BFHS robotics team making headway
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February 1, 2014 |
By Derek Reynolds
FIRST Team 2130
Over the past three weeks, Bonners Ferry High
School robotics FIRST Team 2130 has progressed
significantly, but with three weeks down we only
have until February 18 to get our robot done.
After February 18, the competitions start and we
can no longer work on our robot.
So in order to get a significant amount of work
done we have had students, mentors, and Team
2130 alumni work together to idealize and build
the best design.
We took our time and thought over the multiple
strategies we could have taken, but in the end
we went with a strong shooter robot. After doing
this, we went directly to choosing what kind of
design for the robot would be most practical.
The idea for the robot is to make a robot that
loads the ball in the back and in the process
loads the ball into the arms of the shooter. The
shooter rotates on a bar suspended about 2.5’
above the ground by two supports. The loading
arms are vertical rotating cylinders that will
suck the ball in so that it rests on the
shooter’s arms.
We have already built the stock version of our
chassis and now we need to adjust it so that it
is within the perimeter range we are allowed.
Along with sizing it down, we must find
different sized belts to drive the wheels. We
also have a prototype shooter and loader, so we
should begin building the robot this week.
Our programmers on FIRST Team 2310 have been
working hard to get the programming for the
robot done before the final version of the robot
is built and have been succeeding.
We ran into problems such as running motors for
the shooter without affecting the others. But,
then we discovered it was just simply a wiring
problem.
We have also just programmed the eye for the
robot. The eye allows the driver to see from the
robot’s point of view. It also allows for
receiving a reflected light so that the robot’s
driver can simply press a button for the robot
to aim and shoot, instead of trying to shoot
manually.
The business students of Team 2130 have been
making headway. We made numerous improvements to
our website,
http://bfhsrobotics.com. The Chairman’s and
Woodie Flowers essays are nearly finished. We
have several students writing articles to inform
the public about our progression throughout the
whole season of 2014 FIRST Robotics.
For any more information about FIRST Team 2130,
contact Edward Katz at (208)267-3149. |
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