FTC 7314 Engineering Notebook 2014-10-13

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Competition Season Meeting

Meeting Date Meeting Time Location Attendees
10/14/2014 6pm-9pm TCHS Brandywine Braden, Trevor, Josh, Justin, Nick, Laura, Ahkila, CJ,


Tasks Reflections
Chassis Work
  • Braden and Trevor were able to complete it and program it to do what we wanted it to do. Then we were able to test it out.
80-20 for linear slide
  • Josh, Justin and mentor Andrew finished the slider pieces that connect to the 80-20 and allow the 80-20 to slide up and down.
  • We also set up for the rollers inside the sliders by preparing the mill for the next robotics meeting.
Prototyping the Drum Shooter
  • Nick, Laura, and Akhila worked on the drum shooter.
  • Nick talked with mentors, and Laura about the design and prototype of the drum shooter.
  • Following problems with the initial design from the previous week, they looked into new ideas.
  • The idea for tonight's meeting was that they would have a spring below the center point of the drum shooter so that when a roller (which is located near the outside of the wheel) would move over the spring there would be tension against it. After the roller has been pushed 90 degrees the tension will then move the roller, and wheel, with exceeding force, therefore throwing the ball.
  • CJ helped with the testing of the wheel. He had to relocate the bars that attached the offensive wheel.
  • When they tested the new drum shooter, it did not work any better than the previous drum shooter, still only reaching about 2 feet.
  • To add more height, they moved the spring closer to the center point, and pre-tensioned the spring more.
  • The results were outstanding! It shot what is believed to be high enough, almost hitting the ceiling when launched off a table. It also shot both small and big balls remarkably well.
  • Next meeting, they will add a motor to the prototype. For today, they only pushed the wheel with our hands. We will very likely need to gear the motor down, because it will take a lot of torque to tension that springTHey are also planning on trying to shoot the ball through a tube, and see if the ball will loose speed when hitting the side of the tube.
  • They made a lot of progress, and it looks like the drum shooter will be an effective lift, if the motor can tension the spring.


Recorded by: Date: Journal Editor: Akhila Date:









Action and idea Journal



Recorded by: Date: Journal Editor: Date: