Charge Robotics

Evan and I continued working on the timer that we would like to use for LEDs. We have been modifying code and testing, and are trying to figure out how to get specific timestamps. Also, we are finishing our colors for each robot ability(arm angle, position). Tags: software

Harry, Veer, Charlie and Ayden spent the last 2 days doing 2 things. (Harry was supervising the rest of software also) First, we tried to make a Sendable Chooser (dropdown list) to choose auto paths in dashboard. That didn't work, so we just decided to make dedicated buttons for each auto route. It doesn't really matter because we'll only do one per game. Next, we, along with members DAF tried to get the CANBus to work on the competition bot (this is currently ongoing). We can see all of the different SparkMaxes, but not at the same time as each other.

Today we finished the arm code and the commands. We looked over our code and checked if there were any mistakes. We started testing the code on the robot. We were testing the commands if they work. We still have to do more testing to get good results for the code.  Tag: Software

Software has found much success! We were able to get Path Planner functional and we experimented with various auto route paths. So far, getting the robot to move in autonomous mode is looking very successful. We hope for next meeting that we experiment with more auto route paths that may pertain to the actual FRC game. We will continue to experiment with Path Planner to get more familiar with it. Tags: Software

We got the x and y Offsets working in order to auto align our robot to the center of the subwoofer/speaker. We used these offsets to change the LED values based on our position and got it working. We also started to get some values from some shooter code by attempting to merge our Vision code with shooter's. A list was also made to get our priorities straight and we talked a bit on strategy. Tags: Software

We've accomplished many things since the course of the last blog written. We spent the whole day on Saturday working on attempting to fix and test the PID code for Intake of the robot. We encountered many hurdles and adversaries while trying to finish the PID. On Monday, Sai and I (Bhavesh) were investigating the issues involving the "dead" robo-rio. While we were investigating the issues, we learned more about the electrical circuiting of the robot and how to connect certain wires. When we finally finished our testing, we came to the conclusion that robo-io just isn't working and "re-aliving" it will be quite difficult. After that, Sai, Harry, and I spent the rest of our time trying to get Smart dashboard working and able to take our PID values. After some time, we finally managed to get the Smart dashboard to work and PID value inputs! Tomorrow, we might just do some further testing.

Wednesday Jake and Ayden make it so we can show and edit PID values on SmartDashboard. Veer and I (Charlie) flashed a new RoboRIO for the competition robot. Thursday all of us took the driver test (because Harry told us to). After that, Jake and Veer made it so we could change the auto route from dashboard. Also, we created and tested more robot paths.

The past few days in software have included vigorous testing with auto code, including Path Planner. We implemented reading and changing PID values from ShuffleBoard to allow for quicker change rather than having to go back into our code in VScode and changing things from there. We have created new paths that pertain to this year's game to help us visualize and plan efficiently once competition starts. We plan to merge all the branches onto the one main branch that will be used during competition and for the future. Tele-op is still fully functional as well. -Tags: Software

The Impact Award is the most important award that highlights everything our team does outside of robot design and technical developments.  This week, BAM drafted various paragraphs to be included in the essay, including inclusivity, team culture, etc.  At the end of the week, the first draft was completed and ready to be sent out for mentor review.  The one main constraint with this essay is the character count, which is 10,000.  However, our essay just made the cut, having a little less than 9,000 characters.  The deadline was also a constraint, for we needed to work efficiently to get the first draft done before February 14th.  Next week, we will have to implement the feedback from the mentors and generate a final draft to be reviewed and submitted.   #BAM #Buisness

This week, BAM finished creating an outline for the Impact Award Video. This video highlights Charge as a whole— what it stands for, its team culture, and the impact the team has in its community. On February 3rd, BAM spent the day filming the video. They conducted a series of interviews involving as many mentors and members as possible. Students spoke about what Charge means to them, what their experience has been like thus far, and the importance of community outreach both within and beyond FIRST. In the next few meetings, BAM will begin the editing process for the final video. Editors will sort, compile, and crop clips to create one cohesive media. They will script and record a voiceover, add music, and ensure the product is competition ready. Mentors can help with the technical aspects of video editing, but BAM is confident that they have everything covered.  #impactaward #business

This week, BAM worked on writing the Woodie Flowers essays.  For these essays, we had to conduct interviews with students and mentors alike, asking questions such as What do you love about mentoring for this team? and How did you get into robotics?   The drafting process began earlier this week, after all the demographics forms were completed.  At times, it could be challenging to organize our thoughts into a cohesive essay, but this issue was ultimately overcome through writing multiple drafts. Woodie Flowers has been submitted as of today.  #BAM #Buisness

Today we built the structure of the chassis. We used a lot of pop rivets to make the structure and new members were trained in utilizing power tools and machines.  We filed all the parts that were fabricated and began putting everything together according to the CAD design.

With the combination of two subsystems into a main plate being done, we tested it on CAD to make sure it fit within the parameters of the rules. With this test, we realized it was about an inch out causing us to find a way to remove that inch. In the process of that removal, we also realized that the motors for the shooter would be much better if we attached them to the arm making our robot more stable. With all of that done we began to assemble all our parts in CAD starting with making the bottom plate that will hold the note in the shooter. We plan to attach these plates together with a max tube square, so we added holes on each plate to accommodate this. We also worked on attaching wheels to the intake and shooter axles and began implementing them into the main assembly. With the motors going on the arm, we had to make two versions of the side plate to accommodate the different belt sizes that we calculated one for the top and bottom motor. With that finished we star...