Hello everybody!
It’s been a while. With all of the chaos that is build season going on, we stopped posting information. And then we continued forgetting, and it has been nearly 6 months since the last post.
I’m here to fix that! My nickname is D-Wheezy (don’t ask), and my job for the next year is going to be news poster. So, I’m gonna be keeping things updated.
First, though I should catch you up. So here are the
LAST 6 MONTHS OF TEAM 2823
We left off in the middle of build season, after some tough decisions. One of our main design goals for this year was KISS (keep it simple, stupid!), and I think we succeeded.
Front View
Rear View
The bot is too tall (6′ 6″) to really fit in a picture. It has one mechanism, a lifter on the front. The weird proboscis was actually used to grab cans from the step. The lifter also had several hooks attached to grab totes. The number of totes varied throughout the season, but we settled on three sets of hooks. Most of our stacks only had two totes, however, as that was the easiest number to grab from the landfill. The best part of the bot is that it just worked. Our maintenance between matches was mostly just swapping the battery. No tightening needed.
Also visible is the signboard on the back of the robot. This is a small display that is powered by a raspberry pi. We extended an existing library by adding GUI functionality. This means that we can display anything on that signboard. Text, images, gifs, you name it!
Probably the best testament to the robustness of the bot is that it could do pushups. The lifter could allow us to raise back up after tipping.
Pushup
A view of the practice field and the pits.
Our first chance to use the bot was at the Saint Paul Week 0 competition. This was hosted by Central, but we helped coordinate some additional meetings within the event, and helped with set up and take down. It was great to test our robot, and it helped us get ready for Bag Day
Robot done!
Duluth was probably the coolest part of this year. We managed to raise enough money for a second competition and an overnight trip! Although we weren’t picked, and our bus never came, we found our way back after having a wonderful time.
The pictures are not in any particular order, but they are captioned.
On the bus to Duluth
Our robot in the pit area
Selfie taken from the stands
Our mascot received some upgrades, but was still unpainted
View from the stands
Eating dinner at Grandmas
After Duluth, we continued to improve things. We made new hooks for the robot (they were way better), painted our mascot, and most importantly, upgraded our pit area! A new structure was welded and two new carts were made. This is taken on the eve of 10,000 lakes, the competition in Williams Arena
We actually performed extremely well at the competition. Our robot functioned as we intended, and we scored well. In the end, we weren’t picked, although I think the robot was certainly good enough. I’m not going to dig through for more pictures of this competition, as it was mostly similar. You can check out the scores and find video of all of our matches online here
That was the end of our season. We capped it off with a picnic, and then moved all of our stuff offsite for sorting. Currently, it is about half sorted.
Right now, we are in summer mode. That means less stress, and more demos. For example, we have one on the 19th at Highland Fest. We will be at the corner of Ford and Finn from 2:00 to 4:00.
We will also be at the State Fair again.
Thanks for reading about our season!