Looking for previous years' blog posts? Click here
2023
The Robot is Functioning
February 3rd, 2023
Hi, I'm Ari Willick.
Welcome to the fourth week of 4330 Rambunction's Charged Up season. This week has been very productive and exciting! The robot scored a point on its own on Thursday, and is done mechanically. We added a motor encoder onto the claw and worked on PID testing for the elevator. We are almost done taking pictures and they should be printed and up on the wall by the end of next week. There was much excitement in the room when we cleaned up and rolled out the carpet. The field is set up and the team practiced their cone tossing skills. Overall, the robot is looking promising, and it hopefully should work well at competition, especially with the vast amount of spare parts that we have ready. Overall, the team is doing great, and I hope next week will come with even more advances.
February 3rd, 2023
Hi, I'm Ari Willick.
Welcome to the fourth week of 4330 Rambunction's Charged Up season. This week has been very productive and exciting! The robot scored a point on its own on Thursday, and is done mechanically. We added a motor encoder onto the claw and worked on PID testing for the elevator. We are almost done taking pictures and they should be printed and up on the wall by the end of next week. There was much excitement in the room when we cleaned up and rolled out the carpet. The field is set up and the team practiced their cone tossing skills. Overall, the robot is looking promising, and it hopefully should work well at competition, especially with the vast amount of spare parts that we have ready. Overall, the team is doing great, and I hope next week will come with even more advances.
The THIRD Week
January 27, 2023
Hi, I'm Ari Willick.
Welcome to the third week of 4330 Rambunction's Charged Up season! The conclusion of this week marks the halfway point of our build season. Non-tech finally are starting to take individual photos for placement on this website and on the photo wall in the robotics room. We finally have photos this week! The field is completed and now bumpers are being started. A picture of the field and more can be found on the photos page. Mechanical is ahead of schedule. The robot is primarily finished mechanically, with the only major issue stemming from the claw. The programming team worked on PID tags for the elevator and worked with the test bot before it got temporarily damaged. We will soon hand the robot over to the programmers in order to start the bulk of their season with testing. Hope you tune in for next weeks blog!
January 27, 2023
Hi, I'm Ari Willick.
Welcome to the third week of 4330 Rambunction's Charged Up season! The conclusion of this week marks the halfway point of our build season. Non-tech finally are starting to take individual photos for placement on this website and on the photo wall in the robotics room. We finally have photos this week! The field is completed and now bumpers are being started. A picture of the field and more can be found on the photos page. Mechanical is ahead of schedule. The robot is primarily finished mechanically, with the only major issue stemming from the claw. The programming team worked on PID tags for the elevator and worked with the test bot before it got temporarily damaged. We will soon hand the robot over to the programmers in order to start the bulk of their season with testing. Hope you tune in for next weeks blog!
The SECOND Week
January 20, 2023
Hi, I'm Zachary Barrett.
Welcome to the second week of 4330 Rambunction's Charged Up season! The field team continued working on creating the charging station seesaw and finishing up our mock game area. The non-tech team worked on scouting forms and merch designs. The programming team continued work on their vision of the april tags and getting the test bot up and running. The mechanical team started and finished the construction of our elevator which will allow us to elevate the game pieces and put them in their respective slots. Overall this has been an extremely productive week, and we should have ample time for final programming and driving practice before the competition. See you next week! 👋
January 20, 2023
Hi, I'm Zachary Barrett.
Welcome to the second week of 4330 Rambunction's Charged Up season! The field team continued working on creating the charging station seesaw and finishing up our mock game area. The non-tech team worked on scouting forms and merch designs. The programming team continued work on their vision of the april tags and getting the test bot up and running. The mechanical team started and finished the construction of our elevator which will allow us to elevate the game pieces and put them in their respective slots. Overall this has been an extremely productive week, and we should have ample time for final programming and driving practice before the competition. See you next week! 👋
The FIRST Week
January 13, 2023
Hi, my name is Ari Willick, and his name is Zachary Barrett, and we will be your blog writers for this build season.
Welcome to the 2022 season, Charged Up! Charged Up involves placing cones and cubes into their designated nodes. After watching the kickoff livestream, we discussed basic sizes and strategies for our robot this season. We also took note of specific rules that will affect our decisions during the design process and during competition. We decided to make a six-wheel tank drive and attempt to score on the first two levels. An entire timeline for the season was designed to ensure we have ample time for programming and driving practice. The field got right to work creating the grids and other basic parts required for testing. Our team also received a popcorn maker and have been popping popcorn daily.
