Week 2 Update

The first week give way to the second week of build season, but the team hardly noticed, as they were all hard at work. The only difference between the first and second week was the students return to school, but at meetings much of the same work was being done. With the intake plans solidified, the next assembly that the team worked on was the tote holder. Initially several prototypes were tested, but each was flawed as none could properly support the tote within the robot. After two days a concept involving flaps (to hold the tote in place) was tested with greater success, and the prototype was modified to include this new idea.

A separate intake was initially planned to grab the recycling container, but after a week of failed testing, it was decided that the tote intake would be modified to grab both game pieces. Since two systems were consolidated into one, more space was made available for a human loader, with which the robot can easily grab totes deposited through a shoot during the match. To help coordinate and ensure parts fit together in the robot, the team uses a CAD (computer aided design) software to create a three dimensional model of the robot. This made it possible to see that motors and gearboxes had be adjusted on the intake to prevent it from colliding with the robot's drive system. The necessary fixes were made on the intake, and this same process of checking was continued with all other systems.