14 Sep

Welcome to our first weekly blog post! Here, you'll find information about what the team is doing, our plans for the next week, outreach dates, and more.


Without further ado, here's our first update!


Schedule:

Everything is normal this week. We'll be meeting Wednesday 6-9pm and Saturday 12:30-4:30pm, with steering committee from 4:30-5:30pm.


What are our goals for the fall season?

  • Train rookies in all subteams

  • Use rookie game to help new members learn applied skills in a hands-on environment

  • Effectively balance rookie training with veteran skill development


What is the Rookie Game?

    M-A Robotics is thrilled to offer our second annual Rookie Competition. The event is designed by our team veterans, from game play, rules, and theme to individual field elements. After they pass through their five training rotations, rookies are assigned to a group and introduced to the game. They are given a drive base, and must design, CAD, fabricate, and code a mechanism that performs the given task. Guided by veteran students, rookies have 7 weeks to complete the challenge before a small competition between all rookie teams, tentatively scheduled for December 7.


What outreach events do we have coming up?

    On Wednesday, September 25, we’ll need 3-5 student volunteers to help us man our Club Rush table at lunch. We’ll be showing off the robot with the goal of attracting new team members. The next day, Thursday September 26, we have the opportunity to go to the Menlo Park Public Library Science Night from 6:30-8:30pm, where we get to demonstrate a robot to early elementary school-aged kids from the area. We’ll also be having 2-3 meetings at lunch for potential members, dates TBD-- be on the lookout for further information! If you’re interested in helping out with either of these events, please go to the Student Volunteer Sign-Ups page of the website and register, or send a message to Isabelle on Discord.


What did we do this week?

Mechanical

  • Rookie training

  • Worked on rookie game (chassis, game elements)


Electrical

  • Worked on rookie game mascot


Programming

  • Set up new computers

  • Rookie training


CAD


  • Trained rookies

  • Worked on rookie game mascot neck and eyes

  • Began R&D for ball shooter


Business

  • Worked on organizing potential food sponsorships

  • Began looking at budget for 2019-2020

  • Organized team documentation


What are our goals for the next week?

  • Electronics

    • Plan ahead for rookie training

    • Finish up wiring and pneumatics for rookie game mascot

  • CAD

    • Create tutorial

    • Finish rookie game mascot CAD

  • Mechanical

    • Establish plan for rookie training

    • Finish rookie game pieces

    • Finish manufacturing rookie chassis

  • Programming

    • Enhance coding tutorials

    • Work on motion profiling and localization projects

    • Code rookie game mascot

  • Business

    • Work on budget

    • Work on How-To documentation for business activities

    • Begin applying for sponsorships and grants

    • Coordinate Club Rush and related activities

  • General

    • Finish rookie game mascot!


That's it for our first update! We'll be back every Saturday with each week's progress. 


Thanks for reading!





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