Blog
526 posts from the build season and beyond.
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Day #34: Intake and Field Assembly
CAD Today students went through the entire CAD and made sure that all of the necessary parts and materials to complete the robot have been purchased. To do this, he used a special feature in Solidworks that automatically created a bill of materials for the entire robot. He then cross-referenced…
2013 FRC Build Season · FIRST Robotics
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Day #33: Field Assembly and Programming
Field Assembly Today, students set up the support structures at the two ends of the field to mount the high and medium goals. They finished milling holes into the wooden support blocks and attached them to the metal and PVC pipe frame. The "blue" side of the field's goal frame has been set up and…
2013 FRC Build Season · FIRST Robotics
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Day #32: Bumpers and Machining
Bumpers The wood and end-brackets for the bumpers were finished and assembled today. Afterwards some students worked on taping pool noodles to the sides of them (pool noodles are required by FRC as the official compressant in bumper assemblies). With the pool noodles on, the students worked on…
2013 FRC Build Season · FIRST Robotics
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Day #31: Field Assembly
Practice Field Assembly Without a doubt, the highlight of the day was the arrival of the official field pieces. Students spent much of the night organizing the many parts that arrived at the lab today and assembling the field elements themselves. The pyramids were the first objects completed, with…
2013 FRC Build Season · FIRST Robotics
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Day #30: Driver Practice and Field Teardown
Field Teardown Today, students helped to tear down the team-built game elements on the field in anticipation of the arrival of official game elements. The high goal, pyramid, its top goal, the feeder station, and all prototypes (shooter, intake, indexer, conveyor) were taken apart. The wood has…
2013 FRC Build Season · FIRST Robotics
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Day #29: Bumper Construction
Bumper Over twenty students and two mentors collaborated on measuring and cutting the wood for the bumper. Students measured the bumpers to be 5" in height and lengths of 28.25", 28", and 8" for all of the sides of the perimeter. They then went outside to cut it with a miter saw. Students later…
2013 FRC Build Season · FIRST Robotics
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Day #28: Auto Scripting and Bumpers
Bumper fabric A few members measured fabric for the bumpers and measured where to properly place the team logo on them. They were careful with measurements because the ideal bumpers are more compressed than actual ones that will be. Measuring the cordura Wiring Members starting wiring the cRIO on…
2013 FRC Build Season · FIRST Robotics
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Build Season Recipes: Week 4
Our robot this year is looking like it will be very short — much like these shortbread cookies we snacked on while assembling the drivetrain and manufacturing parts for the intake. Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies 1 cup butter, at room temperature 2/3 cup icing sugar 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 2…
2013 FRC Build Season · FIRST Robotics
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Day #27: Superstructure
Wiring The wiring on the practice bot was fixed because it was routed incorrectly and they were in the wrong ports. Manufacturing A large portion of the raw material for the superstructure was cut today. Some of the actual machining started which included drilling holes and tapping them so that…
2013 FRC Build Season · FIRST Robotics
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Day #26: Practice Robot is Driving
Much progress today was made in manufacturing and assembly, and near the end of the evening the practice robot was driving for the first time. CAD Abhi and Richard M worked on detailing the intake assembly, with the goal of releasing all parts for manufacture by the end of the weekend. The gearbox…
2013 FRC Build Season · FIRST Robotics
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Day #25: Manufacture of Conveyor and Shooter Begins
Drive Gearbox The bulk of the remaining parts ordered from West Coast Products arrived today, including gears, shifting dogs, and shifter shafts. Students assembled the piston blocks for the bimba pistons. This will actuate the dog shifters, which will control the 2-speed transmission and PTO. The…
2013 FRC Build Season · FIRST Robotics
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Day #24: Bumpers, Wiring, and Continued Prototyping
CAD Students made some of the drawings for the conveyor shafts. The shafts with finished drawings should be finished tonight. Manufacturing Students manufactured a few of the shafts for the conveyor assembly. These hex shafts will used with the polyurethane rollers to move the frisbees from the…
2013 FRC Build Season · FIRST Robotics