What We’ve Been Up To

• A Small Disruption and 12lb Bot Progress

  It’s been a while since the last update here, but this gap is not without reason. Unfortunately, our advisor suffered from an unexpected medical complication in October, preventing normal robotics meetings from happening until Monday, the 2nd of December. Fortunately, he recovered, and now we’re back to normal. As a result of this, our 12lb teams were able to meet separately outside of the normal robotics meetings to work on the CAD design of our vertical spinner robot. The first piece of news involves fundraising: since the All-Nigher had to be cancelled (it was simply not feasible given the aforementioned medical issue), we’re instead doing a bake sale on December 8th. It will be at Oliver’s Market in Cotati from 10am to 1pm. We will have lots of homemade baked goods. Students are bringing items ranging from flan and meringue, to chocolate chip cookies and pizzelles.

  

  On another note, we’re pleased to announce that the Sacramento Bot Battles (SBB) competition will be accepting 1lb PLANT (plastic antweight) teams this year. This is the same event in which we have participated with 15lb bots in the past, only in another weight class. Groups of students in the educational division will be able to bring their robots to the competition in April along with the 12lb teams. While they compete, our two (or maybe 3) 12lb bots will be facing off against bots from other high schools and colleges. More details on the competition to come.

  

  Most of what has happened in the past few weeks has pertained to design of our new 12lb bots. Our 3rd iteration of Free Hugs, aptly named REV 3 has had its design finalized, awaiting only manufacturing. Like in previous years, it is a horizontal spinner, but other than that, nearly everything is different. We are using much stronger materials, such as AR500 steel, as well as brand new electronics. For example, we are utilizing brushless drive motors to give the bot much greater power. The chassis has undergone a complete redesign and will be 100% billet aluminum, which will significantly improve the strength and durability of the bot. Huge progress has also been made on our new 12lb vertical spinner, Angular Aggression. The chassis will be made from a combination of UHMW, AR500, and aluminum, while the weapon will be CNC machined out of S7 tool steel. In the past month, we’ve went from concept to a well-developed CAD model, with more changes pending. We are using a brushless direct drive system to the rear wheels, with belts that run to smaller front wheels to give it 4 wheel drive. It will also have a fork and wedge configuration that we can change depending on if we are fighting a horizontal or vertical spinner. Students have taken distinct roles on the project, with different people working on the frame, wheel hubs, armor, and more. All in all, the robotics team is returning in force, especially as serious manufacturing will begin after winter break!