Where is your team at now?

[bEdhEd]

Originally Posted by chibi_mechanic

Personally, I'm the rookie-est you can get, and my team has a lot of rookies this year, but we also have a lot of experienced members. Last I checked, we were still drafting our designs in SolidWorks. I'm not sure how far we have gotten in the past day (as I couldn't make the meeting due to homework overload- thanks midterms!) but I' pretty sure we should be starting prototyping either today or tomorrow. Is this a good place to be at, a week into the challenge??

That would depend on how many robots you plan to build in a season.

For one robot, you're on pace, but my team's philosophy, is that if you're only doing one bot, finish a week to a week and a half early, so there's adequate time to practice your drive team, so don't wait till bag n' tag night to screw on that last bolt. An under-trained drive team is no good to even the best built robots.

If you're building two robots, you've got lots of overlapping projects and multitasking going on. I'll use my team's typical schedule as an example: Prototyping starts on day one, and is usually done no further than a week and a half in. During this period, the drive chassis is already decided (generally the design is decided before the season) which is a 6 wheel drop center, and is simultaneously being welded as the prototype for our ball manipulator is being developed.

After numerous mock-up systems made of wood, plastic, and spare parts, we begin development of the first robot by week two once we decide on a design, and the CAD model on Inventor is complete enough to start work. We consider this our practice/prototype robot. The benefit of a first robot, is that we can see any problems that can be fixed, so we don't make the same mistake on the second, final bot. The practice bot should be completely done by week four, and work on the final bot begins in the middle of week three, with chassis and frame welding going on at the same time practice bot is being finished. Because we already built one robot, making a copy is a breeze.

The final robot is finished in under a week and a half, powered coated, and tested for driving and used for practice. In the mean time that the final bot is in progress, the practice bot is used for the drivers, so they at least have a week to two weeks to practice, and when the final robot is done, we have our drive team A practice with final bot, and drive team B practice with practice/proto bot. We have two drive teams in the event that students cannot make it to competitions (for money problems or failing grades), or are MIA on lunch break (if they get one) at a regional.

Then we have a big potluck on bag n' tag night, where we show all the parents the twin robots, what they do, decide what is in our holding allowance, and then bag the final robot for competition, and keep the practice bot for more driver practice up until the first regional! Having an identical robot also means that you can fine tune a system that was in the witholding allowance. Just mount the system on practice bot, and tune it to the right configurations for both autonomous and teleoperated tasks, so you can literally extend your build season to seven or eight weeks. And then even more driver practice with the practice bot in between competitions.

We go hard with the drive team practice stuff now. They are the people who win your matches.

If you haven't seen it, check out Team701TV on youtube, and look up our 2013 build season video, you can see that we build a practice bot, and then a clean, professional final bot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kziarAdQRyo

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

KOP inventoried
Complete Team rules read-through
Strategy Complete
Design Complete
Parts have been ordered
Today we are moving to our build location and tomorrow we cut metal

All this despite Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday school being cancelled due to Snow/Cold. Yay Michigan!

Actually, this is the first time in 8 years we've had the design completed before the end of the first week. Yay snow?

[wilsonmw04]

Originally Posted by Zebra_Fact_Man

KOP inventoried
Complete Team rules read-through
Strategy Complete
Design Complete
Parts have been ordered
Today we are moving to our build location and tomorrow we cut metal

All this despite Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday school being cancelled due to Snow/Cold. Yay Michigan!

Actually, this is the first time in 8 years we've had the design completed before the end of the first week. Yay snow?

Did you design virtually? The one thing that I see missing was prototyping. Is this something you forgot to mention or did your team forgo this step?

[cmrnpizzo14]

DONE:
0.) Read rules
1.) Finished strategic analysis of game
2.) Rough design ideas for each system, prototyping begins today

TO DO:
1.) Final design will be determined by end of our Saturday meeting.
2.) Chassis and drive system should be completed by Saturday as well so we can begin driver practice.
3.) Build robot
4.) Practice, practice, practice.

We are trying to get our design done earlier this year which may lead to an imperfect design but we feel that if you can refine and practice more with an imperfect design it will be better than a roughly implemented ideal design.

[BrennanB]

- Entire robot system is prioritized
- Pick-up prototyping is done
- Some shooter prototypes are done, finishing off a few still.

[jdh042397]

Currently, weve had meetings everyday and have been working til 9 every night. Parts are still on back order, but weve begun to prototype different methods of launching and catching. Slowly but surely were getting there.

[Popmaster288]

AM14U Drive Base Assembled
KOP Inventoried.
Began Prototyping a Launcher mechanism
We'll have a general design by the end of the week.
We're limited to three 4-hour schooldays a week, and Saturdays. We're trying to make the most of our time.

[chibi_mechanic]

Ok, thanks a lot! I'm pretty sure we will only build one bot, so I feel a bit better about time management now.

[bEdhEd]

Originally Posted by chibi_mechanic

Ok, thanks a lot! I'm pretty sure we will only build one bot, so I feel a bit better about time management now.

Well, if you were ever wondering how teams manage to build two robots in a season, you now have an idea, and one year your team will do the same!

If teams can build two, you can build one. But don't think that you have more time than you really do. That can be dangerous...

[Walter Deitzler]

Well, we have had two meetings, due to us being sowed out of our lab for the majority of this week.

Our two meetings though, have been very successful. We have built one prototype (our intake) that looks promising, and we have started prototyping our launcher. In terms of our chassis, it is up and driving, and code is being tested. CAD is getting done a bit slowly but surely, as more parts come in to get CADed, they are made fairly quickly (provided they are not too complex, but those still get done, they just take longer.)

If we can keep up the pace, we should be good to go by bag and tag. Hopefully the weather cooperates with us.

[Jon Stratis]

General CAD completed (still need details). Additional parts ordered for drivetrain. Prototyping almost completed (will be done tonight). Chassis assembled.