Re: Off season projects
 

Our team is going to make a 2-speed gear box for the first time! We already designed it we just need to see if it works.

Re: Off season projects
 

Ironically enough, our team is thinking of switching out of labview and into C++

Re: Off season projects
 

If you switch, go to Java rather than c++. We recently switched from c++ to Java and liked it a lot better.

Re: Off season projects
 

Five students from Team 696 recently launched a near-space weather balloon with 3 Go-Pros and a multitude of other sensors. More information will be posted soon!:D

Re: Off season projects
 

Team 3929 is completely rebuilding their robot. It looks nothing like the one that went to competitions.

The mentors are fooling around with their own projects, among them are R/C toys (personally own a quadcopter, rally car, micro quad, toy plane), and some of the other mentors have some other fun toys.

Oh, and all of us like to volunteer everywhere we can. It's good for the soul. :D

Re: Off season projects
 

I'm working on a telepresence robot with an integrated scouting program on a tri omniwheel drivetrain.

Our team is working on a sheet metal chassis and doing some cad training.

Re: Off season projects
 

4485 is experimenting with drive system gear ratios, learning to use encoder data, and gyro/encoder assisted autonomous and tele drive modes. In the Fall we plan to focus on learning to implement vision processing.

Re: Off season projects
 

A few of our kids are doing a quadcopter buildoff this summer.

Re: Off season projects
 

A few of our students are getting together with your programming mentor and creating a segway like device.

Re: Off season projects
 

We have parts made for a swerve drive. We got more to finish before we start assembly. Now that we are about at the 50 percent completion, I can already tell we won't be using swerve for a competition robot. We are having fun building , and learning a lot. I think this drive will turn into a demo bot or a defense robot for driving practice.

On that note, I have been thinking about restoring our 2011 mecanum robot and build a kit-bot on steroids. So with the 2013 2-speed tank drive practice bot, we could have every drive base covered to practice against.

Also, we might want to convert our 2013 practice bot into a cycler with floor pickup and ten point hang. We debated about a climber+dumper+shooter versus a cycler. Since hindsight is 20/20, it would be fun try the other aspects of the game we missed this season.

Re: Off season projects
 

Personally I would not change from C++ since Labview (with the restricted bandwith) becomes quite laggy at times especially with a larger code, and also you can do a lot more with C++ and it is commonly used in the business world.

Re: Off season projects
 

I don't want to start a debate but +1 , Labview is meant to be a programming language for non programmers. If you know C++ stick with it.

Re: Off season projects
 

Team 2543 will be working on a golf robot and fundraising events, such as a summer camp for kids. Right now we are working in organizing and cleaning the shop, moving the tables around and such to work more efficiently. We have been brainstorming for offseason ideas, but nothing concrete yet.

Re: Off season projects
 

A perfect off-season project to work on would be to experiment with and see the different applications of team 585's Arbitrary Quadrature Encoder.

For this entrepreneurial, we have designed the Arbitrary Quadrature Encoder for other FIRST teams to use. This can just plug straight into the Jaguar and replace the stubborn commercial encoders. With this encoder, a team can place it on motors that cannot normally have encoders (window motors), and a linear application such as an elevator system.

We are now at a point where we can start printing the circuit boards. For more information and a demonstration go to our Kickstarter page at http://kck.st/147OyqI

Good Off-Season Activity Ideas?
 

Hey guys, so recently i've noticed that my team (Team 1758) has a huge lack of off-season events to attend and activities to participate in. I think its very beneficial to the team as a whole and to the members individually if there are a lot of things to do during the off-season, whether it be community outreach activities related to FIRST or robotics activities. Do you guys have any ideas for what teams can do during the off-season?