BFHS robotics team making headway |
| February 1, 2014 |
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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. |