At our first ever meeting of our new FTC robotics team, Torque Titans, we started off with making a list of priorities of our robot that we thought were important to include (In the 2nd picture of the whiteboard). Once we knew that, as well as FTC constraints, we unboxed all the parts and looked at the building instructions and final picture for the GoBilda starter bot. We did this so that we had time to order parts and change the design so it fit our priorities. Though, only a few minutes in, we ran into our first big decision as a team. The starter not only had 2 motors to control 4 wheels. Since we had mecanum wheels, which could go forward, backwards, and also spin and strafe. Having only two motors wouldn't let the robot do all those things because for strafing, the wheels have to spin against each other. We had 3 group members go and show original ideas about how to fix this problem. The idea that was eventually chosen was adding 2 more motors to control the middle wheels for the robot. Those wheels were originally connected to the back set by a bicycle chain. That decision led us to split into groups of 4 and 3, one group that worked on the back set of motors, and one that worked on adding the extra set of motors. Implementing two other motors though, would be tricky, because sticking out like the back set of motors would cause two problems. One would be that they are unprotected, and another would be that they are in the way of the robot's ball intake mechanism. Eventually though, we put the motors inside the U-channel and purchased 45 degree angled gears so we can put the motor facing the front of our robot, but protected by the U-channel and still have the wheels out to the side. We then once we made a parts needed list for next meeting, wrapped up the meeting by talking about how the meeting went and assign who would research parts we may need for next meeting and who would update this website.

On our second official meeting for the Torque Titans, we decided to set some goals and missions to try and complete by the end of the 2 hours we were meeting for. We eventually decided on applying and fixing the wheels to the robot, getting more hands-on experience with building it, and to fully put the motors in the machine. After that, we put up some reference images and drawings from GoBilda as well as the old robot from last year to help guide us in the right direction. Then, we started piggybacking from the progress we made on the first day when we decided that we would have 4 motors instead of 2 so that we would have more control over the wheels and they would be able to rotate and pivot. We had an organizational system for all the parts of the robot so that we wouldn’t get confused about which part is which. We first started with putting in the motors. We used brackets to try and hold them in place and we started assembling the rods that would help connect the wheels to the robot. 2 people worked on fixing the wheels and motors to the front of the robot and 2 people worked on doing it for the back of the robot. While in the first meeting we were just brainstorming and theorizing as a team, this meeting was the first real in-person where we actually began to assemble different pieces and work on the intricate mechanisms of the robot. We used ball bearings to reduce friction in the wheels and help them roll smoothly and efficiently and we used sliders, washers, brackets, etc. This was a very good opportunity for our team to put our problem-solving skills to the test as well as collaborate with our teammates in order to keep the progress flowing smoothly.

Today, we had our third meeting as the Torque Titans. We made major structural changes / additions. We worked on adding a better support system to the back wheels and motor shafts so they were not just connected just by a single connector. Instead, we connected them via a large clamp that securely held the two ends together, and the connector made sure the wheel's axel was secure. We replicated that on both sides to make sure the wheel shaft were securely attached to the motor's shaft, and wouldn't fall off or break during testing. Moving onto the front of the robot, we installed the motor at a 90 degree angle from the wheel, and we used two 45 degree angle gears on each side of the robot to power the wheel. The wheel's axles were held in place by spacers, clamps, and ball bearings on each side. We attached a pre made wheel hub / shaft to each axle, and the wheel to the end of the hub. Once all the wheels were installed, we went back, and put washers in between screws that were holding the clamps to the wheels. That was to divert and disperse the pressure. After we finished working on the bottom of the robot, we flipped it over and installed the battery holder on the back left side of the robot. That led us to make the decision to put the control hub on the back right side of the robot to evenly distribute the robot's weight. We faced the control hub inward, so objects wouldn't hit the control hub and possibly break it. To hold the control hub in a stable manner, we decided to use two skinny "U" channels upright, with a square bracket piece placed inside of the "U" channels, and then tightened it using a screw and a nut. That led to a mostly stable support system, but since it was still wobbly, we decided to use another one of those peices, except shorter, in the top middle section, to connect the two "U" channels together. After incorperating more nuts and screws, the support structure ended up being stable enough to hold the control hub. We used an Allen wrench to put four screws through the conrol hub (one on each corner), and the put those screws through the holes on the "U" channels. We tightly used a wrench to secure the control hub, since it was an expensive peice of electronics. We then wrapped up our meeting, assigned roles to be completed by next meeting (explore CAD, update our website, and look at possible out reach opportunities). 

