Archives 2020

Hello everyone! It is with mixed emotions I write what is going to be one of our last posts for a while. As I mentioned last week, the Arizona North Regional was canceled/postponed. Thanks to the hard work of members of our team, our mentors, and our Regional Director, we were able to get into the Central Valley Regional, to ‘replace’ the Arizona North Regional. Unfortunately, upon our arrival in Fresno, the event was canceled, with the health and safety of all in mind. On our drive back home, FIRST released a statement regarding the cancellation of both Championship events and the suspension of the duration of the 2020 FRC season. While this news was initially very hard to read, especially as our robot has not yet made it to the field, we applaud FIRST for making our health a top priority. Additionally, we are eager for the season to resume once it is deemed appropriate.

On Friday, our County announced that all schools will be closed for three weeks to help slow the spread of COVID-19, and today announced that we will be entering a “shelter-in-place” until April 7th. Needless to say, we will not be having any meetings, so there will not be any new updates to share. Hopefully (in my ideal dream scenario) my next post will be to share that all of our events have been rescheduled and that we are currently arranging plans to attend.

Until then, keep washing your hands and practicing “social-distancing”
-Team 2643

Hello Everyone! It has been a full week for our team. Firstly we wanted to give a HUGE thank you to all of our mentors for their time this past week, involving both adding an extending meetings so that we could ensure our robot would be competition ready.

This week, the Business team has been preparing for Arizona, practicing the Chairman’s presentation and printing out resources. Media has nearly finished the technical binder and the Chairman’s video is close to being completed.

On the robot, this meeting-filled week consisted of a few weight reduction measures, small robot tweaks, changes, and repairs, and A LOT of testing. This was a very successful robot week, and today members began packing our trailer for the Arizona North Regional. Unfortunately, today our team received some news, including that the Arizona North Regional has been canceled due to public safety concerns with regards to COVID-19. While this was a message we were hoping not to hear, we are very grateful for our mentors and regional director for working so hard to help get us into another event this week. We will provide updates to our competition status as they become available. Additionally, it was also released today that the Silicon Valley Regional is also being postponed due to COVID-19. As of now, the Monterey Bay Regional will proceed as previously planned. For the most up to date status on competitions during this time, check out this post on Chief Delphi.

We hope to post again very soon with good news about attending a competition this week
-Team 2643

It’s been a while!

We have been very busy, and now we leave for our first competition of the season in just ONE WEEK! Technically the robot is in the home stretch! Mechanical has a few final changes to make, and needs to mount our shooter, but otherwise the robot is good to go! Programming has been busy at work with our shooter, and is making great progress. Lastly, electrical is on standby, mkaing quick changes and fixes as aspects of our robot our evolving. We cannot wait for everyone to see our robot at the Arizona North Regional NEXT WEEK!

This week, the business team finished the business plan! Outreach has been busy working on preparations for the chairman’s presentation. Media has been working on the vlogs and making more progress on the chairman’s video.

Stay tuned for our final update before our first competition of the season!
– Team 2643

We are in the final stretch! With a week of no school ahead, we are looking for a big week of progress to come. This weekend our mechanical team has been working on the climber and putting all aspects of the robot together. Meanwhile, our electrical team has been preparing to put most electrical components and sensors onto the robot in the net few days. Programming has been testing mechanisms and preparing for their big testing day this Wednesday.

This week, the business team has been working away at the business plan. The storyboard for the Chairman’s video has been started by media, and vlog filming is being continued.

Until next week,
Team 2643

Hello Everyone! Just as a heads up, as build season is beginning to wind down, we will be shifting from posts every Sunday and Thursday to exclusively posting on Sunday’s going forward

Technically, we have been making leaps and bounds. Despite a few setbacks, we have completed both our shooter and control panel mechanism, both of which have also entered the testing phase. Our Electrical team has been working on preparing sensors for the robot, as well as wiring up mechanisms as they reach completion.

Media members have been learning Adobe After Effects. They have been working on the team directory, and the bi-weekly vlog editing (check out the latest one below!). The business has been busy working on the Business plan and have been looking for teams to come with us on the bus ride to the Grand Canyon in Arizona (send us and email at team2643@nullgmail.com if you are interested). We have been continuing contact with businesses and other potential sponsors.

Additionally, here is the latest Build Season Vlog!

