EVHS Robotics FIRST Team 2854: The Prototypes

Friday (1/21/11):

This Friday, several of our team members met with Mr. Son Ho of All FAB Precision Sheetmetal, Inc. He has agreed sponsor the team by providing CNC and Metal Shop services and donating materials. We would like to thank Mr. Tran for putting us  in contact with Mr. Ho.

We continued to work on our electronics board and discussed ideas for our mini-bot.

Saturday (1/22/11):

Saturday we met at Ritu’s house and continued to CAD parts of the robot. We also filled out grants and discussed our plans for the upcoming week.

1/6: Thursday – We had a parents meeting in which we informed them of our current status and plans for the upcoming build season.

1/8: Saturday: We went to San Jose State University to be at the kick offs for the FIRST Robotics Build Season of 2011! There, they showed us this year’s game- Logomotion, in which the robot has to place inflated tubes on tall pegs- the tallest being approximately 10 feet tall. After this game play, the robot has to deploy a minibot that has to race up a pole.

After the the game was revealed, we picked up the Kit of Parts, which holds the parts needed to build the robot, and then went to Prospect to discuss game plans with other schools.

Lastly, we went to Rohan’s house to go over the game manual in depth.

1/9: Sunday- Game on! We started building the game pieces that’d be used in the competition for our robot to test on when we have it built. We worked on the base for the pole, racks, and frame for the racks.

1/10: Monday- After countless, grueling hours of drilling, sawing, measuring, and cutting, we finished constructing most of the game pieces compartments! We started brainstorming what kind of gripper to employ- either the prong or clasp. Also discussed whether to use swivel wheels or tank drive for the drive train.

1/12: Wednesday: We assembled the rack together, and started some members on Labview and Solidworks.

1/14: Friday- Had all the programmers and CADers install Labview and Solidworks. Had a session on how to use it.

1/15: Saturday- Our awesome team member Brendan’s birthday! Rick came by to answer any of our questions, gave us advice, and updated us on other team’s progress. We finally decided on a design for the robot! We decided to use a roller gripper, elevator lift, and swivel wheels, and sketched out the basic model.

1/16: Sunday- Prototyping start! We started constructing the prototype for the elevator lift out of wood. Sadly, it wouldn’t lift smoothly. The CADDers started modeling the other parts of the robot.

1/18: Tuesday- Perfected the elevator lift! We worked out the kinks by adding pulleys. Also started making the spool for the wire used in the elevator lift.

1/19: Wednesday- Started assembling the electronics board, frame for the robot, dissembling the old 2009 robot for parts, along with more programming and CADing.

1/20: Thursday- Intense CADing and programming session! And this blog is finally updated after a long hiatus thanks to an awesome person