[team2039] Robot Pictures, and final push

From: Adam Czerwonka <Adam.Czerwonka@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "'team2039@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'" <team2039@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:11:55 -0600
Team,

I would like to thank all of you for your extra long hours and effort that went 
into the last week of the build season.  We all should be very proud of what we 
have accomplished.  Last Thursday the turret and accelerator were pretty much a 
pile of parts.  We were able to assemble and test every robot system 
independently and complete final assembly of the competition bot.  From there, 
we also were able to play catch up with the practice bot which is now ready to 
have the shooter mounted to it.  I have attached a bunch of pictures of the 
completed robot assembly (minus a few sensors) as well as some pictures I took 
of the 'twins' before we bagged the competition bot.

I am very impressed with the progress our team has made when it comes to 
manufacturing and assembly skills.  Looking at the team the last few days, it 
has struck me that this is an entirely different team than what we started 
with.  Everyone has made huge improvements in their skills and comfort level.  
Keep pushing yourselves and learning new things, we have potential to return 
next year with a LOT of students who can make things happen quickly.  That can 
be a huge edge in designing and building robots that can be very competitive at 
the world championship.

With close attention to detail and a lot of hard work, we have built the best 
looking and most complex robot that Rockford Robotics has ever built!  In the 
next week, we will want to complete assembly of the practice bot including 
replication of the hammer, completion of the pickup conveyor back plate, and 
completion of the conduit rollers.  We can then turn to mounting sensors on the 
turret as well as continuing with our weight measurement, approximation, and 
reduction.  We may need to remove another pound from the shooter by removing 
non-essential metal in the mounting plates.  We may also be able to remove some 
weight from the electronics box cover by cutting additional vents.    We will 
want to weigh the shooter assembly before it goes on the practice bot.  We have 
the weight of the robot right before it went into the bag, so we should know 
exactly how much the carry in shooter has to weigh in order for us to meet the 
120 lb weight requirement.

We will want to fully evaluate and understand all of our weight reduction 
options.  How much do all of the victor box covers weigh together?  How much do 
2 CIM motors weigh?  How much does the balance assist cylinder weigh?  Also, 
any other weight reductions including the cross supports in the accelerator 
(they can be used as assembly tools and then removed once the bot is assembled) 
will need to be measured.  If we start to machine non essential metal from the 
turret, we should weigh it before and after machining to figure out how much 
weight we got out (every ounce will count since there is a lot of wiring that 
still needs to be installed).

We will want to make sure that we conserve weight where ever we add new parts.  
This will include utilizing aluminum rivets instead of bolts where possible and 
designing mounting brackets for the sensors that are as small and simple as 
possible.  From there, the electronics team will take over with their priority 
list.  My hope is that by this coming Saturday that we can have a smaller 
targeted team working on wiring up the practice bot.

Great work team!  Let's keep it up and we'll have an awesome practice and 
competition season ahead.

Thanks,
Adam










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[team2039] Robot Pictures, and final push

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