FTC 7314 Engineering Notebook 2015-09-12

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Competition Season Meeting

Meeting Date Meeting Time Location Attendees
Saturday, 12-Sep-2015 10:45am-4:00pm TCHS Brandywine Josh, Akhila, Justin, Braden, Trevor (kick-off only), Amal, Bennett, Wade, Daniel, Trent, Snarr, Myles


Tasks Reflections
Pre-Kickoff!
  • Kickoff has finally arrived! Although we have had a productive off season, there is nothing we like more than to be working and preparing for competitions! This season, like all others, is bound to be filled with all sorts of difficulties, including the new control system.
  • Before the game was revealed, there were a lot of other things to learn and go through, including how competitions worked, and some differences about this season.
  • While this was review to returning members, like Josh, Akhila, Trevor, Braden, and Amal, it was all new and exciting to Bennett, Snarr, Myles, Wade, Daniel, and Trent.
  • All of the new members were really excited to be a part of this year's season, and just FIRST in general.
  • Although all the presentations were interesting, Snarr and Akhila were most intrigued by the presentation regarding the new control system. They are really interested in being involved with software and control for the season. They had worked on some code in the off season, like simple driving, but didn't really go in depth. Autonomous is already going to be interesting with the new programming!
  • Josh is really excited to see what kind of mechanical designs he can employ for this year. Last year, he particularly enjoyed working on the linear slide, so he hopes that he'll be able to build one again this year. Whatever it is, he hopes with all his heart that it doesn't involve extensive milling.
  • After all the pre presentations were over, it was time for the game reveal! There was a real sense of suspense in the room as we counted down to the reveal video!
Game Reveal/ Initial Reactions
  • We were most excited about this part of kickoff, and the game did not disappoint. With climbing, scoring, and lifting all combined into one game, we can already tell that designing will be a challenge.
  • Snarr, Akhila, and Trevor are excited to start working on auton as well. They know they will need color sensors, a push button sensor, and a compass. They're not quite sure how the sensor configurations will work with the new control system, but they'll see in due time!
  • Josh thought that the game will bring many challenges and trials that will be both challenging and fun to conquer, even despite the fact that he will probably have to mill like crazy.
  • Although we would love to, last year's beloved bapper design will not be in use this year. Hopefully we'll be able to revive it some other time.
  • All the members are super excited to get started, and can barely wait to get building!
  • After the game reveal, we went to go make friends with other teams, and brainstorm with them too.
  • Akhila, Snarr, and Josh went to talk to Team Igutech about the programming, and helped them work out a bug in their drive code. This was good practice. They also talked strategy with Igutech, who they hadn't really worked with before. They agreed that climbing with be crucial, and that suspending the robot would be the most difficult part.
  • Josh also was featured in Flaming Phoenix's vlog about the event, in which he discussed his views on the new game.
After Kickoff Meeting
  • We all went back to the warehouse to start brainstorming. Even though we wanted to get started with the robot right away, we had to review the rules and the game manuals.
  • We definitely don't want to get many penalties this year, so we paid special attention to that section of the rules. We also realized that the game has lots of nuances that we didn't understand before.
  • The reviewing of the game manual took most of the time that we had, so we'll start our brainstorming next meeting (the first official build meeting of the season!)


Action and idea Journal



Recorded by: Date: Journal Editor: Akhila Date: