2022 Build Season Newsletter Issue #1

Our Team

Team 1403 started off the Build Season with a very successful Kickoff, gathering together to watch FIRST’s announcement of the competition challenge and game reveal. Throughout the following week, members worked on developing strategies that would help win the game and 

Mechanical

The Mechanical Subteam split up into different prototyping groups, and then started brainstorming ideas as well as working on their prototypes. The prototype groups were split into working on the hanger/climber, the intake, and the shooter. The Shooter launches balls into holes called The Hub to earn points, the Intake collects the field balls prior to the shooting, and the Climber hangs and swings from bar to bar at the end of the game. During the Saturday meeting, each prototype group presented their ideas to the other members and received constructive criticism from their peers and mentors. Next week, they will continue to work on the prototypes and eventually start building. 

Electrical 

The Electrical Subteam has been helping prototype groups with the different electrical aspects of the robot and figuring out what kinds of components to put on the robot. Next week, they are going to figure out the dimensions and decide what kind of electrical work they want to put on the robot. Later, they are going to start exploring different sensors to use on the robot and continue working on prototyping.

Design

The Design Subteam has been divided into prototype groups, some starting to work on the robot’s drive train. The subteam has been prototyping in their own individual groups while also CADing these prototypes. The animation part of the Design Subteam has begun working on digital animations. They are beginning to teach their members how to use the 3D modeling software, Blender, and work on VR (Virtual Reality). In the future, Design will continue making CADs and work on animations specific to the transportation theme of the competition challenge. 

Programming

This week, the Programming Subteam split up into groups to work on prototyping. Next week, they intend to work on the first draft of their app by updating it to match the new game introduced in the kickoff. Afterwards, they intend to fix any bugs that come up due to their code and work on sensor implementation. 

Strategy

The Strategy Subteam this week has been collaborating with the Programming Subteam, working on the blueprints for the scouting app that they are making and what exactly they want in their app. They have finished their scouting sheet, a backup for their app, and have finished their encyclopedia. Their encyclopedia includes information about all the FMA teams for internal use. They hosted a strategy meeting on the day after Kickoff to discuss the game plan for the robot.

Audio/Visual

This week, the Audio/Visual Subteam worked on the Chairman’s Video Script.  After they get approval from Admin, they will further edit it and then get it finalized. Throughout next week they plan to record any footage they need and then edit it together for the first draft of the Chairman’s Video.

Business/Communications

The Business/Communications Subteam has finished the outline for the Alumni Newsletter and began working on the final draft. They had a meeting with one of our mentors and finished approving posts for the January Social Media Timeline. The subteam will continue posting the scheduled posts for January and start to work on and approve the posts on the timeline for February.  

Outreach

The Outreach Subteam has been finishing activity sheets for previous outreach events. These activity sheets are part of the Chairman’s binder which encapsulates all the major outreach events that took place throughout the season. They have completed the Women in STEM activity sheet and sent out emails thanking the resentors for the event. Additionally, they have also completed the toiletry drive activity sheet and are going to finish it for STEM Night. Next week, they are going to continue making progress on the activity sheets and brainstorm new Outreach Initiatives.