2016 Week 1 of Build

This week has been both chaotic and productive for the Janksters, who are almost finished prototyping the various brainstorms for their robot.

During Kickoff, we divided into groups to read the game manual before joining together to make a list of our goals. On the second day, we we went through that list to prioritize the ones most practical and important for us. The team was then dispersed again to brainstorm the various components of the game, such as strategy, mechanism, and defense. Throughout the next few days, these groups divided further into subcommittees:

The Scaling Group first came up with three ideas and were able to create a mockup of one possible mechanism.

The Field Element Group recreated three of the Stronghold defenses- rock wall, ramparts, and moat-, and they are currently working on the low bar, which is proving to be a challenge.

The Ball Manipulation Group took a look at previous year’s robots for inspiration and recently tried out various wheels with their prototyped mechanism. The wheels are now decided, but they have to figure out the spacing of where everything should be placed and are considering janky ideas for the robot.

The Chassi group made up of many rookies and veterans commented that they had bonded a lot already in just the first week. They brainstormed about possible designs and whether they were feasible through a lot of math. Now, they are prototyping their top ideas.

Programming is working on training their rookies on C++, as they must wait for a final plan from the other committees in order to start their work.

Marketing has also been very productive, finalizing their final t-shirt, standard, and button design. A social media plan also been decided on, as well as this year’s giveaway.

All in all, the Janksters are so excited about the return of Build Season and hope to keep the productive spirit of it’s members!

2016 Week 2 of Build

2016 Kickoff