So we had a bit of break but we’ll try to keep things updated as we move through the competition season.
Week 6
Here is the state of the competition robot that we bagged. We didn’t really get to perform a full system check on it but we are confident the subsystems work.
Gear Intake
We are very pleased with the state of the gear intake. We have the control system working on it so their automatic gear pick up routines that lower the gear intake, spin the intake wheels and pickup the intake once the driver drives it into a gear. We were looking into using an IR proximity sensor to determine when we had a gear but it was having some difficulty getting tuned to the right distance so instead we realized we could just determine when the roller starts drawing more current which means the gear is fully back to the roller so the motor become the sensor. We are also adding some protective Lexan to stop the gear intake from damaging itself. We are also adding some additional roller tube to the intake that allows us to intake the gear when it comes in further to the side of the intake.
check_in Week 6
Look at check_in episode 7 for a better description of the past two weeks.
https://youtu.be/_0_2C51hkh4?t=4003
Build doesn’t end
The competition robot may be in the bag but build season isn’t over. We will continue to iterate on our design for the next 8 weeks until Houston Champs.
– Spectrum
“Engineering is a great profession. There is the satisfaction of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings homes to men or women. Then it elevates the standard of living and adds to the comforts of life. This is the engineer’s high privilege.” – Herbert Hoover
![]()
Source: Spectrum
