If you like it then...

The rings for the FTC challenge arrived today, along with an interesting game of ring toss. Fun aside, we were finally able to examine the ring size, shape, and weights in order to design an effective grabber for them and begin prototyping.

Into The Grind

Continued to dissemble "Snooki". Decided to reuse Snooki's base for our new robot with some modifications to improve reliability and traction such as different wheels, better spacing, and cross support.

Snooki before

Plight of the Drafter

While the rest of the guys are busy dismantling poor Snooki, I've been given the all-important task of prototyping our new robot's chassis in Solidworks. Fun. Of course, that'd be a lot easier if I still had all the files from last year's robot – which I don't. Guess who's starting from scratch: Nik, that's who!!

The Next Generation

Nik begins work on the design of our next robot.

End of an Error

Began disassembling previous FTC robot, "Snooki", in order to begin work on new robot.

Great Rack

Completed construction of the center rack for the rings. Placed rack and wooden base into the field so the team could see the heights our robot would have to be capable of. Still need to paint base with white lines to match game designs. Continued brainstorming designs for robot. 

Back to the Basics

Continued brainstorming for designs for our robot. We made the decision to avoid building for the end-game lift bonus, as we could easily score more points by having a good grabber and arm design. Ideas included using a linear lift to reach the upper row.

Showtime

Presented our slideshow to the class and explained the rules for the game, such as you can't hold more than two rings at once and you can't touch another robot during the end-game, which is lifting up an allied robot to gain bonus points.
Our presentation is linked below:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17f5c8du9HrtRt10pyLBopt4q4hZtx-Nkpo-g0LJ70Bs/edit