"The Voice"

To start off this Saturday Shaun Davis brought celebratory cookies because it was his birthday. Throughout the day members were able to grab cookies to keep them energized for working. Chairman’s team filmed the robot’s progress in the workroom for the Chairman’s award video, which will be due later in February. They also did test filming of some Trident members in order to find “the voice” that will speak during the video. Programming team finished the game device code and later in the day ran driver tests. Safety team painted over the blue and yellow pit to make it white. Mechanical team’s priority today was to finish prototyping the robot. Controls team wired the controls board and attached it to the chassis, and also made breakouts for the encoders. Design team worked hard today to modify both the P71 gearbox so that it could later be assembled. They also manufactured the claws for the tele-op game device and lift carriages, as well as mounted the lift to the robot, the controls to the robot, and the battery to the robot. 

20 Days Left

This Monday the leaders of Trident Robotics met with the mayor, Kristina Kovarik, to discuss what our team has already done with regards to community outreach and our goals moving forward in the Gurnee area.

To begin Tuesday’s meeting, Spencer addressed the team on a big change in structure. Going forward certain team members have been delegated with more specific aspects of the robot process. They will continue to work along with their subteam members but now there are also more definite leadership roles amongst the groups. Chairman’s team worked on their video application for the Chairman’s award, and they put up a bonus video from The Whisper Challenge on Youtube. Programming team worked on the mecanum drive code. Safety team painted the pit in the woodshop. Mechanical team made ground on constructing the prototype robot and Controls team split up their work to focus on the encoder, powerpoles, layout, PWM, and wire organization. Design team also split up their work to further develop the chassis, lift, and claw.

Adam Khan Comes To Visit

Thursday January 22nd, Adam Khan came to visit our team's lab. He stopped by to discuss with each subteam what they have been doing so far this season. Before leaving we showed him our 3 robots and gave him the opportunity to drive them. We are so grateful to have his support as a former WTHS student turned engineer.

Meeting Adam Khan

Yesterday some team members were given the opportunity to meet with Adam Kahn, WTHS Alumn, Founder & Chief Executive of AKHAN Technologies. Along with bringing his company to Illinois he plans to get involved with the local community and support STEM learning at WTHS. In the future he plans to keep in touch with our team as he sees the potential within the FIRST community. He is an inspiration to WTHS students and Trident Robotics members that aspire to pursue futures in Engineering.

Tecnova Tour

Last week the programming team went to Tecnova for a tour and some training. Mr. Sean O'Day gave the members a tour of the production facility while Mr. Balla trained them in basic LabVIEW and taught them how to map and use State Machines.

Operation Chassis

Chairman’s team started the day off by announcing what hat won the identity ballot. So next time you see our team at competition we will all be wearing:

Chairman’s team also started to research how to apply for the Dean’s List award and Chairman’s award. They began developing plans to organize a meet and greet with children that they can mentor, participate at Feed My Starving Children, and help seniors with technology. Chairman’s also looked for materials that they could use to incorporate our theme, under the sea, into the pit. In addition, Sage Iverson and Britany Osterman, of Chairman’s team, attended the Coffee with the Mayor event to reach out to Kristina Kovarik about how we could get involved in the community.

Programming team drew out state machines for the different game pieces of the robot. Safety team remained in the woodshop today to maintain the field and fix any errors that they found within the field design. Mechanical team worked closely with Design team to complete the chassis and fix the umbrella mechanism. Controls team fixed the pneumatic leaks, finished wiring the chassis, and tried to figure out how to get the motors to work with the new controls. Tomorrow the team will meet from 8am-12pm and Monday 9am-4pm.

Work Hard Wednesday

Today we got on with a smaller than normal team as some members stayed home to work on homework. Chairman’s team printed out an abundance of flyers for our Suzy’s Swirl fundraiser which will be held Tuesday, January 20^th from 6-9pm in Gurnee. Suzy’s Swirl will be donating 20% of the proceeds towards our team (so be sure to stop by!).

They also worked on finalizing the team’s image by sending out a ballot via our Google drive for members to choose their preferred costumes.  Chairman’s safety leader wrote a booklet that promotes smart lab behavior amongst the other teams in the FRC community. Safety team spent their time in the woodshop as they tried to finish building the field components. Programming team worked on the test robot. Mechanical team worked hard to clean the middle room, weld, and verify that Design team’s working drawings were capable of being turned into a real product. Controls team put the solenoids on the robot and toiled with the pneumatic tubing. Design team took on a heavy load today as they worked to adapt the claw device, calculate the chassis weight to determine whether or not it should be pocketed (it most likely will be), finalized the motor system for autonomous mode and the tele-op period, and worked on their drawings and prototyping for the slide mechanism.

...And We're Off

Members escaped from the below 10° weather into the lab this morning at 8:30am. Today is our first Saturday since Kick-Off weekend and to say people are excited is an understatement. To begin the day, Chairman’s team travelled to find donations of lumber for our team to build a practice arena. They weren’t able to bring back any lumber to the lab today, but Chairman’s will be keeping in contact with managers from 84 Lumber, Lowes, and Home Depot. Stopping at Dollar Tree was also a priority for the sub-team as they searched for an image our team could create via costumes or accessories that would expand recognition at competition. Our hallway window display is also finished and looking better than ever!

Programming team spent the morning watching videos on how to use the CNC mill and CNC router to cut out parts for our prototype. Safety team made sure that everybody was wearing their safety glasses when needed and they also worked on building the field. Mechanical team was hard at work all day prototyping the tote stacking mechanism, bin handler, and their specialized game piece whilst Controls team revised the drive train, and completed the tele-op model device. Design team set up a station for the tote pick-up mechanism, researched wiring with CAN, and redid the wiring with quick connects. At 4:30pm members ventured back out into the then 15° weather in hopes of warmer temperatures next week.