Yesterday was both fun and educational! The DOF girls (along with 20 other teams) went to Cactus High to practice driving and to get some experience of the field before the FIRST competition. Overall our robot did amazing, but we definitely found some stubborn obstacles. The majority of which belonged to the arm.
The gear arm is our most valuable piece of robot, as it gets us the most points throughout the match. Unlike all of the other teams we saw, our arm can pick up gears off the ground. Which is cool, of course, but also much more difficult. The Degrees of Freedom have worked very hard to make this vital piece and as engineering goes, we will be perfecting it until we run out of time.
Along with being educated on how our robot could be improved, the drive team was able to study the field, the pit team was able to practice taking apart the robot, and the scouting team got to meet other teams and ask questions. We all were amazed by how nice and helpful everyone was! Gracious professionalism is definitely evident in the FIRST atmosphere!
Today the DOF team finally finished our bumpers, a project we started three weeks ago and have had extreme difficulty completing. In addition to taking this big step forward, we also had to take a large leap back. After weeks of working with our gear arm, we have decided to modify it in a no-going-back way. The team (as a whole) took a vote to chop down parts of the arm to replace screws with hinges. With only two more days left of build season, we all realize the risk of changing designs, but it is a risk we will take in order to improve the robot.
Ten Girls. Nine Mentors. Two Days. Infinite Enthusiasm.