We’re super psyched for the start of the new season’s music-centered theme: Crescendo!
This past Kickoff weekend, our team joined together to watch the annual game reveal livestream. This year’s game, Crescendo, consists of a ring-shaped game piece “Note” that is to be scored in an open goal (the “Speaker” or “Amp”) or an elevated goal with a flap (the “Trap”). At the end of the game, alliances race to hang on chains surrounding the Stage apparatus on the field. Human players can also throw a Note and attempt to score onto a pole-like goal in order to “Spotlight” their robot during the endgame.
All-in-all, this year’s game will certainly be a fun challenge for Miss Daisy. After the livestream, we analyzed the game manual to get an in-depth look into the objectives of the game. We then joined together to run some human mock games in the cafeteria. Students, mimicking the real robot game, were split into alliances and discussed potential strategies. Each alliance then competed against other alliances in a short tournament. It was a fun way to engage with the game challenge and explore several strategies!
The next day, we held in-depth mechanical and strategy discussions to determine the feasibility and importance of each of the game objectives.
We determined that some important game objectives for our team include the Amp and Trap goals. We also began constructing the new KitBot: a simple design presented this year by FIRST® as a starting point!
During the week, we began prototyping at a fast tempo. To establish the bass-is of our robot, our Build/Design subteam divided into several prototyping groups: intake, trap, amp, speaker, climber, and drivebase. They began by prototyping under- and over-the-bumper intakes. Given that this game field will be hectic with the game components and robots on the field, we are prioritizing an intake that can hold its own even during intense traffic. We’re also attempting different ways of scoring in the Amp and determining whether or not we’d like to score from below or from above. Our drivetrain group has been using the prototypes and knowledge gained to design a drivebase that will enable us to include the specific mechanisms that we’ll be constructing this year.
On Thursday, we finished the KitBot! The Electrical team wired it up and sent it over to Programming.
Our Programming subteam has also been hard at work. To start up the 2024 season, they’ve been preparing new software libraries and updating firmware. Additionally, they fixed and prepared the 2023 robot for upcoming outreach demonstrations in our area and have almost finalized programming on the KitBot.
As for Marketing & Outreach, our media team has been documenting the ins and outs of each subteam. They’ve been filming in and out of the shop, holding interviews of members on the team for upcoming videos. Our Impact Award committee is also in the midst of editing and revising our written submission.
Overall, Daisy is adjusting to the new rhythm of the season like a natural. Stay tuned for future updates!
