Home Page of Highland Robotics

After working both Saturday and Sunday, we now have a new chassis. This one is made entirely out of 80/20. Programming also got some work done and figured out how to run the solenoids in the code. Along with all this progress, we did some fundraising by allowing kids to play with the Vex robots we made in our schools Robotics Class and last years robot, Sheila (hopefully we can get some video of that up soon).

I said there would be pictures, and now there are.

Lots of progress to report. Mechanical has finally started looking at wheels and added treads (some omni-wheel for better turning). They also made a some change to the lifting mechanism by making it a telescoping arm. As I type, they are currently working on getting a gear ratio that will allow us to lift the entire robot that way. Programming is also making some progress, though the watchdog feature is slowing them down a bit. They can now get some data from the robot and have started working with the camera. Hopefully, they can figure out how to code it tonight. Pictures will be up soon.

It’s not even the end of the day and we’ve already made a lot of progress. Programming has made a major break through, with the help of Chief Delphi. We are now able to edit the Dashboard, which will probably help with our encoder trouble. Mechanical has also made a good bit of progress. A few posts ago I showed you our lifting mechanism, and now we are finishing up how to put it on the robot.

Today was our first time this season working on the weekend and we got a lot done, but we still have a lot to do. While we do need to work on building the robot, we also need to start thinking about awards. Talk to one of the Nolds or Mr. Matheou about what award you want to work on, because all members need to help. For ideas about the website award you can contact me at japanruler@gmail.com, and if you have something you think should be on the Chairman’s Award (the one that can take us straight to the finals) talk to me (Grant Carroll) or Angela Sanelli.

It’s a bit late but this is still an important video. This is the video of our first drive for this year, and right away we were able to drive over a recreation of the bump on the field. This was done in a team record of three days.

We have developed a very well working mechanism to lift our robot, as well as an extremely powerful system to kick the soccer balls. Our lift is still a bit slow and needs some work but it can lift (at least) 130lbs. The kick has enough lift and distance to easily hit the ceiling in the class room we work in, and go farther than the playing field (we do intend to reduce the power).

It’s a bit late but here’s this years game. It’s called breakaway, and in many ways it’s soccer. The videos here but it doesn’t give some of the most important details. For example we aren’t allowed to pick-up the ball (since the game is a recreation of soccer), nor is the ball allowed to enter the chassis more than three inches. These plus many of the most common F.I.R.S.T. rules will make this game a real challenge. Don’t worry though, we already have a few good ideas and a drivable robot (I’ll try to get that video up soon). You can see the full kickoff video from January 9 here.Breakaway Game Description

For everyone that isn’t on the team, it’s time for a quick catching up. Last year we finished our robot with the pneumatic shooter, a few wheels to pick up moon rocks, and a lot of PVC. We went to the Buckeye Regionals and didn’t do to well. We then went to Pittsburgh for a chance to make up. There we tied for second place and competed in the Pittsburgh Finals. At the end of the year we then had to say good-bye to many important members. We hope and expect to see many of them in coming years as new mentors.

Sorry about the lack of updates, the websites previous manager wasn’t very attentive. But this website is now under new management, and will be updated a bit more often.