Week 3 Recap

Week three included some big accomplishments for 111 WildStang. Mechanical has almost completed their CAD for the intake and its mounting, which will be done by week four. Since we use our in-house CNC router to cut out many of the parts for our robots, the CAD work requires significant attention to detail, which is impressive and has helped our students grow as robot designers. Mechanical also created the feed system for the robot, which will allow the robot to move the cargo from the game within the robot itself. The next goal is to connect the feed system to the drive base and attach the intake. This feed system and intake will allow the team to begin practicing shooting on our playfield. Team 111 is on track to have a great robot.

The mechanical subteam for 112 focused mainly on CAD, which is necessary for an actual robot. The items they worked on this week include the intake, launcher, cargo feed, and climbing mechanism. The CAD for the launcher is done, and the intake is close to finished. By the end of week four, they hope to have the intake CAD completed and the cargo feed as well. They also want to start cutting out their intake and launcher to assemble the pieces into a working robot.

Software students and mentors for both 111 and 112 have teamed up to help 112 learn the basics of coding a robot before it is necessary for software to work on their robots. This basic knowledge allows 111 students to get mentor experience while still learning for themselves, and helps 112 get off to a good start for their first year reestablished as a team! The software subteam has been working on a shooter subsystem for the robot. This subsystem will allow the robot to shoot cargo, which both 111 and 112 need to do this season. Their goals for week four include: submitting the subsystem to be looked over by mentors of the WildStang Robotics Program and looking at the mentors’ notes to improve the subsystem code.

Electrical has done the same as software in the team design, but the other way around. 112 is further ahead than 111, so 112 is helping 111 with their drive base creation. As the season goes on, the two teams will separate. For now, the two teams are working together. This week 112 got the chance to work with CAN bus which is a network that can combine many items together, making it easier to communicate within the robot. Next week their goal is to help 111 complete their drive base. Team 111 received new parts for their robot; they had to prepare them for the robot. Next week, they plan to put the electrical necessities on the robot so the robot can be accessible to software and the drive team. The drive base will be ready by the end of week four.

Strategy is also another subteam that has 111 and 112 combined. This week, strategy used the 2019 game, Destination: Deep Space to practice using the scouting app they created, WildRank. They used WildRank as they would in competition this season, just with the 2019 game instead of the 2022 game. This was completed to test out how WildRank works in real situations. During week four, they will be wrapping up scouting the 2019 game and then analyzing the data from WildRank and see how it lines up with the scouting that took place during the 2019 season. This year will be the first year of using WildRank at competitions, and WRSP is very excited to see how it works during the heat of the competition!

Communications is once again another subteam of combined 111 and 112 students. This week they wrote the week two recap, which consisted of interviewing each subteam of the two teams and compiling it all together. They filmed the events that happened throughout the week and also took photos. The communications subteam’s goals for week four include: writing the week three recap, shooting film and photographs, and preparing graphics for the website.

Week three was a week full of movement and improvement, and from how it has been going, we have a good feeling this season is going to be great!