Sunday, 12/8/19 Problem solving

Date: Sunday, December 8th, 2019
Agenda: Problem Solving, Can we get this Robot running?
In Attendance: Mentor Chris, Sean, Liam, Kairon, Connie, visitor David Perry, ORTOP Executive Director
Note Taker: Connie
Tasks: Foundation Arm, Block Arm swivel precision, Autonomous
Reflection: The Block Arm is still having problems with grabbing precision. It can only grab the blocks straight on and not if the block is at an angle. We also have trouble straffing and aligning the robot to grab easily. While testing, we found that the swivel arm was loose because the adapter connection to the locking hub was loose. Liam took apart the swivel arm and tightened everything.

The x-rail extension was very slow because "run to position" coding decreased the maximum speed. We figured this out because, when we attach the test battery to to x-rail is extends with normal set power. the programming is now set to run without encoders and no set limits , but Sean and Kairon hope to find a way to add the encoders back in for control. They may contact Ben or Aidan to see if they can advise them on how to adjust the programming.

We took a slight break when David Perry, Executive Director of ORTOP stopped by. He came by to pick up some equipment from the FLL Tournament from Coach Cynde, but took time to visit with us. We demonstrated our robot and discussed how we had created it and why. We also discussed why robotics is important to us. We explained that FIRST allows us to design, create, fail and learn while having fun. We have had many failures in the past and then re-engineered and had success. We discussed that our science teacher has talked of the possibility of having a robotics class next year and what that may mean for our team to have additional class time to work instead of just our 2 weekly meetings on Thursdays after school and Saturdays. Mr Perry seemed impressed with our creation and we enjoyed the visit.