Adventures of week 7 and 8

Hey everyone! The ausTIN CANs are back again

to tell you about what's been going on during weeks 7 and 8. These past 2 weeks have been pretty hectic because of the Waco FIT district competition coming up soon ( by the time you see this, it’s probably already passed) Everyone’s been all over the place, trying to get everything from getting Dyson ( our robots name!) to getting out impact representatives ready for their big day. Our wonderful drive team also practiced non-stop. We’re all so excited to be there and compete and simply just have fun. Let's cut to the chase though, and let's talk FRC!

First and foremost, Business! We didn’t really have much to do, but we finished what we had before the competition. Things that we had to do were the “CAN We Talk?” flier and the Reveal video for Dyson! Things that are in progress are our team video intro. Finishing up CAN-dy ( which I the writer am making myself) we can’t wait to give them to the teams and a thank you for everything! We have also been finishing up our 2nd episode of “CAN We Talk?”! Business has finished up our latest Technical document, Technical Board, and our Outreach Board. Things that will never be non-ending for the Business group are updating this blog, social media, and photography! Now, things were done with. We have finished up our Sponsorship booklet, our new logo for Dyson, and our Impact video!

CAD, on the other hand, has added lighting patterns and zip-tie holes to Intake Panels. They have resized Dysons intake to better intake against the walls. They have gotten the handles and released parts for 2nd robots and spares. They also added support for the 1st arm gearbox.

Manufacturing has finished assembly on the second robot. Organized the parts binder, about 138 parts were made. Manufacturing has cleaned and organized the mills and shop. They have also gotten all parts made on the lathe.

And lastly, Programming has finished the Arm Subsystem. Arm is now fully functional for both cubes and cones. They have also been working on Autonomous. Programming has been fixing up some issues such as rollover and the latest iteration of the Choo Choo gearbox.

In conclusion, the team’s been busy. It’s been stressful, but it’s also been fun. Seeing how things are before competitions are about to start.

Speaking of the blog We will definitely get better at frequently sending these out. Thank you to everyone who has shown their love and support to this wonderful team, we can’t wait to share more with ya’ll in the future! For now through, all you gotta do is show is your CAN Do attitude! Talk to you guys next time!

CANs OUT!

The adventures of week 6!

HEY Y'ALL, The ausTIN CANS are back!

In today's blog, we're going to be recapping week 6. As you all know, there’s not much left until our first competition in Waco. After a very terrifying and excruciating grade check we students just had, I (the writer) am glad to say that….wow after this roller coaster of a week. It’s so exciting to know that there are only a couple of days left till we go on this amazing adventure to compete with other teams, and simply just have a jolly time. I really would love to talk about just how we feel the more it comes near, but we have to make room for our weekly recaps, am I right?

So let's cut to the chase, and let's talk about what the team has been up to!

First & foremost, Business; we as always have been busy with so many things. Such as finalizing essays and things involving technical writing. We’re glad to announce that Gavin has been working on the second episode of “Can We Talk”! So stay tuned for that. Business has been working on multiple things, such as Impact video, sponsorship booklet, tech doc, and updating the website. We finally got the Impact essay done, and started making buttons!

Manufacturing manufactured all the necessary parts for robot one and a majority of the parts for robot two. The assembly of the intake and the arm have been finalized. They have almost completed the buddy climb. INTERESTING FACT! The arm for the buddy climb is made out of broken hokey sticks! This was a idea was implemented by the team to start a new plastic initiative and incorporated circular manufacturing design principles into our CAD and assembly.

Programming, on the other hand, started to confirm that autonomous functions work. As well as auton which should be ready when the arm can score and release v2 of the drive base. They have also been focused on mobility, docked + engaged. Programming also has been working on the arm subsystem. The arm just needs more tuning before it’s ready.

CAD has finished the assembly of the arm and Intake. They’ve been working on buddy carry assembly. They have also been working on cube intake: adding a PVC roller and belt from the second roller to the top roller. We also have gotten the 1st comparison between the front rollers.

