As we move farther into the season, our week two and three ends with progress. Our mechanics subteam has been busy getting our drivetrain and shooter finalized with the turret tower. Following the pursuit, is our CAD subteam working on how to get the hook on the robot in the best, most efficient, way possible. Matching this energy, our control subteam has made it past getting the robot to drive and moving onto the programming for the autonomous match period. Finally, our safety subteam has also been busy, getting all the procedures in place for emergencies, as well as working on getting COVID protocols set in place. These past 2 weeks have been an eventful push forward in this season, our goal is to keep this energy up in the weeks following.
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As the first week of the season comes to an end, let’s go over what we’ve accomplished. On Kick-Off day, we played a human player version of Rapid React. Using our experiences from the game, we split up into brainstorming groups. This would help us form various designs and work on specific things that needed to be prototyped for our CAD (Computer Aided Design) subteam. The next day was all about setting up a base for our designs to be completed, this was followed by us completing the prototype for the shooter and the intake. We then got to work on the hood for the shooter and a way for the intake to get the ball up to the shooter, both which are needed for more control and accuracy with the ball. Next week we hope to get all prototypes completed and begin the building of our chassis! Hello! QBranch 4327 is back this year and right now, as the season starts let’s go over what we’ve gotten done so far. We started by actually meeting each other and establishing new members as well as welcoming back old members, this led us into Skills Camp. Skills Camp is the time to figure out what new members want to do in this team, we organize this by having mentors and captains work together to have something hands on for them to do that would show what that subteam within the team does. Shortly after Skills Camp was FIRST Lego League Challenge and Explorer, previously named FIRST Lego League Jr. (FLL Jr.). An event we hosted for our K through 6 community which gave us a chance to speak to our elementary school teams as well as work with each other. Then came the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) State Championship, another event we hosted for seventh and eighth graders from the middle school level teams, this event had three guest speakers, Rosler CEO Bernhard Kerschbaum, Michigan State Representative Jim Haadsma and Consumers Energy Manager for Enterprise Resource Planning Megan Hayward. Hosting this event, even for eight years, had pushed us to the limit but ultimately it was a fun and rewarding experience. Well now that the season has started, what should we do? We let the games begin.One month into Build Season and lots of progress is being made. Our Chairman’s Award has been submitted and we have nominated Mentor Bernie for the Woodie Flowers Award. Congrats Mentor Bernie! Our robot for this season’s Infinite Recharge at Home Skills Challenge is getting some tweaks to improve shooting accuracy and general speed of the robot. HugBot is mechanically being changed on the arm and legs. The Game Design Challenge is coming along with a Golden Egg (65cm Yoga) and many CAD drawings. The Innovation Challenge Team had a practice interview with FRC Team 3655, The Tractor Technicians, who gave feedback on their presentation of our innovative idea.   It’s Saturday and our first day that small groups can be in person. The Mechanics team is learning something new and putting together swerve drives for HugBot. Since this season there are sadly going to be very limited competitions, we are deciding to try some new things. CAD, Controls, and Chairman’s are at Home and will be seen over Zoom on Monday. All sub-teams are hard at work on planning and designing different aspects of the Innovation Challenge and Game Design Challenge. Chairman’s is focusing on the essay and answers since the submission is due in a little more than two weeks! Good Luck to all teams this season. Stay Safe and remember, do more than just robots and show them how you robot! Frederick is here to support you!
As we are halfway into our last week of the build season, we are finalizing all of our designs and tweaking how they look. Our sub teams are hard at work finishing our robot. Our CAD and Mechanics team are wiring our robot and renovating our elevator. Our Programming subteam is working on a way to accelerate our robot and climb, and our Chairman's is finalizing and improving the video and presentation.
The Final Week of Build season has started! The competition robot is going through the trial and error phase with programming and some help was needed by Coach Burdette . Mechanics and CAD are putting together the field in a large classroom for the Competition Robot to practice climbing and shooting. Chairman’s presented the essay answers to the team which provides the entire team with answers for any questions that the Judge asks. The whole team is working relentlessly to be ready for the competition season!   Week five is underway! The competition robot is completely built, now the programming team is working their magic of the robot driving, the shooter, the conveyor and the intake. CAD and Mechanics are working together to rewire the robot after some technical difficulties. Chairman’s is hard at work for the final product of the video since the essay has been submitted and the presenters are rehearsing the presentation for the Judges. They will be doing a practice presentation in front of the team to have everyone informed on Saturday. Recently, our subteam captains have nominated our fantastic coach, Mr. Burdette, for the Woodie Flowers Award. This award recognizes an individual who has done an outstanding job of motivation through communication while also challenging the students to be clear in their communications.  Week four has been very busy with the near completion of the final robot. Thanks to our sponsors at Bowers Aluminium Anodizing, the metal on the robot is now matte black. The matte black metal with the power pink looks amazing. The programming team is assembling the electronics board to fit on the robot. CAD has finished the 3-D design for the robot and has migrated over to the mechanics team to assist with the final build of the robot. Chairman’s is hard at work with the video and the presentation. The team is working well together by intermixing sub teams to help out others. The picture below shows a preview of the robot.  It’s the middle of week three and the Chairman’s subteam is working on completing the essay and video submission. CAD team is completing the 3-D design of the robot. The Mechanics team is working on the final build of the elevator and intake system. While the elevator is being completed, our task for today is to secure the rope and mount it to our robot. Programming team is testing new things with the color sensors that will eventually work with autonomous. The various parts of the robot are being put together, and soon the final robot will be ready for competition season.
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