Throughout the week, we prototyped designs and discussed strategies. We decided on an intake design for the cubes and the cones, and decided to ignore tipped cones. We got our test bot up and running so that programming can start coding. They have so far created a nice feeling drive and worked on vision techniques for the april tags. Overall, the team feels very optimistic about the season, and we can definitely see a season where we do better than we have in recent years. I hope you continue reading our blog every Friday throughout the season!
January 13, 2023
Hi, my name is Ari Willick, and his name is Zachary Barrett, and we will be your blog writers for this build season.
Welcome to the 2022 season, Charged Up! Charged Up involves placing cones and cubes into their designated nodes. After watching the kickoff livestream, we discussed basic sizes and strategies for our robot this season. We also took note of specific rules that will affect our decisions during the design process and during competition. We decided to make a six-wheel tank drive and attempt to score on the first two levels. An entire timeline for the season was designed to ensure we have ample time for programming and driving practice. The field got right to work creating the grids and other basic parts required for testing. Our team also received a popcorn maker and have been popping popcorn daily.
Throughout the week, we prototyped designs and discussed strategies. We decided on an intake design for the cubes and the cones, and decided to ignore tipped cones. We got our test bot up and running so that programming can start coding. They have so far created a nice feeling drive and worked on vision techniques for the april tags. Overall, the team feels very optimistic about the season, and we can definitely see a season where we do better than we have in recent years. I hope you continue reading our blog every Friday throughout the season!
2022
Hello...Competition?!
March 30, 2022
Wow! Build season went by so quickly that competition is now at our feet! The past few weeks have been jam packed with diligent work and constant testing (huge, HUGE apologies to our drivers and programming team!), and seeing the robot come together, piece by piece, feature by feature, reminds us why we enjoy being in-person this year. A few hiccups have come up, such as the huge amounts of snow days that were called in February, as well as a struggle to incorporate a climber into an already stuffed bot due to the intake and turret shooter. Despite these obstacles, we persevered and ended up with Gator! Also, a more focused effort was made into communication within the team and scouting for competition so the team performs better and more fluidly at competition. To the teams we will see at the St. Louis Regional, good luck!
If you’d like to catch recaps of our season, check out our Youtube channel here and our photos section here! We will be posting updates there and here about competition shortly :)
March 30, 2022
Wow! Build season went by so quickly that competition is now at our feet! The past few weeks have been jam packed with diligent work and constant testing (huge, HUGE apologies to our drivers and programming team!), and seeing the robot come together, piece by piece, feature by feature, reminds us why we enjoy being in-person this year. A few hiccups have come up, such as the huge amounts of snow days that were called in February, as well as a struggle to incorporate a climber into an already stuffed bot due to the intake and turret shooter. Despite these obstacles, we persevered and ended up with Gator! Also, a more focused effort was made into communication within the team and scouting for competition so the team performs better and more fluidly at competition. To the teams we will see at the St. Louis Regional, good luck!
If you’d like to catch recaps of our season, check out our Youtube channel here and our photos section here! We will be posting updates there and here about competition shortly :)
Hello FIRST Week!
January 13, 2022
Happy New Year and Kickoff, and welcome back to in-person Robotics (as of now)!
We’re excited to see many new faces as we reunite and start this exciting new season. We were also happy to see some of our alumni during Kickoff, who helped us with our game plan for the season. After watching the livestream, we spent the rest of the time discussing different approaches to climbing the Hangar and shooting to the Hub. We were able to decide on other aspects like drivetrain and field element construction, and we generated ideas on how long assembly should take. As we’ve been recalling past seasons throughout the meeting, we acknowledged that we want to give our programmers and drivers ample time to work and prepare for competition.
The following day, we continued our discussion on how we should design our shooter and climbing mechanisms. Individuals shared ideas to the full group, and then we decided on which approach would be most effective for game play. This year, especially, we aim to make a robot that can be of great support in alliances. Based on our Infinite Recharge bot, Scarab, we know making an effective climbing tool will take us less time than developing a consistent shooter. Thus, we want to dedicate a lot of brain-and manpower to refining a shooter that can launch Cargo into the Upper Hub.
After we established a relative idea of what we wish to complete, we split off into groups to work on tasks like wiring, CADing our shooter and climbing mechanisms, and programming. We’ve also created deadlines to ensure we remain on-course with a 6-week construction period. The time remaining will be dedicated to further programming and drive testing. We feel very optimistic about this coming season, along with the new members joining us this year. We look forward to how we’ll grow throughout the months as we become more familiar with one another.
