Written By: Manas P, Charlotte S, Medha G, Ben R, Dylan C
Monday 1/29
As we struggle to stay awake at the beginning of the week, the team is continuing to work hard on the robot. One big thing that was going on during the open room was being done by Timothy, our manufacturing lead. He was putting Falcon motors on our swerve modules, and working hard for the entire open room.
While that was happening, Nolan, one of our business captains, was working on testing motor speeds to see what would work the best with our robot. Audrey and Viki, some of the freshmen on our team, were very hands-on in the creation of our robot- attaching wheels to the frame, and working on the general assembly of the robot.
While some of the more serious parts of building the robot were in session, Ben and Dylan, some of the sophomore members of our team, were working on something a little more light-hearted- making videos for our TikTok! A lot of various team members were involved in the short, funny videos, and it was overall a great open room:). Check them out on our Instagram.
Tuesday 1/30
Today was yet another day filled with meetings, building, and practicing for human players. As soon as the open room started, Lisa (one of our great mentors) corralled up everyone who wasn’t doing anything and put them to work shooting notes. Every student who participated improved immensely, with Calvin, Kiley, and Trevor hitting numerous shots at the microphone. By the end of their practice, they were becoming pretty consistent.
While the practice shooting was going on, Fundraising started. Our members were hard at work, finalizing fundraisers and beginning to introduce these fundraisers to the rest of our team. Along with that, we talked about the potential of new fundraisers!
TGI also had a meeting today, working on a new project, called Talon Robotics Girls in the Shop Night. This event is to introduce more girls to STEM and robotics, by connecting them with our girl members and building a fun mini-robot! We also worked on finding ideas for the Women in STEM panel during the 10k tournament.
On the build side, our team continued to work on the robot, weighing in around 100 pounds. The build team continued to CAD additional parts for 3d printing. Great work build team! Finally, we had yet another team meeting to talk about the weekly plan and do check-ins on each sub-team. We also voted on our robot’s name, choosing Cronus as the 2024 robot name!
Wednesday 1/31
Today was a full room, with many team members scattered about trying to complete various tasks. Once again, many newer members continued to work on throwing notes, to be this year’s Human Player. Back in the room, wiring had begun on our robot. This was done by the freshmen girls with the help of Riley and Paul to make a pretty robot, wiring is essential. After all, we wouldn’t want another wire mess. Once the human player practice finished, our safety lead, Liam had the group start organizing our room. Now the jungle (our storage space in our shop) is much cleaner! The evening ended with the build side of the team continuing work on making the bumpers, Vonnie did a great job organizing the work!
Wednesday also had an Awards meeting, which consisted of finalizing the Woodie Flowers Essay. Our IMPACT presenters also worked on continuing to write their scripts. All in all, today was a very productive day for all of our team members.
Thursday 2/1
On Thursday Talon got the day off, but the programming subteam was still at work. For a short hour, the subteam continued work on their projects and checked in on their RUST mission.
Friday 2/2
Today, Vonnie set out on a mission to complete the bumpers and she is still ongoing in her efforts. Her enthusiasm for her princess-themed birthday party led her astray as she informed everyone about it. We also had a team dinner at an Eden Prairie Staple called Aurelia’s before we returned to the room to continue the wiring mission. Overall, it was a pretty relaxed day with some much-needed quiet from the absence of Timothy and his madness. Vibes were cranked up to eleven by Nolan’s “Starbucks” playlist. Overall a great Friday evening!
Saturday 2/3
This exciting Saturday was the first day we could get our robot’s first iteration running! Before that, however, Riley and Paul secured the battery and connected the CAN loop. In the meantime, Nolan and Andy worked diligently on updating our robot system. Ally and Audrey cleaned the very disorganized room, which was desperately needed. With some extra time on our hands, we decided to clean up the wiring on the robot.
Sunday 2/4
Another calm Sunday, with all our captains in the room today. We were able to disassemble the old bumpers in hopes of reusing parts. Nolan and Andy continued to fine-tune our robot, working on programming We are preparing to practice driving our robot, with our driver’s test coming up on February 11th. The end of Sunday’s room saw a fully functioning robot! Yay!
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