2/18/2014 Day 45: Bag Day!!!

Today was the final day of the build season, and, finally, we got to bag a fully working robot.  While we normally don't meet on Tuesdays, as it is the last day of the build season, we went ahead and finished what we needed to finish since this past Sunday.  Also, we began watching some of the videos that were beginning to come out, mainly those of teams 610 (defending world champs) and 11 (a really good and nationally known team) (click on the numbers to go to their release videos).

Shooter

Today we went ahead and added the kevlar rope to the winch, and, as shown with the practice bot, was effective.  Also, we went ahead and added the surgical tubing, so, by the end of the day, we bagged a robot that had already made shots, which is a huge improvement from past years.

Intake

Today we went ahead and only had to add the pool noodles onto the shooter as the thing that helps retain the ball, and, as it worked on the practice robot, it worked well on the competition robot.

Drive Train

As we finally had a fully driving robot, we were able to play with it, so we got to drive it around and play with it.  As expected, the moving of the battery to the back of the robot was huge, and the robot was no longer rocking back and forth at all.

Overall, the competition bot did everything it was supposed to do, and there was not really anything more that we could ask from it. The robot is pictured below.

Catcher

After looking at the 11 robot, and from our experience at Duel in the Desert, where someone had built a full-out catcher, we figured all that was really needed was the ability to catch/receive from a human player, and all we had to build was something that would settle the ball downward into the robot.  As of now, the general ideas are just attaching what 11 had, or adding an angle to that so it bounces it downward more.

Approximate times of working: 3:30 PM - 11:00 PM