As our team reaches the halfway point of the season, we’d like to share a progress update with all of you.
In the past two weeks, we’ve started building the hang arms. Our initial set of arms wasn’t an exact match for our robot, so we’re using them as spares for testing with the RoboRio as we built a better set.
Our field construction group completed the upper hub this week! It was a bit chaotic at first when a few screws went missing, but now we can test our output mechanisms.
The transfer team is working on building the frame of the robot. This will help support and structure the robot, working as the backbone of the robot. We’re working extensively with Simon to see how the mechanisms can fit together using CAD.
We have started working on the battery hub based on the CAD designs. A small group has been cutting, sanding, and gluing wood boards for a battery hub. During competition, it’ll be useful to have something to store and transport our batteries in.
The programming and vision team has been hard at work setting up a Raspberry Pi for coding. We’ve designed algorithms for detecting the ball and for operating the robot during the 15-second autonomous period at the beginning of every match, as well as for recognizing vision tape for aiming. The upper hub at the competition will have vision tape so we’ve been using the hubs built by the field construction team to practice tracking. We’re also working with an action controller, a system with sensors that detects its surroundings.
After repeatedly refreshing the purchase webpage at midnight every time the Limelight camera was back in stock, our team has finally been able to purchase a few for vision tasks! Limelight cameras were designed specifically for FRC teams so that they can easily use vision tracking for their robotics. Now that we have some, we can progress a lot faster.
The marketing and business team would like to give a huge thank you to all of this season’s donors and to the students who’ve been fundraising on their own. We’re raised almost half of our season’s goal of $20,500! With our fundraising efforts, we’re now able to focus on getting merchandise to show team pride! We’ve started collecting clothing sizes from team members and quotes from companies to get the ball rolling. Our team members have been brainstorming custom nicknames to put on the back of their sweatshirts to represent themselves and revel in team spirit.
With our February break fast approaching, we’ll be focusing more on using resources more effectively and getting our robot done in the next few weeks.