Other than our subgroups, the team has been focusing on scout training and testing out our new scouting app. Our team leads have been doing their daily meetings. We also have our Saturday and Sunday meetings that we update you guys with on our social media. As well as preparing for competitions in the upcoming week. Our team's Impact award representatives have also been prepping and finalizing their speeches for competitions.

That’s about it Yall, our recap of week 6. With every day that passes by and the more, we get busy. Although it can get nerve-racking, it’s also an adventure. We can’t wait to see those who will be there in Waco next week, and personally ( me, who’s a first-timer) am so thrilled to be there and I hope you guys are too. Now let us stop being cringy (that's probably just me), but we gotta go. See you guys later to talk about week 7. Bye! Catch us next time.

ausTIN CANs, OUT!

Cute photo of president Noga and baby Zaynab!

Adventures of week 5!

Guess who's back? US! The AustinCan’s!

Now I know it hasn’t been long since we’ve talked, but we did mention we'd be back soon..right? Now let's chat about robotics! In today's blog, we're gonna recap week 5. Competitions are nearing, and all we can say is that wow.. the amount of excitement we feel the more it’s near. It’s insane ( is it just me? Or are we all feeling excited?)

Business; we have pretty much been working on very similar things that carry out throughout the weeks. For example, things that are currently in progress that we are working on such as the Impact awards which are due on the 14th of February. Working on our monthly newsletter and looking for sport ball sponsors. Following with updating Notion with blogs, fundraising, photography, and outreach. Things were done with on the other hand, like the woodies reward, ordering our brand new shirts, and podcast visuals. Speaking about the podcast….it's out! So go check it out if you haven't yet!

Meanwhile, CAD has already finished the arm prototype! They have also finalized the design for the arm and intake. Arm A is powered by the Choo Choo wheel, and arm B is powered by spool. CAD also has the parts for gearbox A & B. With the arm they designed the sweeper. We have the design for the cube holder and rollers, as well as the bearing holder and rollers. Following the completed version for the buddy Carry.

Manufacturing's main focus is on charging stations. Making trusses and supports for the station. They also have milled parts to continue assembling them in the field. By the end of week 5, the manufacting team has finalized assembling the charging station. Now they are even signing people up to use the field for practice! Manufacturing is mostly done with assembling intake, making over about 30 parts this week.

Finally, let's talk about programming. The group has been working on an arm system. An elbow that is able to hold its position at a given reference point using PID control. They have also been working on autonomous paths and subsystem toggles. Programming has also been continuously working on previous things such as buddy balance and assisted balance. They are currently working on the led subsystem for the robot.

With this week 5 ends, we also followed without the usual scout meeting and group leads meeting up so that we can provide you guys with bangers such as these! As we mentioned before, competitions are nearing, and it's Simply just a blast of emotion right now. We can’t wait to see you guys and hope that you're doing well. Also don’t forget to keep your grades up, to whoever is in school. Can’t wait to tell more soon! Bye for now.

To be continued….

Wasted frozen tears and FLL!

WE'RE BACK!

Welcome everybody, today's Blog is going to be a tad bit different. Our team had unfortunately not been able to have our regularly scheduled meeting’s, due to the sudden snowstorm that happened during week 4. Many people lost their electricity and roads were dangerous. This had canceled both school and robotics, but after a week or so we got back to our Saturday meetings! As well as having FLL on the same day! ( spoiler, it was a success!) As for those in Austin or were facing the same issues, we hope you are safe and warm!

So, shall we begin?

After a week of no school due to the storm. Our team had both the Saturday meeting and FLL to host. First and foremost, our Saturday meeting! Of course, being that we were behind schedule, our whole team all got straight to finishing up objectives from week 3. Following that, every subgroup had gone to do their thing. So if you don’t mind, please let me tell you about what we did!

Business has been working on impact and woodies essays as technical writing. As well as a communal basket for our team! We also focused on FLL that very Saturday for outreach hours and volunteering. Following with ongoing tasks, such as photography and keeping up with social media and blogging! Our one & only host Gavin S. Will soon be publishing our very first episode of “Can We Talk?” Very soon! (Probably already out by the time you read this, so go check it out on YouTube if you haven’t!) We are currently still working on finding Sponsors as well as getting T-shirt quotes. That’s about it for Business, stay tuned for more!

