WEEK 4 UPDATE

Team Operations:
        Throughout the week, team ops has been focusing on brainstorming ideas for fundraising, community outreach, and ways to win awards. They have been focused on preparing for the Judges’ presentation. The judges’ presentation is a team interview which helps the judges decide whether they are qualified to deserve an award. The team has been preparing for this interview so everyone will be able to present the most excellent qualities of the team and answer any questions that follow after the presentation. The judges’ presentation is used by the judges for the recipient selection process. The team has been working very hard to compile all of the information that may be needed.

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Hopper and 3D Printing:
       This week, a few members of the team have been learning how to use the new 3D printers in the shop. With a new school came new technology and a space to help the team reach its highest potential. With the new 3D printers, they have printed sets of polycord rollers for the hopper. The hopper is an intermediate section of the robot that will move power cells (balls) from the intake to the indexer. They learned how to do some minor maintenance on the printers such as changing the filament, zeroing it out and learning how to manually change temperatures. They also worked on an indexer, which carries the power cells (balls) from the robot’s hopper to the shooter.

New Members:
        This week the newer members of the team have been making heavy metal parts. They had been guided by team mentors on the proper use of the machines and now are working on making the parts. They have made various parts for the lift, the intake, shooter, chassis, and storage. Not only have they made parts for the robot, but they have also been learning how to program, CAD, and understand the “operations” of the team itself.

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Software:
      This week, we worked on power cell detection with a pixy cam, distance detection with an ultrasonic sensor, and LEDs. A pixy cam is a camera that can run a built-in object detection program. We are using this to detect a power cell, allowing us to greater simplify how we collect balls autonomously. Next, we worked on LEDs, which will help us relay information to the drivers or just have festive colors during our matches. Our work on ultrasonic sensors will tell the robot how far away a wall is at any time; this helps the robot determine where it is on the field and how it is oriented during the autonomous period, helping us score points quickly and efficiently. All of the progress we’ve made will set us up for success in our first competition.