Final Countdown!

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Created on Tuesday, 21 February 2012 18:10
Written by Hilary Burrowes

Prototype robot     In preparation for the bagging tonight at midnight, the whole team was back in the shop on Friday, bringing us again to full power! With all the members back on board, we had extended hours from 3:00 to 9:00. The drive train team started to work on the bumpers, with the help of our faculty adviser. The feeder team officially had decided on a three beater design that worked well on the prototype bot when it was implemented on Saturday and it should be added onto the final bot by the final bagging. 

The team's shooter     Saturday was also a jam packed day, with two members of our strategy team having gone to a pre-season meet to see the robots of other teams in our region perform in this years exciting competition. This first-hand research definitely went into the last minute tweaking  involved in the last few days. Also, four students from Hammond High School came in to visit our team on Saturday, and checked our progress against theirs.This was an honor here at RAID 2537 because effecting our community for the better is our ultimate goal and helping a fellow FIRST team helps us do just that. The team also had multiple full robot testings on our practice field in the gym and a lot was learned and improved. Robot number two was officially in full fabrication mode on Saturday and the pressure could definitely be felt on all teams, especially software. 

Software Team watches the work in action.      Normally the software, electrical, and general integration teams don't get much time to work on the robot every year; however, this time around our team was dedicated to making a change. Unwontedly, our team gave a few full practice days for the software team to work out kinks in their programming with hands on experience on the robot. Lucky for us though, we also have the prototype bot for the software team, as well as the new drivers, to work on and practice with after our real robot gets bagged up. 

     The shooter and ball elevator teams can only have their products described as innovative, both mechanically and design wise. Both teams have their mechanisms decked out with 3D printer parts and an assortment of eye catching colors of plexiglass and PVC piping, and overall the team has come far from our green cellophane wrapped robot from the year of "Breakaway". This improvement of looks just helps to emphasis the evolution of our team, from the humble beginnings we started with five years ago, to this year when we have more ability then ever to spread the message of FIRST in our community, as well as our new found potential to win many of the prestigious awards FRC has to offer.