Off-Season Projects

[Robby Unruh]

I think our team leader decided we were going to try to recreate jump drive (by 461) this off-season, whether everyone else wanted to or not.

3266 still doesn't have a t-shirt cannon bot yet, but that's something my dad (mentor) and I have always wanted to do.

[tomy]

Originally Posted by Robby Unruh

I think our team leader decided we were going to try to recreate jump drive (by 461) this off-season, whether everyone else wanted to or not.

3266 still doesn't have a t-shirt cannon bot yet, but that's something my dad (mentor) and I have always wanted to do.

I was planning on doing the same thing but without pneumatics. I didn't know if anyone else had tried it yet. I'm going to use this video thanks for the video

[demosthenes2k8]

Team 166 wants to do a water cannon bot...preferably with camera control to tell how it needs to be aimed.

[lscime]

The off-season, or as we like to call it, the "pre-season," can be just/almost as important as the build/competition season. The most important thing that your team can do during the pre-season is get active in your community. Go out and fund-raise, mentor some FLL teams, or march in a few parades. The more your community knows about you, the better off you'll be later on. You could also construct a cart or a pit area.

But to get back to your request for a technical project...

This past year MARS (2614) held its first-ever internal robot competition. Basically the team split in half and worked on a challenge similar (in spirit at least ) to a FIRST game. We called it Cube Capture and it came complete with a rules manual and a game animation http://marsfirst.org/sites/default/f..._Animation.wmv .

The goal was not only to develop new technologies (the judging rubric/point values were weighted in such a way as to encourage team members to get better at what we perceived as our weaknesses) but also to train new and returning students so that when the seniors left for college it wouldn't be as hard on the team. The robots that were built for the competition weren't all that pretty (since they were built on very tight budgets) but they didn't have to be. Everyone had fun and learned a lot and it prepared the team for the 2011 season.

It doesn't really matter what you do over the summer, just so long as you do SOMETHING to keep the team active and learning.

Good Luck!
-Luke

Each year changes, but includes the same ideas. In the off-season, Team 256 will make machines such as T-shirt cannons(or catapults, as we call ours), go-karts, etc. During this time, we test out new drive train ideas, gear boxes, custom parts, new motors, and the works. This is also our time where we bring out our robot to the public and show off what we do. This is our major recruiting time. This year, our goal is to incorporate robotics into other sports. We will be attempting to build robots that can compete in football, baseball, basketball, and soccer. We may even try the impossible: Water Polo!

[MattC9]

We will be looking into different types of drive trains. We will research CAD and build 2(?). Also our programming and electrical teams will practice wiring and coding these 'bots, so come competition time we chose drive train A or B (yes i know we have to start build from scratch, we will just replicate one drive train) and programming and electronics can whip out a coded control bored in a very short amount of time. Plus we will be fundraising and doing LOTS of demos. This is not just time for the robot guys to get a head start, but also the chairmans team. Also don't forget about that website because, come Jan.8 you won't want to be working on the website.

[Grim Tuesday]

Originally Posted by MattC9

We will be looking into different types of drive trains. We will research CAD and build 2(?). Also our programming and electrical teams will practice wiring and coding these 'bots, so come competition time we chose drive train A or B (yes i know we have to start build from scratch, we will just replicate one drive train) and programming and electronics can whip out a coded control bored in a very short amount of time. Plus we will be fundraising and doing LOTS of demos. This is not just time for the robot guys to get a head start, but also the chairmans team. Also don't forget about that website because, come Jan.8 you won't want to be working on the website.

A very good idea.

In fact, that is precisely what we hope to be doing in the off season

[Duke461]

Originally Posted by Robby Unruh

I think our team leader decided we were going to try to recreate jump drive (by 461) this off-season, whether everyone else wanted to or not.

3266 still doesn't have a t-shirt cannon bot yet, but that's something my dad (mentor) and I have always wanted to do.

As a member on team 461, I can tell you that this is one of the best if not the best off-season projects you can do. Not only does it help your new members greatly by giving them feel of building a full scale robot, it also proves to be extremely helpful for build season. After we shipped the robot off, we took the lift and arm and slapped it on jump drive and we were ready to continue. This helped so much because we didnt have to worry about making a "practice bot". We didnt do so well at the competition, but that was completely unrelated to this. I cannot stress enough how good of an offseason project this is.
The original thread can be found here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=86171