The agenda for the time between Austin and Amarillo consists of auto, traversal, and back spin reduction. Tonight we are progressing on all three fronts. The main robot has spent most of the night running auto routines. The second robot is doing testing with the PTFE hood backing to see how much it affects the shot of the cargo.

The programming team has gotten the 3 cargo auto working nice and consistent. The four cargo auto is so close. We are consistently able to run the path and get the 4 pieces of cargo and shoot them into the upper hub, we just need to claw back some time. It currently takes 17 seconds to run the routine. The shooting can get a little bit of time shaved off of it, after that it gets harder. One thing is to shorten the paths, just barely touching the cargo. There is nothing faster than distance you don’t have to move. After that it starts getting a little more wild, the robot will start running into the field to stop quicker. No need to slow down if you can just hit the hub full speed.

We are also working on improving the hub we have in the shop to more closely resemble the field. The cone is made out of double walled plastic, so its not quiet right. The agitator is ready to add to the rest of the hub assembly.

A small side project we are also working on testing is the possibility of adding articulation to the intake. It would be powered by a Neo to move the intake up and down. We can probably make it work by adding one motor and a vex hub. No additional parts required. It might not be strong enough to hold the intake up with the surgical tubing so that might have to change.