This Week in BMS Robotics: 09/16/24

Greetings Beach Middle School Robotics families, this is your “Week in Robotics Update.”

TWIR emails can also be read at www.chelsearobotics.org The posts will be found under the FTC 6-8 menu.

Message From the Coaches:

Now that we aren’t strategizing as a team, but working in small groups, there is definitely a need for mentor assistants. We only have 1 out of 20 slots signed up for this week. Please give us a hand!

This week was filled with progress - chassis are coming together, new programmers learned to control a servo. And the whiteboards are filled with great ideas. Parents, there is a small container of safety glasses just outside the rear door of the assembly room - feel free to grab a pair and come see what fantastic things your child is doing!

Coach Marka

Crash

I just want to say how impressed I am with Crash this week! We have progressed a lot farther this week than we have in years past, with our chassis almost completed and both of our mechanisms farther along than expected. I am really excited for this upcoming week as we should start to see these take shape beautifully. I am hoping to get our chassis done by the end of monday to hand off to the programmers.

Glitch

Excellent teamwork Glitch, we have the chassis nearly assembled and ready to be wired while other team members are busy prototyping and the programmers have started preparing. It will be a fun and busy week, don’t forget your iPads and keep on researching game design ideas on Youtube.

Coach Steve

Surge

Good job Surge, really proud with all the awesome prototypes. We have completed the sides of our chassis and are looking to complete the chassis on Monday or Wednesday. As we go into to the week let’s keep building our foundational knowledge. Keep looking at different mechanisms and let’s keep the energy up

Coach Anson

Gremlins

The Gremlins are doing great! We have hit some bumps assembling a new chassis variant and these sometimes lead to needing to take a bit apart and try again - Every Gremlin's least favorite activity :-(

But overall, much progress has been made.,

We've also made a ton of progress in terms of figuring out how the girls want to play the game. They have a plan to progress and improve their robot's abilities over the season and eventually conquer all the game's challenges. Our first mechanisms, one to reach and one grab and hold onto the sample game pieces, have gone from vague ideas, to sketches, to discussions, to CAD and cardboard prototypes in just a week!!!! That's incredible work. Mechanism pieces are being 3D printed over the next couple of days, so hopefully we'll be able to combine them and move forward into testing the prototypes this week.

Programing also began on Saturday. Those new to programming are being introduced to working with java blocks that will eventually lead to the program used to drive the robot in the tele-op phase of game play. Our programmers with at least a year of FTC programming under their belts will be exploring Java while working on the autonomous program.

There's so much going on! We know that it can be hard for middle schoolers to grasp how much is being done right now. This can lead to thoughts of “there's nothing for me to do” or “they don't need me” or “ I can't” from the more naturally pessimistic girls. It's ok…we absolutely do need them, they can and they will. Please know that more tangible successes are on the way.

Please remember iPads this week. Also the kids are using a lot of energy mentally and physically right now. Eating before meeting (a meal or a snack depending on your family's schedule) can really help gremlins focus better and feel more successful.