Anderson is the name

The robot would occasionally be unresponsive and we had a feeling it might be the connections, so we switch to Anderson connectors (which appears to have solved the problem).

Regeneration

To prepare for states this weekend, we are going over sonic from top to bottom to make sure everything is in working order and replacing anything that may be worn out or likely to break

IR repositioning

The IR sensor position was great, but at the last round of competition it almost prevented us from competing as it almost didn't fit within the 18x18x18 box.  We therefore moved the IR sensor a little further in so we won't have the same problem again.

Three's Company

In order to increase the power of our drivetrain, and decrease the number of burnt motors, Casey added a third motor to either side of the drivetrain. In order to stay under the limit of 8 motors, we had to remove the second motor from the linear slide to use it for the drivetrain, leaving the slide with only one motor. This decreased speed, but the slide could still rise and fall, and now the single motor can not produce enough torque to break the string, making it more reliable. With the third motor, the stress placed on each motor has been reduced considerable and torque has been slightly increased, making Sonic stronger and tougher.

Protect the tower!

We added reinforcement to the tower in order to increase it's stability and reduce the strain on our manual arm stop.  It'll be easier to score now since the tower will have less wobble to it.  The extra support also should help with autonomous and keep the autonomous ring stable and aligned.

Sometimes less is more

We used to have a beam running across right above where our brain is. However, we realized that it was causing the tower to twist and ended up being counterproductive, so we removed it.  Since it's removal the tower is aligned and it is now easier to score with our arm.

The Mighty Axle ...

 

... Is not so mighty.  The axle we used for the arm got twisted ... again.  Therefore, we replace the axle (yet again). 

For wheeling

Nik is building a new drive train for Sonic which will give us better control and will help prevent the motors from burning out