Monday, February 3, 2014

1/4/2014 Day 0: 2014 Kickoff!!! Aerial Assist

Today, we (all teams) learned about this year's FIRST game, Aerial Assist.  Almost as soon as it came up, this year's manual password (3Zones2Goals1Alliance!) unlocked the game manuals.  This game manual contains all restrictions and new constants for previous variables of the Engineering Design Process.  Much like the past years, the weight limit is 120 pounds and time limit is 45 days, with Day 1 on the 5th of January (Sunday) and Day 45 on the 18th of February (Tuesday), as well as a $4000 dollar limit on parts on the robot.  Unlike past years, the dimensions restrictions are now a frame perimeter of 112 inches and 5 feet tall.

Today was the beginning of our conceptual design and preparation.  We (FRC Team 4183, The Bit Buckets) attended a design meeting with Team 842 (Falcon Robotics from Carl Hayden High School) and Team 4962 (Knight Tech Robotics from Metro Tech High School), in which our three teams discussed rules and possibilities as well as strategy.  Most importantly, though, we discussed basic requirements and standards for the robots.  Our three teams decided the assists will be what matters most, and should get the most points.  This means there is not much difference between high and low goals.  Also, as there are no "safe zones" this year, shooting may be a little more difficult, making the 1 point low goal very valuable.  General strategy seems similar to soccer in some ways, and volleyball in others.

The Bit Buckets have decided the abilities to catch a ball, pick up a ball from the floor, pass a ball, and scoring for both the high and low goals are needed capabilities for our robot.  This means we will need some sort of floor intake to pick up the ball from the floor and spit it out to someone else, an open top to let the ball fall in, and a catapult to shoot the ball into the high goal.

Through the design meeting, we began and now have a good idea of the requirements and strategy parts of the conceptual design process.

Approximate times of working: 8:00 AM - 2:00 PM (1 hour break in between)


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