more testing and a better prototype tomorrow. We will also likely test other types of shooters than the one we have currently designed. I will post photos by Wednesday. It would be easier for me to explain the prototyping we have done so far with the photos, so I hope to explain that then. Also we may change our prototype design so look forward to it. I will try to have a member of the Electrical or Software Group to post on this blog with me.
Sincerely,
Hailey Sanidad
PR/Business
As I have mentioned before in a previous email, our team structure is divided into a variety of groups. Our team consists of a Mechanical, Electrical, Software and PR/Business groups. Each group is working hard now to prepare, plan and design for this years game. Since I fall into the Mechanical Group, I do not have extensive knowledge as to what the Electrical and Software groups are currently working on. I believe they were doing some inventory for our build area and going over last years robot for comparison.
The Mechanical Group has partially broken down into three sub groups for prototyping purposes. We have divided so there are some who will focus on designing and prototyping a shooting mechanism, some on a climbing mechanism and some on a disc gathering system. Today, everyone in the Mechanical group mainly focused on prototyping a system for shooting. Prototyping was done for a plausible design for a shooter. I would say, it was enough for us to do some testing but nothing really concrete. I hope we do more testing and a better prototype tomorrow. We will also likely test other types of shooters than the one we have currently designed. I will post photos by Wednesday. It would be easier for me to explain the prototyping we have done so far with the photos, so I hope to explain that then. Also we may change our prototype design so look forward to it. I will try to have a member of the Electrical or Software Group to post on this blog with me.
Sincerely,
Hailey Sanidad
PR/Business
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Kick-Off 2013 Ultimate Ascent
Wow, yesterday was Kick-off and boy was my team busy! I apologize because that is partially the reason why I did not post anything yesterday. So, let me catch all of you wonderful readers up with what my team has been doing.
In the game Ultimate Ascent, we must design a robot that can shoot frisbees into goals of various heights. For bonus points, our robot has to be able to climb a steel pyramid of sorts. That is the simplest way I would describe it. Here are the links to the animation video and the manual as well.
FRC Manual
2013 Ultimate Ascent Animation
After the live broadcast of Ultimate Ascent, we immediately began brainstorming. Most of our team was assembled in room 127 at Fremont High School. We waited for our team mates at SJSU to come back with the kit of parts. Using the computers at our disposal, we researched about previous years games that had similar challenges to this years. We also started looking for clarifications on different aspects of the game in the manual.
When everyone had returned, we continued to brainstorm strategy. Our focus of discussion was how to score points and what design of a robot would accomplish that scoring.A climber robot that mainly focused on getting the extra points from getting onto the pyramid had the most points but was also going to very difficult to design and construct. A shooting robot that mainly focused on shooting would not be as difficult but would require more programming and accuracy. There are pros and cons to every design, our team discussed many of them.After getting a base idea of what we want our robot to do, which is to be able to shoot and climb to some degree, we ended for the day. We are meeting again at 1pm to continue to discuss, possibly build field elements and design some prototypes for testing. I will post more pictures and plans after today meeting.
Sincerely,
Hailey Sanidad
PR/Business Lead
In the game Ultimate Ascent, we must design a robot that can shoot frisbees into goals of various heights. For bonus points, our robot has to be able to climb a steel pyramid of sorts. That is the simplest way I would describe it. Here are the links to the animation video and the manual as well.
FRC Manual
2013 Ultimate Ascent Animation
After the live broadcast of Ultimate Ascent, we immediately began brainstorming. Most of our team was assembled in room 127 at Fremont High School. We waited for our team mates at SJSU to come back with the kit of parts. Using the computers at our disposal, we researched about previous years games that had similar challenges to this years. We also started looking for clarifications on different aspects of the game in the manual.
When everyone had returned, we continued to brainstorm strategy. Our focus of discussion was how to score points and what design of a robot would accomplish that scoring.A climber robot that mainly focused on getting the extra points from getting onto the pyramid had the most points but was also going to very difficult to design and construct. A shooting robot that mainly focused on shooting would not be as difficult but would require more programming and accuracy. There are pros and cons to every design, our team discussed many of them.After getting a base idea of what we want our robot to do, which is to be able to shoot and climb to some degree, we ended for the day. We are meeting again at 1pm to continue to discuss, possibly build field elements and design some prototypes for testing. I will post more pictures and plans after today meeting.
