In January, the team, led by mentor from City College, was evaluating different models for the general shape of the robot. Students weighing in on opinions, drawing up mockups on the whiteboard to explain ideas. There are nods of approval, friendly debates, and even snippets of a student’s soundtrack app to applaud strong points.
Mentor leading team discussion
Mark, a sophomore, commented, “this year we’re mostly controlling everything from the ideas and concepts about what we’re going to do and make it work to perform”.
The plan of action? Nazario explained, “this week, we are just focusing on ideas that will apply to the competition. Next week we start the build.”
The students will then separate into groups, with each student having two tasks, like being a programmer or drawing things on CAD. “That way everyone can learn about different fields of engineering and get a lot of work done too,” Nazario pointed out.
Team drawing mockups
Talking about their design, Sam, a junior who’s second year in FRC, says, “I think it will work. There were other designs. I preferred, but it’s more about execution, doing things well and on time. You can’t do too many things at once. If you don’t allow time for debugging then there’s a very good chance that your robot is not going to work at Javits.”
While busy with design, it’s clear that the team is excited to start the build and learning more about robotics. Nazario, “It’s really fun and easy to fit in while nerding out.” Andres, as senior, said, “I’m looking forward to seeing what the other designs the other teams are going to do. I’m hyped up to see what’s it’s gonna be like this 3rd time around.” Sam later confirms, “I think it’s going to be a pretty good year for the team – overall it’s most important that we enjoy it.”
