Catapults

Today, at the NASA Lab, we had a large group of students meeting for FRC Friday.  This week, to apply some of the tools usage and mechanical skills that were learned in previous workshops, we split into two mini-teams and had a catapult-building competition, which was to be judged on distance launched and awesomeness (measured on a scale from one to awesome).

The two teams took radically different approaches to the challenge.  One team decided to build their catapult entirely out of metal and constructed it mostly out Kitbot parts from previous FRC Kits of Parts.  The other team decided to use Wood and PVC.  After a bit of tweaking, the metal catapult was functional and was flinging Orbit Balls across the lab.  The wooden catapult, on the other hand, did not have a stable base, and broke after being stressed heavily by the surgical tubing which powered it.  After the team made modifications and strengthened their design, they had several successful launches.

Underglow

On another note, we installed Blue LED strips to the bottom of the T-Shirt cannon to give it an underglow effect.  The strips were chosen over neon tubes for budgetary reasons.  After installed and wired, the lights looked great!

CAD Seminar

As a reminder, next week will be the beginning of our three week long CAD seminar.  We will be meeting for three FRC Fridays (no FRC friday during Thanksgiving week) to learn CAD and work on a project (you’ll find out the project if you participate).  Remember to sign up on the team website.