Every week we are going to keep the team members, parents, and mentors updated with Team 4, starting now!
In the second to last week of robotics before we go on break, Team 4 has been rushing to finish things up for our Drive Base.
Our Toy Drive is moving along nicely—although we can never have too many donations! There will be a toy drop-off box located in the Ralph's on Saticoy for those not attending High Tech LA who would like to participate. The Toy Drive ends on December 14th, and all of the donations will go to House of Ruth, a homeless shelter for women and their children.
Wednesday, December 5th is our next team bonding, so don't forget to buy a gift for the Secret Santa exchange! There will be holiday music and cookies and candy canes, and another super fun game of Jiggalo! (Perhaps we'll pass on that last part.) Make sure to come—it'll be lots of fun for the team.
Hello Team 4 members and parents. We are in our last week of build season and there is a lot of pressure on the team. At this point they have 3 days to complete the robot before the deadline. The students are working hard to achieve that goal and do well in this year's competitions.
Programming is working on hybrid mode; they have finished all of the other modes. Shawn says the camera tracking system is almost perfect. The department is almost done with everything that they need to do, but they still need to test their code.
//
// Department: Programming
// Goal: Program the robot
// Authors: Julian, Mitchell, Nico, Shawn, Justin, Daniel, Josh
//
if (team4.department == "Programming") {
System.out.println("We are awesome!");
} else {
System.out.println("Meh...");
}
Design is almost finished with the robot drive base. William says everything looks good! They are in the process of fixing the bumper attachment. Design is also finishing the drawings for the lazy susan.
Everything that has been designed on SolidWorks has been fully machined and now we need to assemble all of the parts onto the robot.
— William Miguel
Machining has completed producing all of the robot parts and are currently assisting other departments in assembling the robot.
Machining is having a very productive build season.
— Ben Bottomley
Jesus tells us that electronics is wiring a few of the jags which are the speed controllers that power the motors. They are also mounting electronics onto the robot.
I am currently attaching the limit switches to the wedge.
— Jordan Rodgers
Finance currently has a lot to manage. The Spirit part of finance is organizing all the giveaways for competition. Zoe is emailing parents. They are also sewing phoenix plushies. Robin is researching places for the team members to go to eat while on the Las Vegas trip.
I am currently writing a Las Vegas information letter to give out to the traveling team.
— Robin Franke
Howdy Team 4 members and parents! We are having a very productive build season! We are getting ready for our upcoming Regional competitions in Long Beach and Las Vegas. The team members are putting in huge amounts of effort to make sure that our team is successful at building a beautiful, winning robot.
The departments are all doing their part to make sure that our robot is completed on time. At this point, Rozie, head of design, says that design is finishing up some of their computer designs, and Andreas is designing the lazy susan for the robot for aiming the ball. He is also working on fine tuning the lazy susan, but they are still having trouble getting the dimensions right.
Jesus, head of electronics, reports that they just recently finished prototyping the shooter and they are getting the electronics for the turret completed. Electronics is also building a new electronics box for the robot and wedges to get the robot on the bridge.
According to Justin, programming is very busy at the moment. They are programming the wedge and the camera, formalizing how fast they want the basketballs to shoot, and making sure everything is automated. They have also made some accomplishments such as developing a code for the bridge manipulator, drivetrain, ball control, the gyro, the turret, the camera, and FPGA (field programmer gate array). Justin plans to work on the PDI (proportion intergral derivative controller) which allows them to control the RPM of the robot's wheels.
Spencer told us that machining is working in the shop; they are in the process of creating new pieces for the robot to function the way we designed it. They have assembled the ball collector mechanism and have begun manufacturing the shooter mechanism.
This build season we have a lot of smart kids working very hard in the shop. I think it will be a very good year for Team 4.
— Nick Bottomley (head of machining)
They still need to accomplish the hybrid mode. Josh is website scouting—looking at other competitors to see what they are doing with their robot.
Nothing has been tested; therefore, nothing has been broken yet.
— Programming
Currently, the finance department is planning a restaurant night at Las Fuentes restaurant, so stay tuned for information on that.
Dates to Remember March 15-17 — Long Beach Regional April 4-7 — Las Vegas Regional
