WEEK 6 AND 7 UPDATE

Students worked hard last week to prepare for Week 0, a scrimmage competition based on the RAPID REACT game. This event took place last Friday and gave the team the opportunity to test our subsystems on the field while competing against other teams for the first time this season. This week, members have been making improvements our robot in preparation for the Granite State District Competition on March 4th.

Climber:
        Last week, the Climber group’s main goal was to finish the assembly of the two dynamic hooks for Week 0. Members manufactured the belt systems between the Inner and Outer stages of the climber bars. Upon completion, the components were attached to the robot. However, while attaching the hooks, members encountered many problems and discovered multiple design flaws in the system. After testing, students saw that the belt clamps were not functioning the way they had hoped, and could slip. In addition, there were issues with the pivot system, which was not allowing the hooks to spin. Because of these difficulties, the climber was not used at Week 0. This week, members have been fixing the climber system to ensure it will be fully functional for Granite State Districts.

Shooter:
​         Last week, members of the shooter group discovered that the shooter was not working the way they intended; each piece of cargo flew with a higher trajectory than planned, and shots made from farther away were inaccurate. To combat these issues, students added another flywheel opposite the first one. With this addition, the rotational velocity would be negligible and the ball would not spin as it traveled to the Hub. In the days leading up to Week 0, the members focused on mounting the new flywheel and began to fix the singulator, which connected the intake and shooter subsystems. At the Week 0 competition, students quickly realized that the limelight was not synchronized with the robot, allowing them to only make shots from the Fender (area by the lower exit of the hub). Before matches started, another issue arose - the cargo was touching the flywheel while being held by the robot. To compensate for this, the indexer wheel had to be run slightly backwards. Due to several other complications, the team was not able to make it very far in the competition, but the goal of Week 0 is to learn, and members have been making adjustments to the shooter subsystem all throughout this week. 

Software:
        Last week, the software team tested code on the newly-assembled climber. The first test ran smoothly, however the apparatus broke before a higher-than-minimum climb could be attempted. A simple drive forward autonomous routine was written to score additional points. During Week 0, students worked on tuning the shooter so that cargo could be properly distributed and not launched before the flywheel reached speed. Members tuned the PID controller to ensure that the shooter's flywheel reached the desired velocity. Limelight vision tracking was tweaked to accurately align the shooter with the Hub. Extra driving modes were also included, allowing the driver to perform actions such as snapping to a precise angle, driving slower, and locking themselves in position to reduce the opponent’s defensive ability. Students also experimented with haptic feedback, which rumbled the driver’s controllers and provided them with valuable game data.

Intake:
      Last week, the Intake subgroup tested the intake mechanism and made adjustments to it as necessary. Members set up the pneumatics to contract and retract from the robot. A contraption called the sock shaft was designed to better compress cargo, but the idea was scrapped after it proved to be ineffective. Fortunately, at Week 0, the intake worked as intended. This week, students have continued testing the apparatus to troubleshoot and improve its efficiency.