Emily Stephens
Criteria and About Us
Notes about the event:
3 parts to the challenge
Match the pixels by color - all the same or one of each
drone is basically a paper airplane
Team prop - sea shell (spirally)
3" across x 1/2" thick
1 red, 1 blue drone
backdrop is at a 30 degree angle
14" height bars
stage door - 12"
Can only hold 2 pixels at a time
About us:
Our name is ServoRays and our team picture is a stingray, so what does our logo need to look like? (I am marketing)
we are teaming up with Talkington
I'm making the drone - Paper Airplane*
Jones for Outreach
Thinking about:
having a shield to push
and a lift(arm)
& >14"
kinda throw the drone
trying to find a system for mosaic
FTC SCORING STRATEGY
We'll use the prop piece as a major point scorer (we want to use a shell). We are strategizing ways to make mosaic and adequate use of the space around the backboard. Using the claw to hang the robot. Doing one pixel in the claw and one in the shovel for double the points. And having a well made drone (which I'm making, oragami).
FTC TEST BED
🐚Gear (Arm)
-Rotates the arm to pick up the pixels
🐚Gears (Frame)
-Helps to speed up the robot and turns the wheels
🐚Motors (Arm)
-Turns the gear that rotates the arm
🐚Motors (Frame)
-Turn the gears that turn the wheels and is used to pull the string that extends the multi-stage arm
🐚Motors (Claw)
-Opens, closes, and allows the claw to bend
🐚Multi-stage arm
-Extends using a string so we may maintain the maximum height for our robot
🐚Battery
-Powers our robot
🐚Brain
-Used to control our robot
🐚Front wheels
-Not turned by a motor, used to make our robot even on all 4 sides
🐚Back wheels
-Steers the robot and allows it to move
SEP
26
Today I helped Mr. Newman build this -->
I helped him prepare the metal legs to be able to hold the yellow bars and helped him install it into our robotics station.
SEP 28
Worked on the Business Card. https://sites.google.com/midlandisd.net/the-mcqueens/home/engineering-2023-24/marketing/business-card I designed a prototype of what our business card could look like while my team was working on something that they did not need my help with. I make sure to include all of the information, but the design needs some improvements. We talked about our next steps in building and started on a plan.
Worked on planning out Goodie Bags and added my input into our marketing plans. https://sites.google.com/midlandisd.net/the-mcqueens/home/engineering-2023-24/marketing/goodie-bag I worked on adding ideas to our goodie bag section of our portfolio as we were discussing what we might want to include. We talked about hosting events at different places to get our name out there and to comply with the requirements. We are curently thinking of hosting at our old campus, Jones.
Oct 2
Signed up on the website Mr. Newman told us to, started building our specialty piece, a treasure chest. We didn't finish but we are going to paint one blue and the other red. We cut popsicle sticks and started gluing. We made sure that they would be the appropriate length for our criteria.
Oct 4
Working on our specialty piece. We cut the popsicles to the desired length and glued them together. We also planned out what they needed to look like and what colors they needed to be.
Oct 10
We put together the piece and painted the sticks. We sanded the foam until it was the shape we wanted and prepared to check the piece's stability. We are working on getting points based around this specialty piece and are beginning to work on the coding and preparation for the competition.
Oct 16
Notes from weekend scrimmage:
organize wires
fix the motor
re-design claw
design 'drone'
During scrimmage:
motor broke
battery died
kept sweeping pieces under
Oct 18
Worked on finalizing our Drone design and making extras of our design. From the Link above, I made one of each. They each fly different and as we get closer to competition, my team will decide which of the paper airplanes we will use. In the current, we have 6 potential competition planes: 2 of each of the 3 designs, with one blue and one red.
Oct 20
Today I worked on creating a website for our team. The websites I've looked at have either been hard to use or not really a website. I'm creating a base in Canva but it will probably be on another site eventually.
https://sites.google.com/midlandisd.net/the-mcqueens/home/engineering-2023-24/marketing/website
Oct 24
Today I worked with Alison to create more of the base for our website. I still have not found a good, free website to use but I'll keep looking. We also worked on the poster, but the design did not end up looking well, so we scrapped that idea. (I was told to make a new website, not that we already have a website, so that's what I did.)
Oct 26
Today, I helped the team problem-solve on how to attach the claw to the arm. We worked together to engineer a way that is fairly sturdy and secure.
https://sites.google.com/midlandisd.net/the-mcqueens/home/engineering-2023-24/picture
We had to figure a way to attach the claw that they had built separately from the arm to the arm. With the way that they had set up the arm, we had to take the end piece apart to attach the claw. To attach the claw, we had to find a piece thin enough to fit to our constraints. We found one and connected the pieces.
Oct 30
Today we finished attaching the claw to the arm. Then we replaced the worn down arm gears. We made note that we are going to need to lengthen one of the wires running to the arm and organize the wires. We tested the robot and found that the arm lacks control. Hannah stayed after school to work on it with Mr. Newman and we'll test it next class period. Next class we also need to add padding to the claw.
Nov 1
Today we decided to redesign the claw and worked on organizing the wires. Replaced gears with double gears to make the arm work better and trimmed the shovel so it doesn't drag. We started looking for new designs but have yet to decided.
https://sites.google.com/midlandisd.net/the-mcqueens/home/engineering-2023-24/picture
Nov 8
Today we completed our consent waiver. Me, Alison, and Hannah were absent last class. I worked on redesigning the drone to be more sturdy. I need to fold the back 1/2" up and cut 2cm off the side.
Nov 10
Today I worked on making spare paper airplanes.
