Difference between revisions of "DEWBOT VIII Build"

Revision as of 19:59, 11 January 2012

Build season is the heart of the FRC year. It is the 45 days during which the team's students and mentors put their hearts, minds and hands into designing and building a great robot. Paradoxically, the time seems both far too short and much too long.

This page contains a day by day breakdown of what we did. Dates hyper-links go to the corresponding photo gallery.

Kickoff

• On Saturday, January 7^th, team 1640 students, parents and mentors drove to Upper Darby High School on to watch the events from Dean Kamen’s home in New Hampshire, see the objectives of the 2012 game revealed, examine a mock-up of this year’s play pieces up close, and pick up our kit of parts.
• We attended seminars immediately following the Rebound Rumble Kickoff.
• The Team returned to Creamery Way following Kickoff for a read-through of Rebound Rumble's rules.
• Set up the field and ran Student-bot simulations

Week One (1/8-1/14)

Sunday 8-January - Brainstorming

• KOP Inventoried
• Formed Product Teams
• Set key game-play objectives
• Identified and prioritized prototyping plans

Monday 9-January

• Product teams began prototye planning

• BOM set for Bridge (field priority)
• DEWBOT VI is getting some extra wheels! (to get over the barrier)
• DEWBOT VII deux's arm and mimibot deployment come off to turn it into a testbed chassis

Tuesday 10-January

• Drive-train Team
• Discussed substitution of RS540 steering motors at 256:1 reduction (not an available choice this year) with RS395 motors at 132:1. Alternative is RS550 motor at 256:1. RS395 provides 0.94 lb mass savings vis-à-vis 2011 whereas the RS550 option adds 0.57 lb to the robot. Decision to move forward with the RS395 option.
• Demonstrated that 8" undriven wheels ½ - 1" above grade cannot enable the Pivot Chassis to cross the Barrier.

Bridge Team

• Concept developed for a straightforward arm to quickly lower the Bridge. Need to test. Started to fab a prototype.

Scoring Team

• Started assembling a prototype shooter
• Tested a catapult concept

Wednesday 11-January
Plan:

Flex Team

• Complete Bridge

Drive-train Team

• Test driven 8" Pneumatic Wheel w/ DEWBOT VI (kicker removed) to cross Barrier
• Assemble 6WD-Wide chassis w/ 8" Pneumatic Wheels in front to determine whether this can cross the Barrier. Use either kit-bot frame or DEWBOT V chassis for this test.

Bridge Team

• Prepare Bridge Manipulation appendage for test

Scoring Team

• Continue to assemble prototype Shooter
• Start work on ball collection and lift (conceptual)

DEWBOT VIII Week One Build Season Photo Gallery