MechRams 9301 | 2025 Build Blog | REEFSCAPE SEASON

FIRST Robot Showcase
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Hey Everyone! Welcome to the Build Blog of the 2025 season of Reefscape from the MechRams team!:gear:

:loudspeaker: About Us!

We are team 9301, located in Chihuahua, Mexico. The team started in the FIRST Robotics Competition in 2023 with our first season, “CHARGED UP” at the Laguna’s Regional.

MechRams team started with 21 team members in our rookie season. Now, in this 2025 season, the team has grown to 41 members distributed across different work areas.

:spiral_calendar: Our 2025 Season Timeline

:small_blue_diamond: January: Prototyping, construction and testing
:small_blue_diamond: February: Monterrey Regional
:small_blue_diamond: April: Second Regional to be defined
:small_blue_diamond: May: ???

:busts_in_silhouette: Meet the MechRams

Our team is divided into specialized areas to ensure efficiency and collaboration:

:small_blue_diamond: Design and Engineering
:small_blue_diamond: Programming and Electronics
:small_blue_diamond: Strategy and Scouting
:small_blue_diamond: Business and Marketing

Each area works together to bring our vision to life, making every season a learning and growing experience!

:star2: Our Mission and Values

At MechRams, we aim to inspire innovation and teamwork through robotics, while fostering a culture of learning, collaboration, and community outreach.

:trophy: Achievements

  • Judges Award at Laguna’s Regional, 2023
  • Team Spirit Award at Orange County Regional in California, 2024.
  • Successfully built our first competition robot in just 6 weeks
  • Increased team size from 21 to 41members in two seasons

MECHRAMS ON SEASON '25

For this new season, MechRams has planned to improve on the design of our robot and to make it as light and compact as possible. On the other hand, we seek to create a weekly build blog and portfolio to have a better way of documenting our processes and achievements.

MECHRAMS RESOURCES:

:small_blue_diamond: The Blue Alliance
:movie_camera: Instagram

:mega: Stay Connected!

We’d love to hear your thoughts or advice for our team as we continue to grow! Feel free to comment or reach out to us through our social media channels. Let’s make this season unforgettable!

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REEFSCAPE Season :coral:
By: MechRams 9301 Social Media team.

Hey everyone!

Welcome to our build blog for the 2025 season! :tada: This is our first time creating a build blog, and we’re very excited to take you along with us on this 7 week journey. Throughout this season, we’ll be sharing updates on our progress, including the challenges we face, the solutions we discover, and the exciting milestones we achieve as we build our robot for the competition.

As a rookie team just two years ago, we’ve learned so much about teamwork, innovation, and the importance of pushing boundaries. Now, as we prepare for our third season, we’re more motivated than ever to improve, collaborate, and showcase the best version of our robot and team.

:robot: Game Analysis

The day after the Kickoff of the challenge, the team analyzed the entire game and read the whole game manual to determine the type of robot we would build this year.

To help with the decision, we used a robot classification system.

Robot A1: A robot designed to place corals at level one and has the ability to hang from the deep cage.

Robot A2: A similar robot to A1, with a slight variation. This robot can place corals at higher levels, beyond just level one.

Robot B: A robot that is solely capable of handling algae and can also hang from the deep cage.

Robot C: A robot capable of placing corals at levels 1, 2, and 3 in the placement area, with the ability to hang from the shallow cage.

:100:Robot Points

In addition to this analysis, we evaluated how many points each type of robot could earn, based on the performance of our robots in previous seasons. We analyzed various factors such as speed, accuracy, and consistency in completing the number of cycles per match, as well as the ability to adapt to different strategies during competitions.

This analysis also helped us identify potential areas for improvement, allowing us to refine both our design and strategy for the upcoming season

:mechanical_arm:Prototyping

After this, the team start to work on the mechanisms design, we created some prototypes of “claws” or “hangers” for our robot to hang from the deep cage and grab the corals. Part of our design team reviewed ideas and videos of robots from other teams and past seasons to brainstorm mechanisms we could use.

After that, they began sketching on paper and whiteboards to visualize the ideas physically.

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:nut_and_bolt: Modifying the Robot

While the mechanical team focused on designing mechanisms for our robot, the programming and electronics team worked on reorganizing the cable routing at the base of the robot. In past seasons, the electronics team identified the need for a more efficient and organized wiring system. To address this, they prioritized optimizing the cable layout to enhance both functionality and accessibility.

Additionally, they 3D-printed four custom mounts to securely position the SPARKs on the sides of the wheels of our swerve chassis.

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Meanwhile, the programming team began testing the functionality of our LIMELIGHT camera. This is the first time we are using a professional-grade camera, a significant upgrade from the webcams used in previous seasons due to budget constraints. This new addition represents an exciting leap forward for our team’s on-field visualization capabilities.

:camera: Camera Angle Test

One of the tests we conducted was to determine the angle at which our camera can detect more than one AprilTag simultaneously. This test is crucial, as the team plans to mount the camera directly on the chassis.

To support this, the programming team designed a custom camera mount in SolidWorks to securely attach it to the chassis. By taking charge of the CAD modeling process, they ensured the design was tailored to meet their specific needs for optimal performance.

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:gear:Making decisions

To improve the performance of our robot, the team decided to change the gear ratio of our swerve modules from L1 to L2.

After analyzing this season’s game, we determined that using an L1 configuration on a lightweight robot is not the most optimal choice. The L2 configuration is perfect for us, as this season the team aims to build a robot that is lightweight yet balanced in terms of speed and strength.

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Why Choose the L2 Gear Ratio?

By switching to the L2 gear ratio, we will be gaining velocity, allowing our robot to have better of maximum velocity while in motion. This enhancement will help us manipulate the corals used in matches more effectively and provide better speed and force if we need to assist in defense during gameplay.

Additionally, the L2 ratio will give us more stable control of the robot. The team considers stability to be fundamental for this season’s challenge, especially since it is our first time using April Tags and a camera that needs to operate within a specific range to detect the codes on the April Tags.