Nov 14
Today we worked on determining what needs to be addressed. We went through and tested new ideas and practiced using the robot. I timed Hannah and Serenity practicing and watched as their skill grew. I worked on transfering our pictures to the Robot Construction pages to fit the format.
https://sites.google.com/midlandisd.net/the-mcqueens/home/engineering-2023-24/robot-construction/arm
Nov 16
Today I continued to edit the formatting of our website. I added pictures and information to each of the entries, as well as worked on giving each the same format, with the titles, giving them tables of contents, and making the site formal.
https://sites.google.com/midlandisd.net/the-mcqueens/home/engineering-2023-24/robot-construction/arm
Nov 27
Today me and Alison worked with legos to help Mr. Newman prepare for a competition. We put together builds 1-5 and started on 6. We followed the instructions an completed the task as best we could.
Nov 29
Today we continued helping Mr. Newman create the lego LLC prodjects. We followed the instructions to put together three new ones. I created a stage like structure, Alison finished the boat she had started the previous class, and we created a colorful spinny thing.
Dec 1
Today we finished building the FLL challenge pieces. We built 15 in total as well as fix two of the previous FLL challenge pieces. The first that we fixed just needed to be rebuilt and the second had a piece connected at the wrong spot.
Each build was unique.
We followed instructions to build them,
but they are set up for the kids doing FLL to learn from
and use in their competitions.
Dec 5
Today I helped by building the drone launcher. I replicated a design and modified it to work with what we have available. We started testing it out using the drone that was chosen but next class I might test it more with different designs as well.
Dec 7
Today I worked on creating more paper airplanes using a new material. The paper is slightly thicker and holds the fold better. We are trying to determine if the thickness of the paper is allowed in competition.
Dec 11
I don't have a picture and we ended up scrapping the paper airplane due to conflictions with the competition rules. We determined the accurate size and thickness of the paper and started using a more accurate design. They tested the drone launcher with the paper airplane that I designed.
Dec 13
Today we messed with the paper airplanes to try to find one that works the best. We determined the double, single, and triangle folds work periodically but that #2 doesn't work.
Dec 15
Today we worked on getting the drone to work with the placement of the drone launcher. I made more of the original design, excluding a few folds and making sure the creases on the plane were tightly folded. We have been working with a yellow-orange paper, but I am looking for a blue and red paper of the same texture and size. We researched how much each pixel combination point score is:
a) Pixels On the recessed Scoring area of their Alliance Backdrop earn three (3) points per Pixel.
b) Pixels In their Alliance Backstage earn one (1) point per Pixel
c) Mosaics = 10 points per Mosaic
Dec 18
Today we worked on our final project. https://www.canva.com/design/DAF3WFWudLA/h8uXUvkbYe0DF15vnFZR2A/edit?utm_content=DAF3WFWudLA&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton
I worked on Safety, Resources, Designs, and Team. I worked on adding page numbers and worked with Alison to make the project a success.
Jan 10th
Today I taught Serenity how to make the drone. We made over six air planes, as well as worked on the drone launcher. The rest of the team talked with Mr. Newman about designing a new drone launcher. Serenity also has a video of me making the paper airplane, in case they need it during a competition.
Jan 12
Today Serenity and Alison were out, so Hannah worked with Mr. Newman on the drone launcher and I worked on paper airplanes. I made two new drones with slightly different folds and different fonts for the team number.
Jan 17
With our compotition coming up, we worked on driving skills, making sure the robot was complete, and finishing the drones. I worked on perfecting our drone design with the lettering that our team chose. Serenity was not here, but Alison worked on driving in preparation for the competition.
Jan 19
Today we worked on getting enough planes for tomorrows tournament.
Jan 23
Serenity showed me the two paper airplanes that worked best, so I will study them
we need to work on:
drone
atonimus
backboard
claw reliability
The drone needs to have a more symetrical wing width.
Today I worked on making more paper airplanes with the measurements of the drones that worked at competition. We made mostly blue, and next time we will make red drones.
Jan 25
We worked on finishing equaling out the number of red and blue drones. We had a lot of blue paper last time, and today we found lots of red paper.
Jan 29
Today we talked about marketing are working on our table for the FTC League Championship. We decided to use Mrs. Pattillo's treasure chest an fill it with sea shells and stickers. We also are working of getting pins and lights to decorate with. I am working on making origami sea creatures to hang off the table. I made a stingray today.
https://sites.google.com/midlandisd.net/the-mcqueens/home/engineering-2023-24/marketing/goodie-bag
Jan 31
Today I worked on determining what we would make to hang off the table. I found paper stars look nice, as well as some sea creatures. Me and Alison are going to work on preparing the decorations for the next competition.
Feb 2
Today we worked on the marketing side of our next competition. I worked on making different decorations for the table and Hannah and Serinity worked on the trifold presentation that will go on the table.
Feb 6
Today I worked on creating different stars to decorate both our board and to hang at our table. By the end of next class, our decorations should be completed.
Feb 8
Today I worked on making origami fish. Both a inch and a half in length and four inches in length. I asked Serenity and Hannah which they prefer out of a few colors I had made and worked mainly with those colors. Then we put all of the decorations we have worked on into a box for them to take to the competition.
Feb 12
Working on Marketing for Lubbock tournament. This was all on the other computer, so I do not have a picture.
Raffle:
Stickers*
Awning*
ocean drawstring bags
cups
bubbles
sunglasses
plush sea creatures
stress beach balls
I am also going to make tuns of stars and fish outside of class per Serentity's instruction. Work on the extra peice thing too.
Feb 14
Today we made more decorations and discussed what Serenity wants me to make outside of class. She wants more stars and a few sailboats. I have not found a video yet, but I will add it when I do. I forgot to take pictures.
Feb 20
Robot Deconstruction: Today we took the robot apart and distributed and put away the materials used at the tournament.
