Today was TShirt day! We handed out new shirts to every one on the frc and vex teams, then did a team picture afterwords. We also got our new benches in today.

CAD

The elevator feels like it has been at ~98% complete for the last few meeting days. Then we find something small wrong, and we tweak it and it feels at the same percent complete again. This cycle goes on and on. This is probably a good thing as it means we should have fewer problems when we move to manufacturing and assembly as the design is further refined. But at the moment it’s not the most fun thing and I can’t wait until we start making the parts. Which hopefully should begin tomorrow as the first part drawings were made tonight.

It was all hands on deck for intake and hopper today. There students huddled around the CAD computers all working towards getting the first versions done. The CAD team can feel the pressure and its not a fun spot to be in, they know the whole team is waiting on them, and they are trying their best to progress.

Programming

Today programming was working on running paths on last years robot. Another team is still investigating ramestate controller and the new method of path following.

Manufacturing

Today manufacturing started assembly on the second robots drive base. We ran into some odd issues tho. It started with one gusset not lining up correctly on the last hole on one side. Further investigation showed that both rails had holes that were completely off on the back side. These parts where made on the cnc haas, so the drill bit must have walked on the final hole.

We also attempted to put together a moving chassis today but couldn’t find the correct size bolts to attach the gearbox to the drive base. We will pick some up tomorrow and resume. There is probably a day of assembly to get the base rolling, then we have to cobble together some electronics to get it moving on its own power.