Nearing the “end” of practice we had a happy little accident… We broke the paddle-like base that holds the gripper in place. With a little redesigning, CNC routing, added structural support, and extra parts (for emergencies), our gripper is now much more durable.
Better late than never, we have our first official drive practice with a fully built and tuned robot. We also have an amazing partial field in a woodshop that our mentor Jason graciously is allowing us to use.
We have made changes to the gripper and arm that will significantly impact the structural integrity and modularity of the robot. Custom parts that can easily be changed when something breaks are very convenient at the competition. Now we are ready to set it onto our swerve frame.
Going into this competition we knew there would be lots to learn. We need to make our robot much heavier, make better joints for the wrist, and try to socialize with other teams. This was an amazing experience! We hope to really make an impression next comp with our finished design.