Written by: Naren B.
Electrical Award!
Every year we get invited to the MN State Fair to show off our latest Robot. We also get to compete against other teams that were invited for one of two awards: Mechanical and Electrical. This year, we competed for the Electrical Award as we received an award in the season for our outstanding Electrical Configuration. There were many details to figure out, but the state fair representatives were extremely helpful! We also had to fill out an application form with details of how our robots Electrical Systems worked.
The form also asked if we wanted to submit a video about our robot on it. One of our team members made a Robot Reveal-type video and submitted it to them. You can view the video here on our Instagram (@frc_2502)! A few days after we submitted the Application along with our robot at the State Fair, we got a notification that our Robot won first place in the Electrical Division! Yay!
Set up and Demo One
The team got to the State Fair on the morning of the 25th at about 8:00 A.M. As we went into the State Fair Educational Building, we saw our beloved robot already set up in the field they provided, proudly displaying its First Place Ribbon on its Electrical Panel. As we got our robot set up and did an initial systems check, we found out that we couldn’t climb as our climber tragically broke. We reassured the State Fair Representative that our robot could still function and we could participate in the Demos, we found out that one of the other teams that were participating with us had a broken elevator.
As they tried to fix it, we found out that we were participating in 3 scheduled Demos throughout the day: 10:00 A.M., 12:00 P.M., and 3:00 P.M. Our first demo went spectacularly. We explained to an audience what FIRST is, what FRC is, and showed them what our robot did. After the Demo, we invited children over to drive our robots.
Motor Issues and Finishing Demos
As we were prepping for our second Demo, we had to turn off the robot for a bit. When we turned it back on and started driving it around, we discovered that one of our Drive Motors was smoking. We immediately isolated the motor and disconnected it from power, a mere one minute before our demo. After the demo, we let people drive the robot yet again.
We also discovered that all of the robots that were there could feed coral into each other. So we made what we called the conga line, where one robot received one coral from the Human Player Station, and then dropped it into the intake of another robot. Then, that robot dropped it into the intake of another robot, which scored it into the reef. Right before the 3rd demo was the state fair parade. As we wheeled our robot across the state fair, we had a lot of people cheering for the Eden Prairie Robotics Team.
After that, we did our 3rd and final Demo. The children all drove Lefty spectacularly, and everyone there learned quite a few things about our robot.
Stay Connected With Us During The Entire Season!
If you want to stay connected with the team during the entire season. Feel free to check out our social media pages: