#robowranglers

[overheard-at-kickoff]

Recycle Rush was a terrible game but those robots had such great designs. It’s fantastic what beauty can result simply by removing the bumpers and the horizontal size constraints.

Look at these beautiful monstrosities.

This is “Depth Charge” from 2826, a robot that picked up the three floor cans during auto. Stunning.

This is “Batman and Robin” from 148. It’s two separate robots connected by an electrical tether. Magnificent.

This is “Endeavour“ from 118 (no stranger to fabulous robot designs). It’s just... so gold. And the pneumatic cylinders controlling the can grabbers made the best sounds.

This is “Pal V17“ from 237. Maybe it wasn’t as successful as the others listed, but it’s got such a cool can grabber design. It’s a freaking rake. And that black and yellow... [kisses fingertips like a French chef]

[Image source: The Blue Alliance]

[robowranglers-blog]

2017 Build Log 24: Across the Spectrum

Today we shared our resources and shop with team 3847 Spectrum from Houston, TX. They used our field and shop to practice for their “Week Zero” competition, and we exchanged advice and tips for the remaining build season and the competition season that we are all so eager to dive into.

As competition season approaches, so does the debut of the robot and our team’s open house, which will take place on February 20th. To commemorate the event, the media and marketing team have applied for and gained approval for a snapchat filter that will be exclusive to the unveiling of the new robot. The open house will start at 6 p.m. in the Robowranglers’ shop in the CTE Building. 

After hours of hard work tweaking and perfecting sub systems on the robots, our teams decided to set down the ratchet-wrenches to take the pent up energy and frustration from robots out on each other through a friendly game of ultimate extreme Robowrangler dodge-ball.  -

[robowranglers-blog]

2017 Build Log 22: Drive Team

Yesterday, Ms. Emerson announced our official positions on the team for the fast-approaching competition season. The pit crew, media team, scouts and ninjas were assigned, along with the drive team. Coleman and Katie are the driver and operator duo; Danielle and Nicolas are the human player and pilot. It took a lot of deliberation on the behalf of the mentors, but we are confident that they made the best choices. 

The electrical team spent the majority of the meeting today working on batteries. The Chairman’s group worked on the their awards video for most of the meeting. Meanwhile, the Media/Marketing team filmed and edited footage for the RSN check_in clip, which will air during tomorrow's broadcast.  Be sure to tune in tomorrow at 6:00 PM tomorrow  to see us and several other teams report in on our progress on the last week of build season. 

[robowranglers-blog]

2017 Build Log 21: Our Favorite Time

The Chairmans group brainstormed for their presentation today. They met in one of the classrooms and discussed general plans for what to include. The media/marketing subgroup filmed the activities around the shop for both the fast-approaching reveal video and the weekly RSN check-in clip. 

The various mechanical subgroups have been testing the possible final versions of the shooter and hopper prototypes to make sure that the mechanisms that go on the robot are as best as they can possibly be. The Sparkies, our electricians, spent the day wiring up the drivetrains and prototypes. 

As Stop Build Day approaches, we’ll need to work even harder to make sure that our robot is at its peak performance. However, our season isn’t all work and no fun. Our school held the annual Favorites Dance, and several team members attended and enjoyed themselves. 

[robowranglers-blog]

2017 Build Log 17: Soft Taco Saturday

For today’s meeting, a subgroup continues to work on high fidelity shooter prototypes. The team wants to have no doubts about which shooter we choose for this year’s game. We continue to refine different aspects of the design, and we want to ensure the efficiency of the shooter in order to score as much as possible as fast as we can. 

The drive train subgroup has finished assembling the final drive train, and has handed it over to the Sparkies to be wired soon. The other assembled drive trains (along with older prototype drivetrains) are being used by the ball storage prototyping subgroup. They’ve been using one to prototype different ‘hopper’ configurations (internal ball handling), and  to see the flow of balls from the intake into the inside of the robot.

A small group of students have been working on old robots, they are getting these running so that we can practice defense with this year’s drive train. 

2/4/17

[robowranglers-blog]

Build Log 14: Time to Drive!

The drive train has taken the game field! At last night’s meeting the prototyping group finished assembling and wiring the drive train. It got it’s first test runs on this year’s field and the subgroup is making efforts to make sure that they chose the best drive options for the functionality of our robot this year.

The media/marketing team filmed and worked on the Fedex Challenge! We took our reaction picture to the kit of parts that Fedex sent us and we are going to be posting a new part soon. They’re also doing their weekly prep for the RoboSports check_in tomorrow evening.

In week four, we are looking to start to finalize different aspects of our design and our CAD team continues to make progress in mapping out the looks of this year’s robowrangler bot!

1/30/17

[robowranglers-blog]

2017 Build Log 13: Driving?

As build season is coming to a halfway point, the team continues to make big strides.  The robot CAD is coming along, and our different subgroups continue to prototype different robot elements in order to ensure that we make the best choices concerning the functionality and success of our robot. 

The drive train subgroup finished the assembly of our first drive train and the electrical team is working on getting the drive train to move on the field. We should be able to see it take the field for the first time sometime tonight or at Monday’s meeting!

The media/marketing team continues to document the progression of the season with photos, video, and GoPro footage. They are still working on the different parts of the FedEx challenge, and the two minute clip that is featured in the RoboSports Network weekly check_in. 

We are excited for the start of week 4!

1/28/17

[robowranglers-blog]

2017 Build Log 12: The First Rivets

With the Robowrangler’s first delivery of sheet metal, and our first taste of Sheet Metal Christmas, the team is hard at work.

Because of flu season, half of the team is bed-ridden. All of the students who aren’t ill and can make tonight’s meeting are ending week 3 with high spirits!

As the sub group aligns the sheet metal to make the frame of the first drive train, mentors make a call for all of the rookie team members and new mentors to come to the table where veteran students are getting rivets.They gather and line up and put their first Robowrangler rivets into the new sheet metal!

We are looking forward to starting to bring together all of the parts of the robot and making the CAD design in real life. 

1/27/17