Monday, January 30, 2017

Steaming Along during Build Time



The Aztechs 157 have been hard at work this past week we have our robot frame. In the shop, there is testing of prototypes for other mechanisms going on as well as testing of the final designs of some units. Safety team is on the lookout to make sure we are safe as we STEAM along. They wish we had the AIRSHIP element built to get a better view.  The programmers are hard at work; on the vision tracking to make sure it’s a clear shot every time. Spirit team member are in GEAR getting the props ready for our competitions. We also have members putting the final touches on the FIRST award submissions. As we start week 4, we have the Aztechs fundraising calendar coming out on Tuesday, so be on the lookout for it, more on that in another blog post.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Starting build season by prototype making

*tune of 12 days of Christmas* “

On the seventh day of build season, The Aztechs said to me 27 meetings left…”

This past week we have done some prototyping. Three groups of about 3-5 team members for each group. We sat down with some of the members who are taking the lead in some of the prototyping to talk about their progress.

Zachary, First year on the team
What inspired you to make your prototype? “I looked at past years designs and I thought that our robot from 2012 could be adapted to this year's game.”
How do you bring your concepts to life? “I took our robot design from 2012 and adapted it to this year's robot and I sketched out what I thought would work best and then I made a wooden prototype.”

Isaac, Second year on the team
What inspired you to make your prototype? “What inspired me to make my prototype was an idea I’ve adapted from last year’s ball intake.”
How do you bring your concepts to life? “I bring my concept to life by making clear drawings and explaining exactly what I want to do and then bringing it into existence by using materials and my designs.”

Jacob, Three years on the team
What inspired you to make your prototype? “I was inspired by wheeled softball shooters, as well as from my previous experience with wheel based shooters.”
How do you bring your concepts to life? “I bring my concepts to life by first making a drawing of them, often with CAD software, then building them to ensure they have the intended functionality.”

Thursday, January 12, 2017

New Year and recap of some fall events

Aztechs 157 FIRST Robotics team wishes all of you Happy and healthy New year. 
Aztechs are saying “Full steam ahead” for the 2017 Build Season! We are gearing up and getting pumped up for our 3rd annual FRC Kickoff. This event on Saturday, January 7th, 2017, will be held at Assabet Valley Regional Technical High school. This event is opened to the public, we recommend all robotic enthusiast's to attend! 
We held our 5th annual food drive at Stop and Shop in Hudson, MA. We raised 1377 pounds of donated food and $160 dollars. Additionally, we recently held our second annual FIRST Lego League competition for an amazing 23 teams. We also held our 4th annual Toys for Tots drive with Hudson Police and Assabet Valley MCJROTC held at Walmart in Hudson, MA, we raised about $7,000 worth of toys and 24 bikes!