On Jan. 8th the Eagan Robotics team had their first big group meeting. The meeting began at 1pm where they all got together in the student commons and discussed who was on each of the sub-teams and gave a summary about what was going to happen during this year’s build season. After that, each sub-team broke off and began to discuss their schedules. Two hours later each sub-team gave a summary on what they planned they would be doing this year to the whole team.

As of Jan. 14, the end of week 1 of the build season, the electronics sub-team is lighting it up by working on building the test board. The test board is used for testing out code that was written by the programming team. It is important because it allows the code to be tested before the robot is even built, which allows to stay one step ahead of the game. Another thing they are doing is working on gathering an inventory of all the electrical and pneumatics. They are also deciding whether or not to use the CAN (Controller Area Network) bus. CAN bus allows for another method of controlling the motors. The student lead Nathan C. and that mentor lead Andy Jaeb are working very hard on leading the electronics team through the build season.

The manipulator team is switching up their approach this season by having two different mini teams in their sub-team. One is lead by a senior Alex A., and the other team is lead by sophomore Marshal M. Pulling them both together is the mentor lead Jeff Laclair. Marshal’s team is working on building the ball shooter for the robot. The ball shooter will launch the basket balls into the hoop to score points. On the other side Alex’s team is working on building, and getting the ball collector to work. The ball collector will collect the balls so that we will be able to score more points.

Father and son duo Ray and Ben M. are busier than ever.  They are working on multiple things right now. One of which being creating fenders for the FRC field. These fenders will protect the hoop from damage if a robot crashes into them. They have also issued some safety tests for the new FTC members to make sure they know the basic safety around the workplace, and so that they don’t injure themselves trying to cut something. They plan on completing the entire FRC field within four weeks and also hope to be able to build the perimeter for the FTC build in the upcoming weeks.
Revving it up is the drive train team, lead by mentor Tim Harder, and student lead Christina L. Currently working on designing the frame and assembling the wheels, they are also testing and developing. They currently hope to build the frame and complete the drive train completely. An even greater goal of theirs is to have everything that they need to be working, up and running by the end of week two.

Kings of the code, the programming team, lead by student lead Martin W. and mentor lead Paul Sorenson is working on many things also. Recently, they completed the drive train code, and are ready to begin it’s testing. They also completed an updated version of the drivers station. Currently, they are training rookie programmers in the art of coding, and computer engineering. They also hope to have a Kinect Hybrid Autonomous working. This is a device that uses the new invention by Microsoft called the Xbox Kinect to direct the robot to places so that it will drive itself. They will test this as soon as the robot is completed, tested in everything else, and ready for more complex testing.

The business team is working hard on getting the new website up and running. Lead by student lead Andrew M. and  mentor leads Tina Sorenson, Jenny Filipi, Jerry Ward, Tamie Ward, and Jane Peterson. Currently, in the progress of creating a new team website; they are transferring all the information from the current website team2220.org to the newest one eaganrobotics.com. They also plan on making weekly videos for robotics resembling the format of Eagan AM and are looking for people to host it. Another more important thing that is being developed is the video for the Chairman’s award. One of the most important awards in F.I.R.S.T. Finances have also been found out. The total cost for each student to go to Lake Superior Regional in Duluth. Lastly they are also teaching the rookies the basics.

The FTC team is working extremely hard on getting their robot to work, and get the motors attached. In the demo on the final day of week one they demonstrated their robots driving and controls.The FTC team is also working on getting the field built for their game called Bowled Over.  Lead programmer for the FTC team Alec J. is working on getting the autonomous period to get it working. New member to the robotics team, and part of the FTC team Charlie W. says “I think it is very difficult for the FTC team because none of us have any experience.” He also noted, “It is fun, but difficult.”

On a final note, our teams lead mentor Jim Lynch has a few things of his own to say about how we are doing in this build season so far. “I think we are more organized then we were in the past, we are much further ahead in the build season than we were last year.” He also had something to say about the mentors, “I am very impressed by the amount, and quality of the new mentors.

Week 1 resource links:

2220 FIRST Robotics Alumni group on Facebook.

Key design resources:

http://www.scoutingfirst.com/ - Site containing pretty much all of the scouting sites teams need for FRC
http://www.thebluealliance.com/
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/portal.php
http://www.theredalliance.com/facebook - Contains excellent videos showing some teams prototypes for ball shooters and much more!