2023 Season Blog

2023 Game

Weekly Build Season Updates

Week 1 Recap: 1/9/23-1/14/23: This week we focused on brainstorming ideas for what our robot would do and the design for it. Our goal for the end of the week was to come up with a basic design and begin prototyping it, which we were able to do. We also accomplished getting a thorough understanding of THE GAME and spend a lot of time in the beginning of the week strategizing. Next week, our goal is to finalize our design and start building an actual porotype for the finalized robot. - Nikhil V.

Week 2 Recap: 1/16/23-1/21/23: This week, we continued to brainstorm ideas, and began the design of the robot. We also decided that we would include both intake and a claw system. Although we didn't meet a lot this week due to midterms, we accomplished a lot of designing prerequisites that had to be done in order to move to the next step.  The goal of this week was to get the robot into CAD. We hope by next week, that we will be able to implement the design. - Aditya T.

Week 3 Recap: 1/23/23-1/28/23: During this week, we started printing the parts of our robot, starting with the claw. We discussed ideas combining the elements of an intake and a claw system, implementing them in the most efficient way to pick up both cones and cubes. We also worked on t-shirt design, experimenting with different colors and elements in our logo, both in the front and the back. A goal we have for next week is to test the pneumatic system to see if it works. -Nikhil V.

Week 4 Recap: 1/30/23-2/4/23: This week, we made a ton of progress on the the robot! We were able to build a working chassis along with finalizing the design for the claw and elevator system in our robot. Additionally, we started building a new cart for our robot as our old one was not working as well. For this, we had a few students designated to cut out pieces of extruded metal to build the base of our cart. We also had a few students CAD some essential parts for the cart, such as the corner connectors. Through this process, many students learned new things, such as learning more about CAD on Onshape, using the milling machine, and using the wet belt sander. Simultaneously, while this was happening, the pneumatic system was being tested, along with the drivetrain and material of wheels. We accomplished some of the goals we had for this week, such as switching to grippier wheels. A goal we have for next week is to get the gripper, intake, and elevator systems in the robot working and to get the cart assembled.  -Nikhil V.

Week 5 Recap: 2/6/23-2/11/23: This week, we finally started assembling the cart with all of the pieces that we had constructed from last week. We also discussed further ideas for the gripper and intake. For example, we decided that pneumatics weren't the best option and opted to go for a motorized intake instead. We also were able to construct some of the physical field pieces so that we could test our code with practice bot. Our goal for next week is to finish building our cart, develop more of our code for autonomous, and finalize our intake, gripper, and elevator systems. -Nikhil V. 

Week 6 Recap: 2/13/23-2/18/23: This week, we finally finished building  the cart! We have written a lot of code, and also have begun to test some of our code, on our practice robot. Additionally, we have made a lot of progress on the gripper mechanism, and hopefully by next week, we will have mounted the gripper. Our goals for next week are to finish our gripper and mount it upon the robot, along with perfecting our code and putting the final touches upon our cart. -Aditya T. et Nikhil V.

Week 7 Recap: 2/20/23-2/26/23: This week, we were able to further advance our robot by getting the elevator mostly functioning, along with the gripper as well. We are working towards reinforcing our gripping mechanism by using a chain instead of a worm gear. We also made a lot of progress on the pivot and intake arms as well. Our goals for next week include finishing mounting all of the operator controls, finalize the code for the auto, and get some drive team practice in. 

Week 8 Recap: 2/27/23-3/4/23: This week, we accomplished a lot, including getting the gripper working and finalized, understanding the elevator and intake arm and how they would work together in order to obtain game pieces, and getting the intake onto the robot. It also consisted of a lot of strategy and watching some of the week 0 competitions to get an idea of what we could do as a team to be the most use to our alliance. Next week, we are going to put some finalizing touches on the robot and get some drive team practice in for our comp at WATERBURY!!!!

WATERBURY: 3/10/23-3/12/23: Although at the beginning of the competition on Friday, we were freaking out on what we would do with our pivot arm, as it kept on rotating up. To solve the problem, we added a hard stop to make sure that the pivot arm wouldn't go up any longer. Additionally, on Saturday morning, we ended up removing our intake overall, as it was becoming more of a hindrance than actually helping. Even though we had a rough start to the competition, by the end of the qualifiers, we ended up becoming the 8th alliance captain! We put in our best efforts, but eventually got eliminated in the semi-finals. Overall, we did a very solid job considering our start and we will come back better than ever for our UNH competition. 

UNH: 3/24/23-3/26/23: After the many lessons we recieved from Waterbury's competition, we adjusted our drive strategy in certain aspects in order to enhance our performance. For example, we were able to learn how to properly use the robot without the intake arm and ended up picking up a lot of cargo from the ground. We also were able to score high due to adjustments to the elevator arm! Although we did make improvements on our robot, we also ended up facing tougher competition. After all, this was later in the competition season and teams were more ready than they were at Waterbury. Overall, we ended up placing around top 20, which was a pretty good placement for our robot! Next year, we'll be back even stronger!

What's Next? We have a lot of plans for the offseason. Before the end of this year, we are going to do outreach events with our sponsors to further develop our relations with them. On May 24th, we are planning to take our robot to ARKA Danbury, one of our sponsors, and show their company our robot, along with touring their campus. We are also going to particiapte in the Brookfield Memorial Day Parade on May 28th, with our robot. On June 10th, we are going to participate in the Wolcott invitational competition, which will be a mock competition of Charged Up, just for fun. Throughout the summer, we will have Team 1099 members volunteer at Robotics and Beyond Camp, which inspires young children in the field of STEM. Next year, we will be back stonger with hopefully more members and a better robot!