Last Week Before our First Qualifier Meet!

This week, we were able to finish building the lift for our claw. Most of the other parts of our robot are completed, but we just need to attach them all together; the drivetrain, claw, and carousel spinner were all finished before this week. Last week, we were able to attach most of the these things together. At the beginning of the week, we had attached the carousel spinner and giant gear platform for the lift, but we hadn't figured out how to attach the lift to the gear, which will turn the lift and claw around so that we can score game elements on the shipping hub.

Our solution to attaching the lift to the large gear was another 3D printed part with pilot holes for brackets and screws. Unfortunately, our 3D printer wasn't being cooperative and wouldn't print the part we had designed. A couple of our team members brainstormed a way to make a similar part out of wood very quickly. They were able to do just that and epoxy it and the brackets to hold the lift in place on top of the spinning gear. We also received a shipment this week to extend our lift by another layer so it would be tall enough to reach the top of the shipping hub and cap it.

Our lift is an extra segment tall and attached with wood and brackets to the gear

Our league begins competitions this next weekend, so this week we will be finishing up building our robot (that's really just attaching the claw, wiring everything, and adding our team numbers). We are also going to aim to perfect our tele-op program as much as possible.

If you'd like to come watch us compete at the meet, we'd love to see you cheering us on in the stands. We hope to see you there!

Next week's blog post will include all the progress we make on our robot over the week getting ready for the competition and a full recap of our first competition. This will include all of our match scores and our ranking in the league. This is only a qualifying meet, so there will be no judging or awards. Nonetheless, we want to tell you all about the excitement of competing. Keep a good lookout on our Instagram for news about our competition as it's happening on Saturday and follow us (@batteriesnotincludedftc) for the most up-to-date information and exclusive news!

See you next week with a super exciting competition recap!