Pre-Season Preparations

With the 2015 season fast approaching, team 1323 began getting ready for the next build season and competitions. The shop was cleaned, machines were aired out, and tools were organized. The old practice field was torn down and cleared out to make room for the new game. Wood and nails were picked up for early prototyping. The entire house cleaning process took a few meetings, but the shop looked as good as new by the end of it.

Due to the relative inexperience of the team, mentors took time to go over each machine with team members, and ensured that each member understood the proper and safe way to use each device. All members were taught the function of the CNC router, mills, lathes, band saw, drill press and various tools in the team tool box. Furthermore, several talks took place in which the mentors and veteran members explained what was expected of each team mate, as well as the best way to function as a team. Ideally, students would plan out the basic idea of the robot. Then they would split up into groups after the announcement of the game to plan out and design parts of the robot to perform a specific task. Finally, each design would be modified to fit with each other and to meet the requirements established by FIRST at the beginning of the year. Mentors made a point of emphasizing that all members should provide input, and that even the most ridiculous idea provides diversity of thought when approaching an issue. By the end of the year, the team was as ready as it could get for the coming build season.