And so we find ourselves between our two competitions. For reasons unknown - although possibly just to torment the coaches - the kids always insist on going to the earliest possible event. It does tend to make them work harder early on, but we are not a big enough team to always work the bugs out in just six weeks of work.
2022 - Well, a rebuild year, not much could be done
2023 - Very solid design that almost qualified us for Worlds. If only we'd know a few things about limiting the current to motors so they don't turn into small, expensive space heaters.
2024 - Many design issues that we mostly fixed by our second event.
And 2025 - a design that was so very ambitious and came oh so close to meeting its objectives. In a game of inches, close don't count. (By the way, none of the kids had every heard the adage about Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, but those are not part of their modern world).
So its another year of heavy duty prototyping and software wizardry. Honestly, the core group of this team seems to enjoy this process and works right on through Spring Break.
One of the things being worked on is more accurate targeting. The game involves placing sections of PVC pipe onto these weird purple things:
We have the ability to set the robot's cameras to look for certain combinations of shapes and colors, and to drive to them with precision. So, why not just "target" upright purple pipes? First effort: Promising! Note the green targeting dot inside the red rectangle.
Second attempt: Concerning!
We've all seen that movie.....
No comments:
Post a Comment