[MarcD79]

Originally Posted by jwfoss

This robot is the direct result of the hard work that our students were willing to put in on a totally insane idea. My job as a mentor is to inspire our students to keep pushing, Brick was the vehicle for that this season. At the beginning of the season we set our priorities and built our initial robot design "Toaster". After scrimmage we noticed some of the short comings of the design, and began discussing the idea of a smaller robot with a simplified design, this idea was not taken lightly and led to extra long nights going over concepts, the rules, and design. I am beyond proud of our students for pulling this off, and doing it within the rules.



Allen, excellent question. Between scrimmage and our Week 1 event in Waterbury we decided that building a third, but smaller chassis (Inspired by our friend's FRC125) and carrying it with us to the event would only open doors for us, not close them. The first Brick chassis was designed to use all of the existing components from Toaster, machined, and assembled by our students on our mini mill in the two nights prior to Waterbury. For withholding at Waterbury we carried Toaster's intake assembly, and Brick's Chassis which together was below the 30lbs allowable. We competed with Toaster, seeded #1, and won the event thanks to the help of our alliance. At the end of Waterbury, Brick's chassis went into the bag with Toaster.

Over the next week the team discussed the option to switch. After many discussions, the team locked into the change and finalized the design. Brick's intake/shooter was inspired by FRC131's robot this year. The team loved the simplicity of it, and the over the back batter shot it allowed. For the next few weeks the team built our fourth chassis of the season for practice Brick, and the shooter/intake assembly. The weekend prior to Hartford we were able to visit FRC195's practice field and do a full systems test and run Brick through its paces. Within the first 30mins we dialed in the batter shot and saw nothing but smiles on our drivers faces. That sealed the deal. Over the week prior to the event we planned out three 2 hr unbag periods to convert Toaster's chassis to Brick's. Each night had a set amount of tasks, and we were able to get it all done. For Hartford our Withholding was the intake/shooter assembly which weighed in at around 18lbs. Final assembly of the machine was completed at Hartford on the first day, we missed our practice machines and had to inspect the morning before qualification matches started.

As a parent & volunteer for Aces High 176 back when Justin was just starting I heard him complain that some of the Engineers were designing the robot & not listening to the up-and-coming design students. I told Justin I would back him up & help him move forward with his ideas & challenge those Engineers. I'm glad I did because Justin has made incredible strides with his ability to 1. take the initiative to overcome, 2. lead others into the battle, 3. actually showed Mr. Wanat the correct way to use the CAD program, 4. never take no for an answer & 5. living his dream. Way to go Justin. I'm proud to say I was there to help not only you, but that whole bunch of team members we were all linked to personally. I'll see you in STL!