FTC Wrap-Up

We’ve been hard at work for the FRC, but before I catch you up, I wanted to post a little more about the FTC.

Here are a few pictures of Team A’s robot, which I haven’t talked as much about. (That’s because it was never finished.)

IMG_20141230_181537 IMG_20141230_181531

IMG_20141230_135715 IMG_20141230_135653

IMG_20141230_135637 IMG_20141229_161325

Team A had several design problems, ranging from LEGO motors that weren’t strong enough to power the street sweeper to a conveyor belt that wasn’t solid enough to pick up balls. At the competition, Team A removed the pickup and loading mechanism, and simply drove during the matches. Due to the lightweight wood and acrylic base, the bot was able to knock over the center goal ball stands easier than many of the more advanced bots!

Here’s one final clip of Team B’s bot during the design stages. We ended up using fishing line and drawer slides for the linear bearing lift, demonstrated below. We used the autonomous period of the game to lift the slides in order to start driving as soon as Tele-Op started.

Finally, here two videos from the competition itself. The first is from the Mehlville School District’s publicity department, and the second is from my website Nerd on the Street.