Prototyping has been a staple in most robotics teams, and we’re no exception. The prototyping phase helps us test out different mechanisms and weigh their pros/cons against each other. It also provides our newer members with a chance to learn new skills in fabrication, design and use of tools.

We usually kickoff the prototyping phase around the middle to end of the first week of build season. We usually want to get the field elements built and some high level strategy/robot design discussions done before we put screws to wood and build a test bed. The availability of field elements also helps us test the prototypes more accurately, and provides really nice visual feedback whenever our power cells miss the target.

Day 4 (January 7th)

We finally got done with all the field elements, including the trench and control panel. Some of our mentors are a little wary about the stability of the A-Frame Generator Switch, but… we’ll see what happens.

Day 5 (January 8th)

The team split into several prototyping groups, each working on different mechanisms, including the shooting mechanisms, intakes and climbers. Good progress was made, much sawdust was generated, and general fun was had!

It only took eleventy-million tries to get this shot

Being able to prototype quickly and efficiently is an invaluable skill, since prototypes are supposed to be quick-and-dirty, but also serve to inform good design decisions. We enjoy using whatever we have available in the shop for prototyping. Most of the time, that includes 2x4s, Plywood, scrap aluminum tubing, PVC pipe and polycarbonate sheets. These materials are easy to machine, and produce assemblies that are easy to put together. Like Emeril says, “BAM”, done.

Towards the end of the day, we got a couple of different shooting mechanisms kind of done and did some initial testing on them.

Day 6 (January 9th)

More work was done on the prototypes, with refinements to the shooter mechanisms, including adjusting exit angles, speeds and ball compression. We’re trying out a variety of different techniques and seeing which one does the best. We’re also making sure to keep an eye on how everything gets packaged together on the actual robot.

We’re using an old Kit-of-Parts chassis as a test bed for the mechanisms, especially the intake, since it provides a fairly accurate analog to the current Kit-of-Parts chassis which we intend on using.

Day 7 (January 10th)

One of the most useful tools we have in the shop right now is an X-Carve CNC Router, which was kindly donated by one of our sponsors. This has been a game changer for our team as we’re now capable of very quickly and accurately cutting out complex pieces, repeatedly. It’s been a while since we fired it up (not since last build season), so our coach ZQ did what any sane person would do, and cut out a fidget spinner. Because of course that’s what you do.

Day 8 (January 11th)

More progress was made on the various prototypes including a variety of elevator designs for the climber. We also got a workable intake going and attached to the prototype robot chassis. More iterations needed on the whole, but we’re on a good pace! We’re actually going a little faster than we did last season, so that’s a good start.

Some of our newer members also started putting together the practice robot drivetrain, mainly as an introduction to “how to read instructions”. They did a great job! We haven’t told them yet that they’ll probably have to disassemble it shortly in preparation for some slight modifications. Shhh!

Also, it was unseasonably warm here in NYC. We need to find a way to prototype outside when it’s 65 degrees…

Day 9 (January 12th)

Ridiculously productive day! We got a bunch of shooter prototypes going, an intake prototype (that had some hidden features!) and a variety of climbing hooks made.

The CNC got put to good use, churning out free-range, artisanal wooden prototype pulleys for the intake, as well as side frames for the various shooter prototypes.

One of the joys of prototyping is watching your ideas come to life, especially if it has a previously unaccounted for side benefit. While testing our intake, we realized that we could actually (potentially) deposit power cells into the low goal. This wasn’t part of our initial design, but as our team mantra goes “if it works, it works”.

Day 10 (January 13th)

10 days in, and we’re in pretty good shape. We dialed in more shooter prototypes, and we have some designs for a climbing elevator. More progress made on the conveyor system and more though was put into how everything gets packaged together. We’re waiting on a bunch more parts to come in this week and can probably start assembling the practice robot frame and cutting out close-to-production pieces on the CNC.

That’s it for the updates for now! Stay tuned for more adventures of the G-House Pirates as we sail through the air like a power cell, uh I mean, sail through this season.

“Welcome to the 2020 FIRST Robotics Competition, and this year’s game, INFINITE RECHARGE!”

Where on earth did the off-season go? Well, too late for moping, we’re back in the swing of things with a new FIRST Robotics Competition game. This year, robots, uh, droids, work together to protect FIRST City from an incoming asteroid strike! FIRST partnered with Star Wars: Force for Chance this year, and the game definitely has a ton of Star Wars inspired motifs in it. From the Aurebesh writing in the Game Manual, to what looks like a Death Star exhaust port, the wonks at Disney and Lucasfilm definitely played a major role in the look-and-feel of the game field.

Take a look at the video below for an overview of the challenge for this year:

Kickoff Day (January 4th)

The team got a fair bit larger this year, and for the first time in a while, we had to have a split kickoff, with some students attending our usual kickoff event at Long Island University, and others who watched the stream at the school.

This year, our coach ZQ gave the keynote speech, where he talked about how failure and screwing up are part of the robot building process, and that every FRC team member has a huge network of people who are willing to help them out with problems.

The game reveal video was quite literally a star-studded affair (well, not just because it was Star Wars themed… ish), with appearances by the stars of the most recent Star Wars films, and R2-D2. This year’s game field looks pretty interesting, and we were glad to have a ball shooting game again. This actually worked out great for us, since one of our prototyping sessions involved building a 2017-esque ball shooter.

We spent the time after kickoff going through the manual and writing down important information about scoring, As a way to get newer members of our team accustomed to reading the manual and picking out important details, we had small groups read different sections and had a member of each group present to the team. We also started cutting out parts of the field while allowing the game details to soak in.

Day 2 (January 5th)

Our second day of build was spent building more field elements, as well as starting to brainstorm about strategy and robot design. As a team, we decided that we definitely needed to be able to score with the power cells, as well as climb the generator switch. The team again split into smaller groups to discuss ideas on how we could tackle each of those sections, and presented the ideas to the whole team. Some good ideas were brought up, and many questions were asked. With some ideas in mind, the team continued building out the field, in preparation for prototyping later this week.

Day 3 (January 6th)

Day 3 was mainly spent building the field elements. We’re almost done! We currently have the Loading Bay, the Power Port (this thing is HUGE), and the A-Frames for the Generator Switch assembled. All we’re left with is some smaller components for the Switch assembly, and the Trench + Control Panel. We’re hoping to have everything built by Day 4 so that we can start prototyping in earnest.

With that, we’re off to go do more robot stuff! Stay tuned for more updates from your favorite robotic pirates!

Field Building

How many kids does it take to assemble an A-Frame?

Someone's happy

Prototyping, or a thinly veiled excuse for fun and games