FRC558 is proud to present our 2016 Robot “BRICK”
This is the re-designed robot as driven at the New England Hartford District Event
How many teams in FRC are bold enough to rebuild their entire robot after winning a week 1 event in dominant fashion as the #1 alliance captain?
558 deserves much respect, and with this iteration I think they’ve really found “simplicity on the other side of complexity” with their hybrid intake / shooter. What a great use of the build rules and withholding allowance to never stop improving.
558’s incredible contribution to our alliance winning this past weekend, as well as their extremely well deserved Chairman’s win, simply reaffirms the fact that they’re one of the most amazing teams in every aspect of FIRST.
I am so proud of this team and the work we did to fabricate and plan for the redesign of this robot. The students worked their tails off during those many late nights. It was a risky move but it paid off.
Seriously I was shocked that 558 was planning a brand new robot despite their dominant win at Waterbury at the start of the season.
This whole team is crazy and I absolutely love it. Top team in Connecticut and in New England in my opinion.
Your entire team should be proud of themselves!!! Congrats to you guys as well for the win this weekend.
And a super congrats on the Chairmans !!!
4557 can’t wait to do a few more matches with your team at the XL center
Hey, congrats on your win and Chairman’s! It’s amazing to see a team go out with two Blue Banners!
When Foss told me about this idea before Waterbury, I told him he was crazy.
When Foss told me he wanted to actually go through with the rebuild after winning Waterbury, I told him he was crazy.
When Foss actually finally told me “We went to ‘Brick’ for Hartford”, I told him he was crazy.
When I saw Brick in person about a week ago, I told Foss he was crazy.
Morale of the Story: Foss is Crazy…Crazy Smart. 558 managed to field 2 different robots that both won district events. Just let that sink in for a bit.
Congrats 558!
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I was so confused Friday eve when I walked over to say hello to 558 after inspection of our teams bot and saw yours putting together an entirely new robot. After a few moments of processing this in my mind I couldn’t help but think… So risky. Which quickly turned to so inspiring !! Great job !!
Foss, can you give some details about the rebuild? How much was withholding and how much was done at the event? How much of the robot really had to change?
Congrats and great job.
Thats a hot bot.
May take him a while to respond about build… He is probably working on another one for district champs !!! Lol
We should start a pool. Does 558 build yet another bot for Stronghold?
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.
Brick is here to stay, but the kids don’t plan to stop with iterations.
Just so you know foss, you inspire more than just your students! Many other students were/are inspired by that gutsy move, and I know of at least one other mentor that was also inspired.
Really cool story, thanks for sharing the process. Very inspiring.
Do you have plans to add a shot from the OW?
-Mike
We helped the students reach 4 out of 5 their build goals. We need to get them to reach their fifth build goal!! While I will not say here what that last goal is, I can say there might be a photo of our white board somewhere out here on the interweb that shows the five.
Awesome job guys! Congrats on Chairman’s! Hoping to hang out with you guys at the District Championship.
Mike,
That will be part of our discussion tonight as we break down the successes and failures of this past weekend.
We love the shot we have now, but as you can tell we love iteration and making ourselves be the best we possibly can.
-Andy
Tremendous story, effort, and creativity! Best of luck down in Hartford for the DCMP! We look forward to playing with you.