FRC 2181 Robotics

A small group of the team (Edward, Andrew, Jayden, Matthew, and Charlie) met up on Tuesday before the impending big winter storm. Jayden and Charlie bent back the intake plates so we're ready to go for Irondale. Matthew got our new batteries all ready to go. Andrew worked on fixing the lights with lots of soldering.  Edward/Justin did a lot of autonomous testing so we can hopefully balance on a ramp sooner rather than later in autonomous.  We also spent some time making handles to make carrying the robot on and off the field easier. We just need some rope and carabiners to finish it off. Basically, we'll use eyebolts on the robot and clip on to carry the robot on and off the field with ease.  We also spent some time talking about/designing a second level to the robot cart. This won't be done by Irondale but will be completed by the Regional. See the pic below for our list of items to accomplish before the Regional (after Irondale).

We had a great time! Other than one run in with a robot that bent the plates a little, we had a great day. Lots of programming fixes, lots of driver practice, and lots of good times. We definitely had a unique robot design in comparison to many teams (only a couple robots with no arms) but our quality of construction was top notch. We even won the Autonomous Award!! Yay! Match Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiPzseFbQmRf0hZUiobuNXOopum7Obshy Jeremy Photos/Videos: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOpqHoqbJnV2--xbUkiM4L8TiUN8DLnz5TYkq-3TSdbWcg4BKY-Bl5829XbrgovMQ?key=TW1KZnpYRlE4Y1c3c3pnVS1GTUJnZ0pVVW1BUGVB Edward's Dad Photos: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipM8DeYb6QRZ6lWLPyi7e_ChS5kdzaRaUMNRe24jnGGmpUezf-w_LHAjx_5GP_qREQ?key=bWRSUy1VdW5JUTlNMUdXVDM2NkQ2V3R5bUE5OFZB

Last meeting before Eagan! The main highlight is that Sam did a bunch of test driving with each of the operators. We had some snafus with chain and other things so we didn't get in as much drive practice as we'd like but we got some in. One of our "practice runs" of 2 minutes 15 seconds had about 8 scoring opportunities. If we get that up to 9-10 per real match, we'll be sitting pretty. Jayden and Edward will do test driving at Eagan (Sam will get at least one shot on the field as well).  A bunch of people made some plates to cover the chains if the inspectors say we need them. We will probably end up putting them on no matter what but we will at least have them at Eagan if we get yelled at. We also swapped out the bad redline motor quickly. It was nice that it was a fairly easy fix.  We tested autonomous a few times which is great. We can consistently score on the high cube and it drives away. So the next steps for that is just testing timing over and over again.

 Wednesday  What a day! I'm going to jump to the exciting part first. We used the robot on a "fake field" setup in a big hallway for about 40 minutes today. That's amazing! We rotated through some people trying out driving and operating. It was so fun to see the robot executing all the things we've worked on for the last 5 weeks. Seriously so cool. I cannot wait for more tomorrow! The sad news is we'll have to replace the redline motor on the gearbox that takes the shooter assembly in and out. We knew it was bad when it was smoking on Monday so it was a matter of time. Much better that the motor poop out today than at Eagan on Saturday so not altogether a bad thing. But still annoying we'll have to fix it tomorrow.  As far things done today, we assembled the hood or ramp (whatever you want to call it). It looks stellar. Sam and Charlie did a great job on it. It's cool because even in our little bit of testing today, the ramp came in handy many times.  ...

Happy Valentines Day! The big news is that the robot drives, picks up cubes, and shoots them! So that's freaking awesome! We didn't have time for full driver practice/testing, but we did a little bit in the robot work area and at least proved that all the systems are functioning. Yay!! We got the battery strap for the battery on so we're good there. We also got the supports for the "ramp" on the robot. The "ramp" was cut on the plasma cutter and we just need to bend it a little more to get that all good too. Woo!  We tested the prototype hardstop that Jarrod had thought about. It hypothetically works but does not in its current form where the intake plates can go down into the springs. The plan is to come back to this after Eagan and/or Irondale when we have time to think a little more on it. It's got promise, we just don't have time at this exact moment.  Edward fixed a bunch of programming things as well. The CAN bus got a little screwy after a...

Lots checked off our lists today. Andrew H and Justin did a bunch of electrical wire cleaning up. It looks MUCH better! Sam and Charlie made some more bumper mounts and also started designing a ramp on the back off of our robot so that game pieces don't land on us and stay inside. They'll finish this Tuesday.  Jarrod and some others started work on a different soft stop for the intake than what we currently have. The plastic on the current hard stops get MANGLED by the intake so it's not a permanent solution like a spring system would be.  Jayden and Charles did AWESOME work on the blue and red bumpers. ALL BUMPERS ARE COMPLETE! YAY! Bumpers are one of those things that are not fun but have to get done so it's a big weight off our shoulders to have them completed and all ready to go. Seriously, this is big!! Edward kept going on programming. We were able to do a little more testing with buttons on 2 controllers and power levels of all the motors. We had a hiccup with mo...