Hello Everyone! Yet another busy week for Team 2643. After some setbacks from last weekend, we worked to adjust some deadlines and determine some solutions to help us get back on schedule. Our CAD is nearly complete, just receiving some finishing touches and changes as we test and experiment with our “final” mechanisms. Fabrication has been working nearly nonstop this week, and will continue to do so for the next few weeks. Our electrical team completed their CAD, and is now off to work on the electrical board for our robot. Programming is entering the testing phase with quite a few mechanisms, and will continue to test whenever possible until the robot is handed off to them by the Mechanical and Electrical Teams.

This week, Media has continued to work on and edit the vlogs (new vlog coming Sunday!). They have sent out the apparel orders, and started our team banner design. Outreach has been quite busy working on and submitting awards (yay!). The trip to the Grand Canyon during our trip to Arizona for the Arizona North Regional has been finalized. Business has made a list of potential sponsors to contact in the coming weeks.

Lastly, as mentioned above, our team has finalized a trip to the Grand Canyon, on March 15 following the Arizona North Regional. Our team has rented a charter bus, but does have 22 extra seats on the bus. We are currently seeking out another team (sending 22 or less people) who would be interested in joining our endeavor, and splitting the costs of the bus with our team. If your team is interested, please shoot us an email at team2643@nullgmail.com

Welcome to Week 4!!

Our Robot is beginning to look more like a robot and less like a few pieces of metal bolted together! These past few days have consisted of a lot of assembly work, meanwhile the rest of the Mechanical Team has been working hard on fabrication. Our Electrical team is finishing up the board design and wiring diagrams, and will hopefully start putting the board together within the next few meetings, all whilst managing the 3D printers. Our Programming Team has been working very hard on perfecting the subsystems already written, so that they can maximize their time on the robot.

This week, Business has continued editing the Chairman’s Essay, and has continued to do planning for the Chairman’s presentation. The t-shirt design is being finalized, and media is continuing to make progress with the technical binder. The vlog is being filmed (next vlog will be released in a week!), and Business Team has nearly finished editing the business plan.

I mentioned in a previous post that we will be sharing the form for team apparel on here, but we have since had an update that we would like to share. As many team’s have learned, the 2020 FIRST season sponsor: Lucas Film, has allowed team’s to implement the Star Wars character’s and associated media onto team apparel for the season, BUT team’s may not sell such merchandise. Because of this, our 2020 season shirts and hoodies will not be for sale outside of the team. If anyone is interested in trading with members of our team, please reach out to us on Instagram (@frc2643) and we will do our best to find someone interested in trading.

-Team 2643

Welcome back! As Week Four comes to a close, we are pleased to be seeing our robot begin to come together. In terms of design, there are a few final integration aspects left to do, but otherwise the design phase is nearly complete. Our team is well into fabrication, and our robot is slowly beginning to grow its superstructure. On the programming side of the robot, the team has been very hard at work on numerous teleoperated and automated tasks, many of whihc are beginning to enter the testing phase. Lastly, a big thank you to our mentors who have been working with a small group of members and finished up the field elemets today!

This week, our Business Team started editing the completed rough draft of the Chairman’s Essay, and started planning for the Chairman’s presentation. Media has been working on vectorizing our t-shirt design, and continuing to make progress with the technical binder. Filming for vlogs continues to go on. Business has also been continuing to work on the Business Plan.

-Team 2643

Welcome to Week 4!!

Week 3 ended strong, with our Mechanical Team diving into robot fabrication as our CAD team finalizes the details of our design. Meanwhile our Electrical Team is finishing up their CAD this week, so that they too, can begin building the robot’s electrical system. Last but not least, our Programming team has been hard to work, writing and refining autonomous code, vision, and various in-match robot capabilities. I am hoping that by the next update I will be able to share the great news that the field elements are completely constructed.

Take a look at our most recent Vlog Recap!

-Team 2643

Week Three is off to a great start!

On the Technical side, we have made a little more progress on finishing up the field elements, but have been spending the bulk of our time working on the robot. Our CAD team has been very hard at work, and should be complete within the next couple of days, meanwhile they have also begun sending parts out to our fabrication group, who has been working diligently all week. Our Electrical team is finishing up their CAD, and will begin manufacturing the electrical board and related aspects very soon. Last but not least, our Programming team has been working on vision, autonomous routines, and tele-op, as well as refining our drive code.

This week, Non-Technical was busy working on the business plan. Media has been filming and editing for the vlogs (next volg coming Sunday!). The upload schedule for the vlogs has been changed from once a week to once every two weeks. T-shirt designs have been open to the entire team, and will be decided soon. Also this Sunday, volunteers are going to an FTC competition to help set up and run the competition.

-Team 2643