January 13, 2022
Happy New Year and Kickoff, and welcome back to in-person Robotics (as of now)!
We’re excited to see many new faces as we reunite and start this exciting new season. We were also happy to see some of our alumni during Kickoff, who helped us with our game plan for the season. After watching the livestream, we spent the rest of the time discussing different approaches to climbing the Hangar and shooting to the Hub. We were able to decide on other aspects like drivetrain and field element construction, and we generated ideas on how long assembly should take. As we’ve been recalling past seasons throughout the meeting, we acknowledged that we want to give our programmers and drivers ample time to work and prepare for competition.
The following day, we continued our discussion on how we should design our shooter and climbing mechanisms. Individuals shared ideas to the full group, and then we decided on which approach would be most effective for game play. This year, especially, we aim to make a robot that can be of great support in alliances. Based on our Infinite Recharge bot, Scarab, we know making an effective climbing tool will take us less time than developing a consistent shooter. Thus, we want to dedicate a lot of brain-and manpower to refining a shooter that can launch Cargo into the Upper Hub.
After we established a relative idea of what we wish to complete, we split off into groups to work on tasks like wiring, CADing our shooter and climbing mechanisms, and programming. We’ve also created deadlines to ensure we remain on-course with a 6-week construction period. The time remaining will be dedicated to further programming and drive testing. We feel very optimistic about this coming season, along with the new members joining us this year. We look forward to how we’ll grow throughout the months as we become more familiar with one another.
2021
Game Design Imagery Award!!
May 20, 2021
While this means the end of Game Design’s pursuits and the season as a whole for us, we’re happy to announce that we’ve been selected for the Imagery Award in honor of Jack Kamen for the Gallium Group! Special thanks to everyone who contributed, especially the CAD people and Jackson Proper for narrating our video! You can find the video here on the team’s Youtube channel. Also, we want to extend a big congratulations to Teams 8069 (Super Hornets) and 3256 (WarriorBorgs) for winning the Designer’s Award and the Concept Award respectively! We hope to see elements of your submissions in future FRC games!
We are very grateful for each team member, our mentors, and our sponsors. None of the hard work achieved during this season would have been possible without a single contributor! Cheers!
May 20, 2021
While this means the end of Game Design’s pursuits and the season as a whole for us, we’re happy to announce that we’ve been selected for the Imagery Award in honor of Jack Kamen for the Gallium Group! Special thanks to everyone who contributed, especially the CAD people and Jackson Proper for narrating our video! You can find the video here on the team’s Youtube channel. Also, we want to extend a big congratulations to Teams 8069 (Super Hornets) and 3256 (WarriorBorgs) for winning the Designer’s Award and the Concept Award respectively! We hope to see elements of your submissions in future FRC games!
We are very grateful for each team member, our mentors, and our sponsors. None of the hard work achieved during this season would have been possible without a single contributor! Cheers!
Day 111 (Yes, I checked): Updates and Mini-Interviews!
April 30, 2021
What a season it has been for Team 4330! Unfortunately, due to the ongoing pandemic, we weren’t able to keep having members return to the workshop outside of school hours as long as we had hoped, ending our stint in Infinite Recharge at Home. However, both Game Design Challenge and Innovation Challenge were able to continue their respective projects. We all remained busy for several weeks, drafting, CADing, animating, and reviewing our materials in order to prepare for submissions and the interviews–which we felt had gone swimmingly! While we didn’t make it to the Innovation Challenge semi-finals, the members who worked on the challenge gained valuable knowledge in teamwork, marketing, and networking. It was a fantastic experience that we are glad to have partaken in! Also, due to all the end-of-school activities such as AP exams, finals, and the most stressful of all, graduation, we placed a larger group meeting on hold during which we plan to discuss our next steps for future seasons and reconvene.
Despite sitting out on Infinite Recharge, there is still valuable work being done in-person; team members voluntarily visit the deserted workspace to clean up from the previous season and the few meetings we were able to have together.
