2019 Build Season Week 2 Article

With hours of productive brainstorming, and further prototyping, the Janksters continue to make progress toward their ambitious goals during week two of build season.

Mechanical has been prototyping and coming up with ideas. The chassis subgroup has been deciding whether to implement CAM wheels as part of the wheel design in order to climb up the platform. The group focusing on picking up and placing the hatch panels worked on finalizing their mechanized prototype, and, once they finish, they can get started on CAD. The cargo intake and outtake group has been working on finalizing their design with complex prototypes and spacing arrangements with other mechanisms, while iterating and improving their current prototype. Many projects was able to purchase all of the necessary materials for building the field elements and now they have started to measure the wood for cutting.

Programming restructured their GitHub, installed new software, and made sure VS Code, their new IDE, worked for everyone. The Vision Team was able to teach new members how to use the Jetson, as well as basic terminal commands. They successfully detected the retro-reflective tape, finding the points necessary for their calculations, which put them ahead of schedule. The Hatch and Cargo subcommittees for programming mainly focused on researching code, while waiting for mechanical designs to be finalized.

Electronics was busy with miscellaneous tasks while they awaited finalized dimensions from the chassis subgroup. Specifically, they crimped wires for talons and victors, utilizing the new connectors from Molex on the CAN wires, in preparation for assembly of components on their board. They finished building battery mounts for this year’s robot and prepared the new batteries from the Kit Of Parts. The rookies have been able to learn and practice their CAD skills in preparation for when electronics designs their board.

The Business committee focused on researching and selecting giveaways, and, since dedicating a significant amount of time into the team Instagram (@team1967), their followers have increased exponentially. They put together a guidelines book for tasks such as writing and publishing POVs and articles, to assist with the transfer of knowledge from veterans to rookies. Using Adobe Illustrator, they finalized the T-shirt front and back design, as well as the button design.

During week three,  Team 1967 plans to start putting all of their ideas into CAD and continue collaborating between committees to determine next steps. Check back next week to read about the Janksters’ progress!