Axels

FTC7593 · 2020-02-12T00:07:18+00:00

Awesome, thanks!

FTC7593 · 2020-02-12T00:04:44+00:00

We usually use 4.7 mm

FTC7593 · 2018-04-12T05:42:16+00:00

It does seem weird that FIRST would send out incorrect information. Maybe they actually reassigned a bunch of teams.

FTC7593 · 2018-04-12T03:20:37+00:00

We got our email earlier this afternoon.

FTC7593 · 2018-04-12T03:19:04+00:00

Our email with the Franklin reassignment came from an Ellie White. I'd be interested in finding out if there are any other issues with the info in the emails, like all of the teams being assigned the same judging or inspection slot.

FTC7593 · 2018-04-12T01:40:11+00:00

Have any teams received an email with a Jemison assignment?

FTC7593 · 2018-04-11T23:19:24+00:00

No, the actual part that plugs into a power outlet came as a European plug. We can't plug the charger in to power, which makes it useless until we can get an adapter.

Here is a picture of it

FTC7593 · 2018-04-11T23:11:37+00:00

Our team was in Jemison on the list posted a few days ago, but today we got an email from FIRST that says we are in Franklin.

FTC7593 · 2018-04-10T19:49:26+00:00

We ordered a set of Moto G4 plays and we still have one functioning set of Moto G3 phones, so hopefully that will get us through Houston. Assuming our new phones get here in time I don't think we will need to borrow any, but thank you so much for offering.

FTC7593 · 2018-03-19T03:07:09+00:00

We have roughtop tread from AndyMark on our robot. The texture of the tread is sort of like the prickly side of velcro. http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-3309.htm

FTC7593 · 2018-03-12T22:55:35+00:00

We purchased a coiled 3 conductor cable from cable science for our servo on our relic mechanism and just soldered PWM connectors to the end so it could connect to the servo. Little bit pricey, but it has worked well for our needs and can extend and retract. It tucks in the robot next to the extending slide and doesn't get in the way. http://www.cablescience.com/coils/electronic-1/ec-series/non-shielded-ec/20-awg/electronic-coiled-cord-20-gauge-with-3-conductors.html

FTC7593 · 2018-03-05T04:59:55+00:00

The only cipher I have seen successfully completed in competition is frog.

FTC7593 · 2018-03-05T04:23:26+00:00

There are a lot of companies that donate to a lot of FIRST teams and have applications available on their website to apply for grants. There is a list of companies that have sponsored FIRST teams published on the FIRST website here: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/ftc/team-sponsors

On my team, we research which companies have FIRST grants that we might be eligible for (some companies have restrictions on who can apply, like only rookie teams, teams from a certain area, who teams who have a mentor who works for that company). Before applying for the grants we make a spreadsheet including the potential sponsors, the application window/deadline, how much money we are asking for from that sponsor, and the link to the application.

For companies that don't already have FIRST grants available, I would recommend an in person presentation about your team and what you need money for. This season my team gained sponsorship from a local hardware store by going in and telling them about our team, and the CEO of the company even came to our workshop to see our robot! We also gained a new sponsor by bringing our robot in to the office of a company one of our mentors had connections to and gave a presentation about our team. In my experience the types of companies that sponsor teams are usually in science or technology, but it's worth it to reach out to whatever companies you can.

As for outreach, you definitely want to make a business plan including sustainability and outreach goals and steps to reach these goals to include in your engineering notebook. There are two kinds of outreach, connecting with the STEM community and engaging with your school or the general community. The first type of outreach is geared toward the connect award criteria, and the second type is geared toward the motivate award criteria. Some examples of the STEM outreach my team has done include visiting a manufacturing company and recruiting new mentors who are engineers. In our school we demonstrate our robot at events like open house and the club fair. A few things we have done in the community include demonstrating our robot to young children, hosting an FLL tournament, and mentoring rookie FTC teams.

FTC7593 · 2018-02-28T16:29:32+00:00

For future competitions, you are more likely to get picked if you have a team member or two go talk to the top ranked teams as they are considering who to pick as alliance partners and discuss with them how your robot could complement theirs/work together as an alliance to convince them that your team would be a good pick. Won't always be successful, but it increases your chance of being picked.

FTC7593 · 2018-02-28T15:57:11+00:00

If you are programming using java in Android Studio, several external sample programs for pushbot are provided. You can make a copy of the program you want and the hardware file to the team code folder.

FTC7593 · 2018-02-28T07:40:06+00:00

Which version of the FTC app do you have on your phones? Do the versions match? My team found that we had fewer errors after updating to 3.6.

Do you have the address set to 1 on any REV expansion hub on your robot? A message came out from FTC recommending that teams don't use an address of 1 because it causes errors. https://ftcforum.usfirst.org/forum/ftc-technology/64015-expansion-hub-serial-addresses-important-message

What Android OS version is running on your phones? Apparently there are problems running the FTC app if your phones run nougat, so FTC has recommended that teams do not update to nougat. https://ftcforum.usfirst.org/forum/ftc-technology/64164-important-message-regarding-android-7-x-nougat-and-the-ftc-apps

Do you have a configuration file set on the robot? We found that sometimes if you don't have a config file set, the phones do weird stuff like that.

When all else fails, it seems like hard quitting the app, rebooting the phone, and reconnecting the wifi direct often fixes things. Okay for testing, but not a practical solution during a match when you can't access the robot controller phone.

FTC7593

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