Now, CAD; they have been working on finishing up version one of the robot! ( that's so exciting, isn’t it?) They also have an intake and arm as well as the Choo Choo gearbox assembled! They have also been continuing with prototyping and are focusing on floor intake! Following by prototyping and designing the buddy balance.

Manufacturing, on the other hand, has roughly completed half of the necessary parts to complete the charging station. The subgroup has also been working on 3d printing parts for prototyping and has made parts on the HAAS mill. Manufacturing has also begun to assemble the charging station and are about 10% done with it.

Finally, let's chat about programming. They have released the second stable for the practice swerve drive. They’ve been working on things such as the arm & LED subsystem. Programming has also begun writing code to automatically balance the robot on the charge station.

Now that we talked about what our team did, let's talk about FLL. So if you don’t know what FLL is, don’t fret! We shall explain. FLL is an abbreviation for “First Lego League”. Robotics for Elementary students! There were so many teams, and it was so fun seeing everyone being in a great mood both competing as well as to those who were volunteering. This also focused on being a part of an outreach for those part of our team! To say the least, FLL was a success and a great way to start robotics after the storm.

With this, our recap blog is over… this was such a chaotic week, and although we couldn’t be in ATC without the whole team working to get things done. We ended the week strong. We just couldn't wait to go back to our regular routine and see each other’s faces! We would love to chat more with you, but we have to go for now! Don’t miss us for too long… we will be back, so you gotta wait. See ya next time with ….

The ausTIN CANs!

Adventures of Week 2 and 3!

We are back, have you missed us? (Bet you did)

Today's blog will be recapping weeks 2 and 3! Lots have been happening and competitions are nearing, and we simply can’t wait to tell you about our progress!

First and foremost, Business. For week 3, our team member Gavin has continuously been working on the podcast. We already have a rough draft of what it's going to be like. Other than our podcast, the business team has been working on videography, and social media and finishing up our essays as of impact and woodies. We have already gotten our nominee for the 2023 season( nobody but the business team knows haha). We also have been keeping up with designing our billboard to bring more people into the world of FRC and VEX! Our graphic designers are working on our shirts for this season as well as getting quotes from companies. Looking for new sponsors. The leads of outreach have been focusing on keeping others of FRC with events, such as the upcoming FLL event! The one and only button teens have started making pins. The photographer will always have the same never ending job of taking photos, without them I wouldn’t be able to shower y'all without wonderful photos and the progress of our team!

Programming on the other hand has been working on a new scouting app for the team. This would make organizing, and analyzing other teams to strategize later games easier for our team. they also have worked on building codes for both intake and floor anticipated food intake mechanisms. Following with developing code for buddy intake. As for other objectives they've been working like swerve-auton, arm system, and arm logging. They have continued to work on this for the last two weeks.

Meanwhile, manufacturing has already assembled the majority of the field and grid. Now, they have started working on a charging station and made parts for prototyping. They continue this for most of week 2. In week three, they were ready to begin assembling the charging station for the 2023 game. Continues making parts for prototyping with the help of cad. Manufacturing has also been teaching routers and HASS.

Speaking of CAD, they have also been busy. Operating with both manufacturing & programming to get their main objectives done. They have got the dual roller prototype complete, as well as the majority of prototypes for the prototype intake. They have combined both the dual-roller and weed-wrecker in-take onto the robot. Following week three, they progressed to floor intake prototyping. CAD has moved on to prototyping with this season's games charge station. With this, our robot can now hold cannoli! They still proceed to work and do a great job. Can't wait to see what else happens in the future!

Moving on from what the subgroups have been doing, our team leads keep updating us with things to keep the team on track. Our scouting team has also begun meeting to plan everything for this year's competitions. The drive team has also continually trained and worked hard.

