We are a full eighth grade team based in Byron. We have two newcomers, but it’s our second year competing in FTC. Byron hasn’t been to state in a while, so our goal is to make it happen. We are hoping to get an award for our presentations. Our team has been working very hard on our robot: we spent a month just on the base. Redoing the wheels took around two months, and the slide and claw took another month. The capstone was the biggest challenge. It took about six tries to get it right. We have meetings three times a week, adding up to nine hours per week of work. Our team is very proud that we have kept in the top five since the week one competition. Our goal is to be the one choosing our team in the alliance selection. This year has been the hardest, but we have overcome that very well. 

Strategy

During matches, our main drivers Robert and Weston have a plan mapped out. During the autonomous period, they either park with a cone in our triangle, or we use our color sensor. For tele-op, Robert controls the base and wheel movements. Weston pilots the claw and they both work together to move around. Weston keeps an eye out if the cone will drop from the claw and makes sure to score in the low goal. They mainly work on getting a small circuit to have the most point output in the game. In the endgame, they use the new capstone to secure our junction with our new and improved claw.

Our robot consists of Gobuilda, Tetrix, REV, 3D Filament and Mecanum wheels. The base is made from Gobuilda, as well as the stands for hubs and a linear slide. The claw is made from Tetrix parts and servos. The Mecanum wheels were very confusing for our team. We had to create 3D printed spacers for the wheels. We also made the claw longer to grab the cones more efficiently and to finalize the final version of the capstone.