FRC Thursday

Thursday, March 17^th. It was mild spring morning when one by one, Brophy robotic members began to arrive to Mr. Mazzolini’s chemistry room for an exciting, yet exhausting day.

Today, the Robotics team would bring their robot to the FIRST Robotics Competition in Hamilton High School. Contrary to popular belief, there would be no actual official matches at this time, for the real competition would not start until Friday. Today would simply be a day to practice, test, and prepare.

When we arrived at around 8:30 a.m., right away members were setting up Brophy’s assigned location at Hamilton to work on the robot: our “pit”. As soon as we were ready, the team got to work. First on the list was the minibot. The minibot, a smaller, lightweight robot, was theoretically going to exit our main robot somehow in order to climb a pole. If all went well, the minibot would reach the top of the pole and score a bonus of 30 points.

Second, and perhaps more substantial, the team needed to successfully program the robot so it could be controlled by a human driver. If successful, one member could drive the robot around the field while another could control the arm. Both drivers working in harmony should be able to pick up the inter-tubes on the ground and place them on a peg scoring either 1, 2, or 3 points depending on height. No matter how skilled the drivers are, however, we would soon learn that nothing can happen without proper programming. Programming, programming, programming.

Finally, after all was complete, the robot needed to be taken in for inspection. During inspection, the robot would be analyzed for safety, weight, and design prerequisites in order to participate in the competition. First, we weighed in at 118.5 pounds, the max being 120. Weight: check. Second, the judges checked for sharp edges, and although there were a few, we seemed to be alright. Safety: check. Now it would just be design checks. It seems that here, we didn’t do so hot.

In order to have our arm work effectively, we required two valves to manage the pressure, as the arm was powered through pneumatics. According the judges, we could only have one valve. Without a second valve, our entire design would crumble and our robot would cease to compete, and thus it was crucial we could get this second valve. After careful review of the rulebook from senior officials, they gave us the thumbs up, and we were good to go for Friday.