Sincerely,
Hailey Sanidad
PR/Business Lead
Friday, January 4, 2013
The Night Before Kick-off
The time is here! Kick-off is upon us!
As I have said before, one the most important and exciting events of the FRC, FIRST Robotics Competition, is about to occur. Now I'm going to tell you what my team plans on doing.
We are going to have ten students and mentors go to the "local" Kick-off at SJSU to see the presentation for this years build season. They will also be picking up our kit of parts. The kit of parts are parts that FRC and other supporting companies donate to each team every build season. I believe this year they will be including a new and very useful belt system that we can apply to the drive train of our robot.
The rest of the team will be meeting at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale to see the live broadcast of the kick-off. We will be brainstorming and discussing ideas about the kick-off while we wait for the members at SJSU to return. From there, it shall be a large group discussion and brainstorming. The broadcast is at 7 am and we will probably be brainstorming until 5 pm. This events starts the whole time consuming and crazy fun season of Robotics.
Hopefully, I will have the time once the season starts to continue updating this blog on what my team accomplishes. If I can, two or three updates a week would be ideal along with an end of the week summary. We are given six weeks to brainstorm, design, build and test a robot. I know it seems like a lot of time, I thought so my first year, but those six weeks go by in the blink of an eye.
Sincerely,
Hailey Sanidad
PR/Business Lead
As I have said before, one the most important and exciting events of the FRC, FIRST Robotics Competition, is about to occur. Now I'm going to tell you what my team plans on doing.
We are going to have ten students and mentors go to the "local" Kick-off at SJSU to see the presentation for this years build season. They will also be picking up our kit of parts. The kit of parts are parts that FRC and other supporting companies donate to each team every build season. I believe this year they will be including a new and very useful belt system that we can apply to the drive train of our robot.
The rest of the team will be meeting at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale to see the live broadcast of the kick-off. We will be brainstorming and discussing ideas about the kick-off while we wait for the members at SJSU to return. From there, it shall be a large group discussion and brainstorming. The broadcast is at 7 am and we will probably be brainstorming until 5 pm. This events starts the whole time consuming and crazy fun season of Robotics.
Hopefully, I will have the time once the season starts to continue updating this blog on what my team accomplishes. If I can, two or three updates a week would be ideal along with an end of the week summary. We are given six weeks to brainstorm, design, build and test a robot. I know it seems like a lot of time, I thought so my first year, but those six weeks go by in the blink of an eye.
Sincerely,
Hailey Sanidad
PR/Business Lead
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Counting Down to Kick-off
One of the most important and exciting events of our robotic season is almost upon us!
That's right! Kick-off is only 3 days away and counting. :D
First let me explain a bit more about Kick-off and why it's so important. Our club participates in the FRC, FIRST Robotics Competition, and Kick-off is the day when FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, gives every team the new task for the build season. We watch a video explaining what we have to design a robot to do and then we have six weeks to build the robot. After the six weeks are up, our robot is bagged and tagged until the competition. At the regional competitions, you often a partnered up with two other robots to form an alliance and then your alliance competes with another alliance. All of it is crazy fun and can be difficult, but there is nothing I would exchange it for.
I tried to simplify that as much as I could, but if you still don't understand just ask. Also, here is the link to FIRST's website regarding Kick-off. FIRST Kick-off
Sincerely,
Hailey Sanidad
PR/Business
P.S. I look forward to when the countdown is 3 days 5 hours 0 minutes and 1 second because that is our team number.
That's right! Kick-off is only 3 days away and counting. :D
First let me explain a bit more about Kick-off and why it's so important. Our club participates in the FRC, FIRST Robotics Competition, and Kick-off is the day when FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, gives every team the new task for the build season. We watch a video explaining what we have to design a robot to do and then we have six weeks to build the robot. After the six weeks are up, our robot is bagged and tagged until the competition. At the regional competitions, you often a partnered up with two other robots to form an alliance and then your alliance competes with another alliance. All of it is crazy fun and can be difficult, but there is nothing I would exchange it for.
I tried to simplify that as much as I could, but if you still don't understand just ask. Also, here is the link to FIRST's website regarding Kick-off. FIRST Kick-off
Sincerely,
Hailey Sanidad
PR/Business
P.S. I look forward to when the countdown is 3 days 5 hours 0 minutes and 1 second because that is our team number.
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