--Rambunction Mini-Interview Special--
With such a wacky season in which the entire team was split into several groups for FIRST Game Changers, some of us had a few interesting comments about the whole process:
“I was pleasantly surprised when I heard there was a game design challenge; I had taken 2 summer camps dedicated to game design during 10th and 11th grade, and finally had the opportunity to apply my learning. I tried emulating the programs I was trained under such stressing/teaching time management (through a Gantt chart) and game design practices (like the game design pipeline, an emphasis on narrative, and pitching ideas to others). Despite my experience, I was still surprised how effective communication and teamwork can generate so many ideas and pump out work (thank you Jackson for your phenomenal work as a team manager). I subconsciously feared I would “command” others, so I favored democratic voting for decision making. I know I am not always right, and NEED others to reason with and against; sometimes I even argued against decisions I agreed with, just to make sure they were solid ideas. Although I still wish more time to work on our game, I know no game is ever perfect. I am satisfied with our team and our product.” -Darren Teh (Game Design Challenge)
"Well, I think we all put a lot of effort into this year's season. We each developed our skills in leadership, organization, and innovation through first-hand experience as well even though the Innovation Challenge team did not progress, I think we got a lot out of the work experience." - Garison Siegel (Innovation, Game Design Challenges)
“I saw robotics pre-covid (working on the robot and such) and it looked pretty fun. Once the season started I worked on infinite recharge while it lasted. Then I heard [the Innovation Challenge team] was making an app and no one else was working on it so I decided to help." - Aiden Lambert (Infinite Recharge at Home, Innovation Challenge)
Thanks to those who replied!
Media Master Frank's Note: I've added a third easter egg page! There are also two other ones if you haven't found it yet. HINT: Look for a hyperlink within a period.
April 30, 2021
What a season it has been for Team 4330! Unfortunately, due to the ongoing pandemic, we weren’t able to keep having members return to the workshop outside of school hours as long as we had hoped, ending our stint in Infinite Recharge at Home. However, both Game Design Challenge and Innovation Challenge were able to continue their respective projects. We all remained busy for several weeks, drafting, CADing, animating, and reviewing our materials in order to prepare for submissions and the interviews–which we felt had gone swimmingly! While we didn’t make it to the Innovation Challenge semi-finals, the members who worked on the challenge gained valuable knowledge in teamwork, marketing, and networking. It was a fantastic experience that we are glad to have partaken in! Also, due to all the end-of-school activities such as AP exams, finals, and the most stressful of all, graduation, we placed a larger group meeting on hold during which we plan to discuss our next steps for future seasons and reconvene.
Despite sitting out on Infinite Recharge, there is still valuable work being done in-person; team members voluntarily visit the deserted workspace to clean up from the previous season and the few meetings we were able to have together.
--Rambunction Mini-Interview Special--
With such a wacky season in which the entire team was split into several groups for FIRST Game Changers, some of us had a few interesting comments about the whole process:
“I was pleasantly surprised when I heard there was a game design challenge; I had taken 2 summer camps dedicated to game design during 10th and 11th grade, and finally had the opportunity to apply my learning. I tried emulating the programs I was trained under such stressing/teaching time management (through a Gantt chart) and game design practices (like the game design pipeline, an emphasis on narrative, and pitching ideas to others). Despite my experience, I was still surprised how effective communication and teamwork can generate so many ideas and pump out work (thank you Jackson for your phenomenal work as a team manager). I subconsciously feared I would “command” others, so I favored democratic voting for decision making. I know I am not always right, and NEED others to reason with and against; sometimes I even argued against decisions I agreed with, just to make sure they were solid ideas. Although I still wish more time to work on our game, I know no game is ever perfect. I am satisfied with our team and our product.” -Darren Teh (Game Design Challenge)
"Well, I think we all put a lot of effort into this year's season. We each developed our skills in leadership, organization, and innovation through first-hand experience as well even though the Innovation Challenge team did not progress, I think we got a lot out of the work experience." - Garison Siegel (Innovation, Game Design Challenges)
“I saw robotics pre-covid (working on the robot and such) and it looked pretty fun. Once the season started I worked on infinite recharge while it lasted. Then I heard [the Innovation Challenge team] was making an app and no one else was working on it so I decided to help." - Aiden Lambert (Infinite Recharge at Home, Innovation Challenge)
Thanks to those who replied!
Media Master Frank's Note: I've added a third easter egg page! There are also two other ones if you haven't found it yet. HINT: Look for a hyperlink within a period.
Happy February!
February 1, 2021
January certainly flew by for some of us. But Team 4330 began working on their challenges...right? ...Right? I hope...
