Day 43: Scrimmage Part 1

The Scrimmage

By Ryan Johnson, Louis Lin, and Alex Cherry

Team 604 (Quixilver), Team 192 (Gunn Robotics), Team 4765 (PWR up), Team 581 (Blazing Bulldogs), Team 1351 (TKO), Team 3501 (Firebird Robotics), Team 4990 (Gryphons), and Team 2813 (Gear Heads) all shared our lab today to practice on our almost full size field. Since most of the teams don’t have access to a field often (if at all), it allowed them to tune their robots so that they score, pass, catch, and move better.

Wiring and Assembly

While the other teams were testing their robots, we were finishing the wiring on our practice and competition robots. Specifically, we were working on wiring bump sensors and Intakes. We also worked on finishing the hood. Aside from a couple of parts and wires, the robot is mostly built.

Manufacturing

A Couple of our team members worked on manufacturing piston parts, and a couple of members worked on assembling the bumpers. The pistons that they are working on create a unique linkage between two pistons where one piston “locks” the other piston in place so that the rear intake can be locked up when shooting.

The bumper team started making two blue bumpers. Students affixed pool noodles along each side of the wood bumper frame with gaffers tape. Then, they stretched a full loop of cordura fabric around each bumper and stapled it down along the inside. Students took extra care to eliminate as many wrinkles as possible on the bumper fabric.

Shot Testing

As students tested the robot shooter, they noticed that the ball was being impeded by something before it touched the shooter flywheel. Using a slow\-motion camera, they were able to observe the process of the clappers pushing the ball up the shooter. Programmers adjusted the timing of the clappers to push the ball up vertically. Then, they adjusted the power of the clapper pistons to optimize each shot.

Action Items

\- Finish Assembling Bumpers
– Finish Assembling the robot
– Make Robot Flyers
– Make the Robot Binder
– Program the robot