by The Hitchhikers | Jan 18, 2018 | Build season
The focus of this week has been game strategy, designing, prototyping, and testing programming for our robot. During the first couple of days, we finalized our game strategy. Once we figured out how we wanted to play Power Up, we started working on the design for the robot and then started the process of prototyping the parts. The main part we tested was the design for picking up cubes and delivering them to the scoring areas. So far, we have a general design for the robot, have not had any major issues, and expect to finish our robot on schedule.
On the business side of things, Chairman’s has been submitted and designs for the team shirt and buttons are underway.
by The Hitchhikers | Jan 17, 2018 | Build season
Tension was high and excitement was tangible in the room where students, mentors, and alumni stood around the TV, waiting for the 2018 game reveal. After a long introduction hinting at what was to come and a freeze right before the unveiling of the game, the 2018 challenge Power Up was announced.
Power Up is a game where two teams composed of three robots work to deliver cubes to three different areas: the scale, the switch, and the vault. Unlike previous years, the amount of points gifted is mainly determined by time instead of a set amount of points each time you deliver an element. Points are earned per second when the scale or switch is tilted in your alliance’s favor. More points may be scored by delivering cubes to the vault and trading them for “power ups.” Each power up gives your alliance a unique advantage. At the last thirty seconds, robots may climb the scale to gain extra points. During the autonomous period, robots are preprogrammed to score by delivering cubes to the scale or switch. In teleop period, robots are controlled by human drivers as they attempt to gain control of the scale or switch, trade in cubes for power ups via the vault, and climb at the end.
Right after the unveiling of this year’s competition, we split up into groups and began to brainstorm everything from game strategy to possible robot designs. An hour or so later, we all got together and had each group present their ideas. Together, we came up with a game strategy and a general robot design.
by The Hitchhikers | Jan 16, 2018 | Off Season
As the month of November set in, excitement for the Christmas Parade began to build. For three years, we have participated in the Cary Christmas Parade, spreading the joy of FIRST to hundreds of people. Our tradition of participating in a Christmas Parade continued this year, but unlike previous years, we decided to participate in Apex’s Christmas Parade.
Every year, we incorporate elements from the most recent game into our float. This year, the game had a steampunk theme. To connect the theme to the holidays, we decided to make our float into a Christmas steam engine. After finalizing a design, we immediately started to work on the float. To make our train, we used the gears from STEAMworks, elements from Recycle Rush, and a fog machine. Unlike the Cary Christmas Parade, Apex’s parade is at night. As a result, we also had to do some slight adjustments to the original float. For example, we decorated our robots and float in hundreds of lights to make them visible. A few meetings later, the float was finished.
On the day of the parade, we put the finishing touches on our float and headed to the queuing lineup. While waiting for the parade to start, we played a game of ultimate frisbee to pass the time and keep warm. After about an hour of frisbee, it was time for the parade to start. Despite a few communication and technical difficulties, the parade was quite successful! The team had a fantastic time, and many people told us how impressed they were with our demonstration!
by The Hitchhikers | Jan 15, 2018 | Competitions
In 2013, we and three fellow NC teams founded the off-season competition Thundering Herd of Robots (THOR). Ever since then, we have continued to help out with THOR and participate in the tournament. This year was no different.
Training is the primary focus during the off-season, so the primary focus for THOR was to get our new students ready for the 2018 FRC game Power Up. In our makeshift Pit at the End of the Universe, there was a sign-up schedule for the Drive Team. The team took turns trying each role throughout the day. Despite a couple of electrical problems and a constantly changing Drive Team, we did well and finished qualifications ranked 10th.
During Alliance Selections, we were the first pick of the 5th alliance. At the end of the selections, our two alliance partners were Team 4816, Gadget Girls, and Team 5518, Techno Wolves. Our alliance did not advance beyond quarterfinals, but we gained something more important than a win and a trophy. All of the goals we set out to achieve at THOR were accomplished. Our new students learned some valuable lessons, we found some pretty talented drivers, and we all had an amazing time!
by The Hitchhikers | Jan 12, 2018 | Competitions
One of our off-season goals was to keep the positive momentum from Worlds going. Another goal was to train up our new students joining the team by redoing Slartibartfast, our STEAMworks robot, in order to equip them for the upcoming season. Before touching Slartibartfast, we held training classes on safety, mechanical, electrical, and programming for all of our students, new or veteran. After weeks of training courses, we were ready to work on Slartibartfast!
Due to SCRIW, an off-season competition in South Carolina we were participating in, we knew we had to make our changes to Slartibartfast in about two weeks. We began by completely stripping Slartibartfast of his electronics and refitting him with a new solid wiring system. Following this, we changed his drivetrain to the one we used on Trillian, our 2013 robot. In doing so, he gained the ability to push other robots out of the way. The last improvement was to replace his programming code with new code that was developed by our new programming team. Finally, Slartibartfast was ready for competition!
As in previous years, a goal of off-season competitions is to train our new students. The other goal of off-season tournaments is to give our team members the opportunity to drive the robot in a competitive setting and see who is interested in being on the Drive Team. Even without a consistent driver, Slartibartfast rose to the top of the rankings. By the end of the day, we found ourselves ranked first.
Our first pick of Alliance Selections was Team 4451, Robotz Garage, our longtime friends from South Carolina. At the end of selections, our third and fourth alliance partners were Team 3737, Roto Raptors, and Team 283, The Generals. With our alliance, we quickly made it to the finals! The first finals match went our way, but not without Slartibartfast taking some damage. The wire connecting the drivetrain motors to the roboRIO had broken. To give us time to fix our robot, we decided to substitute ourselves with Team 283 and sat the second match out to fix Slartibartfast. Unfortunately, the other alliance won. It came down to the wire at SCRIW, but with a newly repaired Slartibartfast, our alliance pulled a win and became SCRIW champions for the third time!
But it was not over. We still had the Mentor Match to compete in. Coincidentally, the mentors who filled the roles of Drive Coach, Main Driver, and Secondary Driver were the parents of the students who filled those roles in our actual competition season. They all proved to be excellent at their respective positions, navigating Slartibartfast through the field, cycling gears, and climbing as if they had done it a thousand times!
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