This post is written by Elise Z. and Audrey Z.
It’s the start of build season and we’re Charged Up! No matter WATT the season brings, we are ready!
On Saturday, January 7, the entire team came together to watch this year’s electrifying game reveal: Charged Up! Teams are tasked to build a robot that places cones onto pegs and cubes onto platforms. At the end of each match, robots also need to balance on a tilting ramp called the charging station.
Audrey balancing on the “charging station” during our mock game!
After analyzing the game manual to gain a better understanding of what we’re up against, we played a mock game to gain a sense of how strategy would play out in our games. The team then split into small groups to create and present their strategies. When we reconvened, we determined what we wanted on our robot by filling out our weighted objective table. Afterwards, some people continued to discuss what aspects our team should focus on while others split off to brainstorm potential robot mechanisms.
The next day, we split into our respective subsystem groups: drivetrain, arm, cone intake, and cube intake.
Since last year’s swerve robot worked so elegantly, we want to utilize a swerve drivetrain again. Accordingly, our drivetrain group has been working tirelessly to CAD a base that can store an arm mechanism and its end effector with the maximum frame parameter. The design that these individuals created led to the question, “will the robot tip?” And so, a rough wooden structure was created and tested. Good news: the robot does not tip!
Meanwhile, the cone and cube intake groups have been constructing and testing out wooden prototypes to pick up the game pieces. On the other hand, the arm group has been focusing on creating an efficient telescope arm to transport the game pieces from the ground up. By the end of this week, we hope to finish these prototypes so that the drivetrain team can modify the drivetrain to fit our mechanism’s needs.
Strategy groups discussing what to do with the cones
To keep up with all of the recent updates, the programming subteam has been converting the firmware to the 2023 versions and installing new software. With the help of the electrical subteam, the 2022 twin robot was rewired and can now be used by the programmers for testing new devices.
Simultaneously, strategy has been collaborating with the programmers to create our new scouting app. This group has made significant progress on it, such as integrating pit scouting questions into the app.
Media also has been interviewing subsystem members for their upcoming videos and designing posters for our pit this year while our PR duo is continuing to write essays for our awards submissions.
Although it’s only been a week since kickoff, Team 341 is ready to power through the season!
Hemish working hard!