With this, my recap has come to an end. The team has progressed so much in the past weeks. It's all been such an experience. With every day passing by, competitions only seem to be getting closer. I am going through a roller coaster of emotions. How about you? I am so excited to tell you more about the wonders of the ausTIN CANs, but for now.. you will have to wait! Talk to you guys next time with the…..

THE AUSTIN CANS!!!!!!!!!!!

The Adventures of Week One!

Hello everyone, and welcome back! In today's blog, I’ll be recapping week one and two following Saturday’s kick-off, and sharing our progress along the way!

Starting with Business: we have been working on catching up with deadlines and socializing. Previously we had “CAN Talks”, where our team brought a special guest that specializes in STEM. Now, our team has begun planning our very first podcast “CAN We Talk?”, hosted by the one and only Gavin S. With this our host Gavin will be interviewing a special guest every new episode to talk about everything and anything in the world of STEM & FRC. Now I know what you might be asking: “When is this going to be out? I need more info about my favorite robotics team!” Well, I’m glad you asked, hopefully sometime in February. So stay tuned!!

Overall Business is nonstop working, always bombarded with work to get done: Keeping people with outreach hours or just catching deadlines. Blogging and finishing up essays for when competitions start, and so much more to come in the future!

Meanwhile, CAD has been prototyping intake, focusing on designing claws and rollers. They have also been working on buddy balance, and forklifts. Cad’s been working on working out sideways moving and much more involving the robot.

Manufacturing on the other hand has made it a priority to finish up the field as soon as they can! Cutting up the majority of the necessary parts of community so that they can start assembling everything involving the field.

Programming has also been busy; working on April tags to help the robot with the main objectives of this year's game. Also working on the 2023 updates for this season. Making amazing progress with battery testing and data logging.

Generally, the whole team has been busy. All four subgroups focused and getting everything done. We’re all off to such a great start and can’t wait for the season to start. Outside of our subgroups, the AusTin Cans have also been focusing on scouting and plans for when competitions finally begin. Our drive team has been committed to practicing and preparing themselves for when on the field. The amazing leads have also been keeping us up to date on everything that’s been happening, and the progress of every subgroup.

In the end, everyone’s been doing great. It’s amazing to see everyone having fun and being so committed to the team. We hope to tell you more, but you simply just got to wait,

And with that, the ausTIN CANs will take their leave, but this isn’t the end!

Soon to be continued…..

the ausTIN CANs KICKOFF 2023!

Finally… The 2023 build season has begun, the exciting celebration to welcome a new year, & a new season. Everyone works together to create a great environment & enjoyable time. My very first time experiencing something like this, and to say the least, it was great.

“CHARGED UP" is the name of the 2023 game! The game consists of two alliances of three teams who compete to score cubes and cones into their grids to CHARGE UP their communities.

After hearing the big news of how the new games will be this year, without wasting any time, they divided us into groups, about seven. We all started by pointing out what was most important about the evergreen rules and new ones. We then had to go through the very excruciating test to determine whether we knew our rules well. We then got to theorizing and strategizing our idea's. Following every hour, we all met back up to share what we had discussed regarding score-taking, methods, and strategies. After spending the majority of day talking, strategizing, and finishing up the main objective, day one had come to an end. On day two, the team focused on must-do's, could-do's, and won't- do's of the season.

A while after we all had discussed everything as a group, everybody divided to continue working in their subgroups. Most of the CAD, programming, and manufacturing teams had been there to discuss various ways to make prototypes and designs for the robot. We were all over the place. Members of programming got straight to working on code for the new robot. Business got to work on writing essays, social media, graphic design and blogging (could you have guessed?), and planning. Meanwhile, the others were designing and theorizing things for the robot.

Other members were in the shop, manufacturing those ideas into reality!

Focusing on building the ideas & prototypes to see what could be changed or better. Our team also started making a version of the field for this season.

And with that, the kickoff of the 2023 build season has come to a wrap. There’s so much to come, and I can’t wait to see where this carries us. I wish us and everybody in first the best of luck, see you soon on….

THE AUSTIN CANS!