Team 2869 was free this week to focus on building our machine and the practice field because classes were not in session over the February break.
The carpentry for the field elements was completed and the polycarbonate sheets (Lexan) for the trenches and control panels were cut. Cutting out a 2’8″ diameter circle with a bandsaw was challenging. And fun.
We went from wooded prototype to our official build. Seeing the power cell balls move through the track was a beautiful thing.
Then we mounted the shooter to this ball path.
We thought maybe we should make sure this thing can actually move a power cell (aka yellow ball) trough the goal before we mount it. So the robot took center stage.
We found the three point shot surprisingly difficult to make consistently. (The hexagon opening of the “power port” is worth 2 points. If the ball leaves the target through the center hole out the back, the team scores an extra point) We took video from behind our shooter as well and you can watch that here.