WEEK 2 UPDATE

Shooter:
    Throughout the past week, the team tested the accuracy of our shooter prototype from various distances (30 in, 10 ft, 35 ft). They changed the motors to more powerful ones as well as modified the shooter itself to optimize the shots. While testing, the team also mimicked possible robot heights for the shooter to run at.

Climber:
    Initially, the team had decided on a short robot. Due to this presumption, they had decided to attach an arm onto the robot to climb. With various iterations of the other subsystems, the team decided that it would be best to have a taller robot design. This opened up many options for the climber design. The team is currently in the process of redesigning the climbing mechanism.
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Intake:
   This week, a design was decided on for the intake. The team created a prototype and is currently putting prototype in CAD. The intake mechanism will extend over the robot’s edge and use wheels to spin “power cells” into its indexer.

Indexer:
    The indexer functions as an intermediary between the intake and shooter components. When the short robot design was in play, the team created a “washing machine” type design where the balls would move in a circular motion until they need to be shot into a goal. Now, with a taller robot design, the team designed a CAD model for a conveyor-belt-type mechanism to feed balls from the intake up to the shooter.
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Software:
​    The first week of this FRC build season was a week for the software team to experiment with sensors and technology that proved valuable this year. They started by experimenting with a color spinner, which will help us handle the color wheel in-game. We programmed the color sensor to recognize the four colors and alert them in the order they spin.
   We also continued coding subsystems such as the drivetrain. With the newer members learning and contributing, we created the basic framework for another drive system. The Limelight (the team’s primary robot vision tool) also received an update. The software team set it up to track the "power port," the place where the robot needs to shoot the "power cells," in 3D; it can also chart the robot's field position. As the week comes to a close, the subteam is fine-tuning the Limelight camera to track the target's angle and distance.
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