Yep! As we mentioned before, the team members split up into smaller groups to work on the Game Design, Innovation, and Infinite Recharge at Home challenges. Each sub-group met several times a week, during which we all began brainstorming, researching, developing and narrowing down all the ideas we came up with. In fact, the Game Design and Innovation groups just recently selected the ideas they wanted to pursue, and discussed them with the rest of the team. Thus, these two groups will begin focusing on their concepts and crafting a refined presentation for submission.
Not only have these two groups made progress, but we’ve also received news that a few team members will be allowed back into our workshop, starting this Thursday! Since the season started, those working on Infinite Recharge at Home began thinking of ways to fix Scarab, our beloved Infinite Recharge-era robot. Scarab was moved from school to a team member’s basement in case we were unable to return to the robotics room at school. However, since some of us are able to return, Scarab has returned to his domain! We’re hoping everything goes well once we go back to the shop, and to make as much progress as we can with the time we have left. Infinite Recharge at Home plans on fixing Scarab’s shooter and vision (shoutout to programming for correcting vision from home!).
In other news, a small team has worked on team hoodie and merchandise designs throughout the month, and we sent out an order form today. Though we will need to work on merch distribution when the time comes, we will create a plan to ensure that everyone receives their orders safely.
Furthermore, some parts of the website were re-designed by the wise media master himself, Frank Norris! He has hidden a few easter eggs on those re-designed pages as well, so good luck finding them!
February 1, 2021
January certainly flew by for some of us. But Team 4330 began working on their challenges...right? ...Right? I hope...
Yep! As we mentioned before, the team members split up into smaller groups to work on the Game Design, Innovation, and Infinite Recharge at Home challenges. Each sub-group met several times a week, during which we all began brainstorming, researching, developing and narrowing down all the ideas we came up with. In fact, the Game Design and Innovation groups just recently selected the ideas they wanted to pursue, and discussed them with the rest of the team. Thus, these two groups will begin focusing on their concepts and crafting a refined presentation for submission.
Not only have these two groups made progress, but we’ve also received news that a few team members will be allowed back into our workshop, starting this Thursday! Since the season started, those working on Infinite Recharge at Home began thinking of ways to fix Scarab, our beloved Infinite Recharge-era robot. Scarab was moved from school to a team member’s basement in case we were unable to return to the robotics room at school. However, since some of us are able to return, Scarab has returned to his domain! We’re hoping everything goes well once we go back to the shop, and to make as much progress as we can with the time we have left. Infinite Recharge at Home plans on fixing Scarab’s shooter and vision (shoutout to programming for correcting vision from home!).
In other news, a small team has worked on team hoodie and merchandise designs throughout the month, and we sent out an order form today. Though we will need to work on merch distribution when the time comes, we will create a plan to ensure that everyone receives their orders safely.
Furthermore, some parts of the website were re-designed by the wise media master himself, Frank Norris! He has hidden a few easter eggs on those re-designed pages as well, so good luck finding them!
Kickoff!
January 9, 2021
At long last, the day is finally here….Kickoff! Fortunately, thanks to our coaches, we were able to gather in our school’s cafeteria to watch the livestream. Afterwards, we began expanding on our ideas for each challenge of the season (Game Design, Innovation, At Home) as well as hosting a Zoom meeting for those who weren’t able to attend in-person. Everyone contributed valuable insight to the conversation and we plan on having further Zoom meetings to divide into smaller groups for each challenge. Although Kickoff was noticeably different this year with social distancing, disinfectant spray with paper towels, and virtual attendees, seeing everyone else, whether in-person or virtual, and collaborating together was just as fun and exciting as it had in previous years. Despite the circumstances we all are in, we’re looking forward to the 2021 Game Changers & Infinite Recharge season! Good luck, everyone!
January 9, 2021
At long last, the day is finally here….Kickoff! Fortunately, thanks to our coaches, we were able to gather in our school’s cafeteria to watch the livestream. Afterwards, we began expanding on our ideas for each challenge of the season (Game Design, Innovation, At Home) as well as hosting a Zoom meeting for those who weren’t able to attend in-person. Everyone contributed valuable insight to the conversation and we plan on having further Zoom meetings to divide into smaller groups for each challenge. Although Kickoff was noticeably different this year with social distancing, disinfectant spray with paper towels, and virtual attendees, seeing everyone else, whether in-person or virtual, and collaborating together was just as fun and exciting as it had in previous years. Despite the circumstances we all are in, we’re looking forward to the 2021 Game Changers & Infinite Recharge season! Good luck, everyone!