Tag: ARS Robotics

What Are We Working On? Status Update – Feb 27, 2024

Our apologize for not writing recently. We have been busy working hard on our robot. However, we know have something to show for it!

We have, in no particular order:

  • Made an all in one pickup and launch mechanism
  • A sliding rail system to raise and lower the launcher
  • A stage to test against (we would practice with it if we had time)
  • A speaker
  • An amplifier

You may have noticed that there is no mention or image of the drive-train. The whole situation with that is complicated, and we still do not know what we are going to use. The only hope for us right now is that fact that we have a (supposedly) working kit bot. Hopefully more progress will have been made before we load up for Knoxville.

But there is more for a robotics team to work on besides building and programming a robot. Our business team has been hard at work since January, writing up our business plan along with Deans list, Woody Flowers, and Impact award submissions. Our graphics team has changed up our shirts and banner with the updated sponsors list.

I would like to shout out Taylor for maintaining our relationships with both our sponsors, as well as with our school administrators. She has been instrumental in getting both parts and funding, and ensuring that our team can continue not only to exist, but also to meet as often as we need. Without her work, last minute trips to Texas for worlds would not be possible. Even going to regionals could be challenging if we did not have the relationship with our school admins, or our sponsors.

On a similar thread, I would also like to shout out our school admins for being such awesome people, and actively supporting our team. We honestly could not exist it it weren’t for their support. Thank you.

Team Number Change

TLDR; We changed our teams number recently, their is not practical change because of this.

This is a late announcement (almost 2 months late), but back in October, we officially changed our teams number from FRC-8733 to FRC-538. There is no real benefit to our team for us doing so. However, there are some reasons we made this change. The biggest reason is that it helps back our teams identity. Our teams name is Renaissance which means rebirth. Our team mentors (Taylor and Drew Whisenant) were mentors for a now retired FRC team, whose number was FRC-538, our new team number. By taking that number (which we would not have been able to get otherwise) means that we are figuratively re-birthing that team. This helps build our team brand (such as it is).

On a more practical note, there is a real world advantage to our number change. Because our new number is lower then then our old number, we are able to get a pit closer to the play field, requiring a shorter walk. While not much of a difference, it still is something. There aren’t any other benefits to our number change.