Week 6 - Realization

Steady progress on the robot - mechanical, electrical, and software all have roles to play.

Decisions, decisions. This week was all about building and realizing our robot in real life. How we got here came from a series of decisions (good and bad) through the past five weeks. Rather than me trying to draw out several paragraphs about "we carefully placed the center punch, engaged the spring, and created an indent in the aluminum that we could reference with our drill bit..." I'll go a bit more in depth on some of the decisions we made about this years robot and mechanisms. So, hop into something comfy, and let's get started! (Comfy clothes are a requirement for this blog post, mental sanity first!)

Week 5 - Apprehension

Robot parts, assembled!

For those with Week 1 Competitions, we are now closer to Competition than we are Kickoff. We have a Week 1 Competition. We're not crying - you're crying! Actually we're not entirely crying, we just need to continue to stay focused and make sure we take our time and do our work correctly. Our largest hurdles as we enter Week 5 are figuring out the Pathplanner and YAGSL libraries, producing an intake prototype that performs as expected, and getting our sheetmetal plates cut! Compared to the slump of Week 4, this week feels packed with stories to share. Let's gather 'round the campfire!

Week 4 - Propagation

Starting to ramp up production as parts, materials, and drawings start to arrive.
The real robot is going to take form soon!

Week 4, known to many teams as - the slump. Most of the work we can dole out has been completed, and we're spending a few days seemingly waiting. Design is finalizing and wrapping up, stock and parts orders are in transit, and hopefully soon a new flurry of activity can begin again. For Bearcats, Week 4 was also test week! All team members had to take the 2024 Crescendo rules test to make sure they could perform job functions effectively, such as being a drive team member or a scout.

Week 3 - Amalgamation

Real practice bumpers look sweet!

No intro for Week 3 - as promised we're kicking straight into design updates! Ok fine, a very quick intro to Week 3. Hello and welcome to Week 3! Three is a crowd, and a lot happened, so yeah, let's jump in!

Week 2 - Progression

Busy days in the shop, preparing electronics, CAD and part libraries,
software plugging away in the far background...

As we arrived in Week 2, the team were in high spirits. We had rocked our Week 1 goals, had a clear concept to design in sight, were <this> close to handing a drivebase to the software team, and had our plans for the next prototype. Our Week 2 goals loomed, so we had to stay focused and progress with our plans. Week 2 involved filling out the robot sketches and crayola CAD as real, functional, produce-or-purchase-able components, getting our swerve chassis powered and driving with 2024 code, and starting to order all our needed metal stock, bearings, intake wheels and etc so we can build this thing!

Week 1 - Frustration

Putting parts together on day 2!

Build season is in full swing! We're spending four nights a week at the shop, building, learning, and ripping our hair out! Wait, that's not right. Minus that one day...

Week 0 + Kickoff - Anticipation

Team rocking at the off-season event: Bloc Party hosted by FRC2910

Welcome back to yet another year of FRC - new game, new team members, even some new mentors for us! My how time flies, for me personally, this will be my 11th year mentoring, my 7th year writing about it, and my 2nd year with 7627 Bearcat Robotics from Monroe, Washington. Last season, this team lept up the pecking order among PNW teams, and I've heard through the grapevine that teams will be eager to see what we produce this year. Before we jump right into Kick-off and the new season, some quick housekeeping is in order to provide context and background into this team.