Our team split into two groups during practice. The first group connected the Control Hub to the Driver Hub and set up a custom Wi-Fi network with our own name and password. We also accessed the robot’s management page using the provided URL. With these connections working, we are now almost ready to start learning how to code the robot and make it perform different actions. The next group started using servos to make other things on the robot move.  We figured out how the servos worked and what we could use them for.

Today, at our robotics meeting, we spent the whole time working with coding. We tried to write code that we could put into the control hub and then by connecting that to the driver hub so that the robot could at least move a small bit. Unfortunately, we were not able to get the robot working. Though we did make great progress in learning to code and figuring out how to use the code blocks so that in future meetings we could get the robot to move.

At today’s meeting, we were able to achieve a lot of progress. Our team split up into three groups. One group was working on coding. They were able to get the robot moving which was a huge milestone for our team. Now it can move forwards and backwards as well as spin. We are working on making it spin faster so that the movement can be quicker and more efficient. The second group was working on OnShape. We were working on designing a ramp and a screw to connect the ramp to the robot. We knew that the theme would have something to do with whiffle balls this year so we assumed that we would need to collect them in some sort of way, hence the ramp. OnShape will be extremely useful once we know what this year’s task for the robot will be. Lastly, the third group worked on creating a script for sending to possible sponsors. Since we used a large portion of our budget on parts, money is one of our top priorities, so we will be reaching out to people and companies very soon. All in all, it was a very useful and productive meeting. We got a lot done and we’ll be sure to keep the progress flowing in the next meeting.

Today we kept working on the code, still trying to make it move in all directions. Some screws fell out of the robot and we had to take off a wheel to redo it and make everything tight again. To fix this problem we need the robot to be able to accelerate to its max speed rather than going from not moving, to max speed instantly. Because it's currently causing the screws to get loose and fall out.

Today, our team worked on trying to solve some challenges that this new game provided. Specifically, we tried to minimize the size of the robot as much as we could so we could make space for intake systems and other additional things for our robot. We had to take the whole robot apart to do this and are still working on putting it back together. After that, we can then start on the intake of our new, smaller robot. We also did some research on cameras and sensors to use in the game.

Today was an important day for the team. We split into two teams, one focusing on intake and re-building the drive train. The other team worked on planning how we would make our turret. The first team made good progress, they installed two of the four wheels, and all the motors. The only road block though was the miter gears we had didn't work as expected, so we had to pause and order more. We also planned and started setting up the intake system. For the shooter team, they talked about different types of shooters, and we decided on a two wheel shooter, where one wheel is fixed, and the other one is attached to a servo, so it moves in and out depending on the size of the ball. We ordered the GoBilda starter turret, and planned  how we were going to use it when it arrived. 

We rebuilt the robot! We largely focused on recreating the systems that we used in the first robot and implementing them into this robot. However, we also made some other significant changes. We had to change the location of two of the motors in the robot and place two on each side instead of one on each side and two on the front. We also made it significantly smaller. Instead of being exactly 18 inches long and wide, we decreased it to 15 inches leaving more space for adjustments and unforeseen circumstances that may occur when implementing shooting into our robot. We assembled all the parts, motors, and rearranged the wiring to make it neater.

With a fully rebuilt robot, our team began to split up into many jobs. Some people worked on the intake, fine-tuning tolerances so that both larger nectar balls and smaller pollen balls could efficiently travel into the robot. Others experimented with the shooter. Flywheels were attached to the motors, and the turret swivel was assembled. Others still worked on coding, specifically on the drive train and the color sensors. While no code was directly produced, much was learned about our code and how to accurately determine hue. One of the most important things we learned to do was back up our code!