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What is something that you think is unique about your robot this season? What about your robot do you think would make it stand out at competition?

Something unique about our robot this season is our horizontal linear slide system, which can extend into the submersible to reach far-away samples, and allow the robot to quickly cycle between submersible and high basket. Our efficient system of extension, wheel intake, and transfer to the claw on the vertical slides is definitely a stand out design at competitions.

What types of Outreach do you plan to do for this season? Which of those Outreach initiatives are you most proud of?

This season we wish to demonstrate our robot at our local library showing young students different aspects of the design process, like brainstorming, making a CAD drawing, manufacturing parts, building, and programming. We also are doing a exposition of our robot at our local elementary schools to hopefully spark STEM and FIRST ideas in young students. We are most proud of our JR FLL team which we mentor, whose members have been largely inspired to pursue STEM. Overall, our goal with outreach is to spark FIRST ideals and help kids tap into their creative minds.

Describe an element of your code which you think will be most advantageous to your performance over the season.

An element of our code which will be most advantageous in our performance is the transfer system, where the pressing of one button on Teleop Mode brings in a sample and moves it to the claw, which can be lifted by the vertical linear slides. This has helped us score more points efficiently, giving us an advantage.

What competitions will you be attending? Which of the ones that you listed are you looking forward to the most?

We are attending the California Northeast FTC League meets, and then the league tournament, where we hope to qualify for the NorCal Championship. We are looking forward to the league tournament where we will be able to display our skills on a highly competitive stage.

How will you be organizing your team at competitions?

We have 2 members focused on driving, and 1 human player. 2-3 people manage the hardware fixes, and for making physical tweaks to the robot. 2 other members handle any software issues which may arise. Also, our outreach team consisting of 3 members scout and interview other teams about their robot's capabilities.

Describe a unique or noteworthy strategic device or element that you think would be useful for this game.

One strategic device that is useful on our robot is the wheel intake, which allows us to take in samples in any orientation, making the process of obtaining a sample very quick, and allowing us to have a fast cycle speed between basket and submersible. This will be very useful for scoring points in a time crunch.

How would you describe your design process? How many options/strategies do you compare? How do you visualize your designs before building?

Our design process first started with brainstorming solutions right after watching the season video and reading the game manual. We thought of many strategies with Autonomous and Teleop, and decided to focus on cycling between submersible and basket. For taking in samples, many ideas came through such as a claw and wheel intake. For a lift mechanism, there was consensus on using linear slides. As a team, we visualized the fastest way we could possibly cycle samples into the high basket, and took inspiration from designs from robots in years prior. The cad team then came up with several design solutions for the chassis, intake, and lift, which the whole team then decided on. We then manufactured the parts, 3D printed, ordered kit parts, and put together our robot. Based on testing, we then iterated the design to meet our needs.

How do you divide your team's time between things like design, building, programming etc. Do you enforce this timing? If so, why?

Our team spent most of the early part of the season designing in CAD, manufacturing parts, and building. Then, when started to program the robot, we divided time between controller operation, autonomous testing, and making hardware tweaks based on these tests. This allowed us to optimize our robot to be fast and reliable. This timing is not enforced, but comes naturally from working together as a team.