FIRST Robotics 2024 - Some Things that Work

Yes, its that point in the season where time loses all meaning.  Different versions of prototypes come and go quickly.  Things are built, tested, broken, rebuilt, retested.  Of course the clock continues to tick (will this generation even make the association any longer?) and little things like time at the end of build season to actually test drive slip away.  Sigh. 

The software people have done outstanding work on the ability of the robot to identify specific points on the field where it can set up for game piece launching.  This clip is a test bed functioning entirely in autonomous mode.  Creepy.

And...here's something else that works.  The scale.  We have a 125 pound weight limit.  Building the drive base, elevator and manipulator systems separately has given three working groups better access, but it has made it hard to keep an eye on the total weight.  Robots always gain weight.  Each bolt, each link of chain.  Maybe breathing on it too much.  The scale is under the drive base but the readout is on the table.  It is showing us numbers that are not happy.  Work to do.

We had a good session on Thursday and got the weight at least temporarily under control.  Various systems work individually.  The shooter is quite fun...

This was the first time we'd tried a series of shots and for consistency we took aim at a poster on the wall with Planet Earth on it.  It's fun to be the Alien Overlords......

Here's something fun.  The robot has to do a sort of "chin up" on a hanging wire.  The gear and sprocket system seems up to the task but when power is cut at the end of the match you have to keep hanging for five or ten seconds to get the points.  No additional weight solution?  Garden gate latches!  Dumb but effective.

We started the crucial Saturday session with three robots.  The software test bed robot is now being dismantled and its electronics shifted over to the competition machine.

We'll keep the picked apart frame down in Area 51.  It's the right configuration for future test beds.

Finally a bit of whimsy.  A special cushioned chair for the pit crew.  Built on top of one of our tool caddies and made of old bumper fabric.  

There's still limited time.  We are still right on the edge for weight control.  Many things can go wrong and some of them certainly will.  But we are ready to put the two halves of the robot together.  Then it is in the hands of software.