Almost at the halfway mark!

The past two weeks have been extremely busy but successful. The programming team worked hard on programming the drive train to work with the joy stick so that the bot can go forward, backward, straight, and turn. They also started working on a very very very early version of the autonomous and programmed buttons to raise and lower the elevator and limit switches. The team members working on field elements built the scoring platform and designed the tilt shoot. Meanwhile, the mechanical team designed and is currently fabricating the lift mechanism. They continued advanced prototyping on both the intake arms and the mechanisms to pick up totes. They also assembled the mecanum drive train. We are currently conducting driving practices to pick drivers for this season. Finally, the CAD team completed the elevator design and modeled the drive train! CAD-tastic as usual, working on top secret stuff!!!!

(More pictures coming soon! Check out our instagram @atomicdragons3929)

Finale of Week 1 and the Commencement of the Week 2 Grind

The first week of build season has been a success! On Friday we wrapped up the week by holding a team meeting to discuss the pros and cons of building a short robot vs. a tall robot. Ultimately, we came to the decision that a tall robot would be strategically superior. We ended the meeting by setting goals for week 2. 

Today has been a productive day. Mechanical team finished up prototyping for the spinning roller wheel tote intake (shout out to Jesse Carpenter the mastermind!!) and began assembling the mecanum drive train that was shipped from Andymark. A separate sub mech team completed lots of calculations and drilling to make different field elements, specifically the scoring platform. The programming team troubleshooted the camera and prepared the electrical and programming control system to be deployed on the drive train, once the mechanical team is finished with assembly. Last but not least, Carolyn, Karen, and Jeff from the CAD team mastered CAD!!! They prototyped top secret things. Anthony Rolland, the Khan of CAD says, "I'm feelin' CAD-tastic and like I CAD do anything!"

Kickoff and the beginning of robots!

It's been a busy first few days! Four days ago, we attended kickoff with enthusiasm and open minds. Right after kickoff the whole team went to UPenn to discuss Recycle Rush. We spent time reviewing the rules and discussing game strategies. Then, the entire team voted on which robot functions are most crucial to having a successful season. Ever since kick off, everyone has been working hard on starting the build season off strong. The Electrical team has begun setting up the roboRIO and running sample codes to test for faultlessness. Meanwhile, the Mechanical team has begun setting up prototypes and modeling molds with cardboard and cutting them into metal. 

Team 3929 Presents Our Robot

Our robot is finally done and ready to be revealed!

Check it out in this video here.

Our robot has a six-wheel WCD that uses 4" Colson wheels and WCP single-speed gearboxes. It is capable of holding up to four frisbees and can shoot them using a three-wheel shooter mechanism, driectly run off one CIM and two mini-CIMs.

Also, check out our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/frc3929 for more photos and regular updates!

Visit our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/frc3929 for matches, videos, and vlogs!

The Robot is Bagged

Sorry we haven't posted for a few days. Obviously the whole team has been very busy and hard at work. Also, there weren't many photos of things other than the robot (which we are keeping a secret until Mike and Justin's Premier Night this Friday). However, tonight I felt I had to post.

We stayed at school until 10, working out all the small kinks before we bagged. Than, we took the bot up to the gym to test it out and get some sick footage for our reveal video. Finally, it was time to bag.

Another night of building

The pictures say it all.

Today we did robots

Tonight was another night of heavy bot building. The mech team had their hands full mounting the shooter and working on our lead screw. They also worked on our indexing system. Thank goodness we have three 8-hour days coming up or else we'de be up the stream without a robot.

Lead screw for shooter

Shooter

Inside our shooter

Closing in on a finished Bot

Tonight, we got a whole lot done. We finished up our shooter and are now working on attaching it to our chassis. We're using a huge lead screw to change the angle of our shots.
The programming team continued to work on the autonomous routine for our bot, perfecting 180 degree and 90 degree turns.

A Flurry of Bot-Builders

Today we worked more on building our shooter as our programmers started their work on our chassis. Also, the lead screw for our shooter cam in today, so tomorrow we will start assembling that system. Another set of students worked on an indexer for the frisbees from the feeder station.

12 hours of Robots!

Today, was a staff-only day at school so luckily for us, that meant a full day of building! Ans what a productive day it was. We finally got our chassis wired and driving around (video here) and made huge progress on our shooter and transfer systems.

Programming with Arduino!

Wiring the chassis

Building the shooter.

Our beautiful drive-train.

Tonight we continued to work on the drive-train and the intake while the electrical team worked on securing the electronics to our chassis.

We also released our Week 4 Vlog today. Watch it here.

Watch us hitting a few Net Shots here.

Tonight we hit the ground running after our two-day break. With the drivetrain assembled, we handed it over to the electrical folks who started to plan out the electronics layout. We also made a lot of progress on our intake and shooter.

Drilling holes for spacers.

Why won't this camera work!?

Pretty new drivetrain.

Shooter prototype!