FTC 7314 Engineering Notebook 2014-12-06

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Competition Season Meeting

Meeting Date Meeting Time Location Attendees
Saturday, December 6, 014 7:30am-5:30pm Wissahickon Middle School Akhila, Laura, Justin, Josh, Nick, Amal, Braden, Brad, Trevor, CJ


Tasks Reflections
Judging
  • Judging as a whole went really well! For the most part, everyone got to say what they wanted to say.
  • The judges seemed to really like our robot and our team!
  • There was a little bit of a problem with talking over each other, but we learned our lesson.
  • We also had some thoughts on showing more team spirit while we were waiting in line for judging.
  • The judges came around to our pit once, and it was nice to have another opportunity to explain our design and strategy.
  • Another set of judges also came to see one of our matches. Laura and Akhila talked to them while the drive team was setting up, so the drive team could set up for the match.
Inspection
  • Hardware Inspection took longer than expected.
  • All went well until the inspector tried to fit us within the 18 inch box. We were barely over, but we were still over.
  • Later, however, we realized it was only because the pistons were in the wrong position, and pushing the diverter up past the height requirement.
  • We ran into another problem when the bottom of the tube rubbed on the ground. If it was not fixed, it would mark up the field wherever we went.
  • We had to dremel off the bottom of the tube, leaving quite a bit of yellow dust in the pit area.
  • That still was not enough, and we had to file it down 2 more times until it passed inspection.
  • After that, software inspection was a breeze.
Scouting
  • Brad, Akhila, CJ, and Justin did most of the scouting for competition day.
  • Pit scouting went really well! They utilized the 'divide and conquer' method, and split all the sheets and teams equally between scouts.
  • Though it was really tiring, it was immensely fun to meet all the teams, see the robots, and check out all the different solutions for the same problem.
  • Match scouting was not as smooth. Akhila and Laura found it really hard to flip between separate pages for each team. They will find another solution for the next qualifier.
  • They finally gave up, and decided to just take rough notes on their phones. They might try and ask FRC for their scouting methods, and see if those can be used at the next competition.
Driver Performance
  • CJ and Justin drove alternatively for the competition. Justin won 2 matches and lost one and helped the team advance from seventh to second. CJ also won two matches and lost one.
  • They realized that a more thorough review of the rules was needed, as well as some more practice.
Operating Performance
  • Operating(by Braden) went pretty well but had it low and high points.
  • Overall, in both driving and operating, Laura thinks they could use a lot more practice, along with a review of the rules.
Mechanical
  • During the competition, there was an emergency change to the robot, as the bottom of the tube was dragging across the field, so a slit was taken out of the bottom of the tube.
  • The team also decided to add the return string to the linear slide. We had to drill through the top piece connecting the two slides. Both Laura and Nick tried to drill these holes. They took forever. Eventually, they were drilled. We also drilled holes in the spools for the return strings. This was much easier.
  • We then used the heat gun to melt the ends of the frayed sting together. Akhila used her small hands to insert the string, and tie the knot. It involved sticking them into super awkward places on the robot,
  • Many of the things on Laura's long packing list came in handy. Overall, the pit ran very smoothly, and we did not run into any major issues.
Marketing
  • Brad worked on recording the competition, and with a shaky start, interviewed some of the team members to see how they thought our robot and alliances were doing, how our teamwork was, and how they were enjoying their first official competition of the season.
Results
  • This tournament was really fun for all, and a great learning opportunity. We certainly saw quite a few places we can improve, and can not wait for the next tournament.
  • We won the Rockwell Colins Innovate Award, and was nominated for the Think Award. It was really rewarding to know all of our hard work over the last few weeks paid off.


Recorded by: Date: Journal Editor: Akhila Date: