For the 2020-2021 GRITS season we created a trophy design, which was submitted to the trophy design contest. Our trophy is built upon a combination of pneumatic and electrical components from Automation Direct. Starting with the pneumatics, air is provided by connecting quarter inch pneumatic tubing to a bulkhead union on the back of the base. The electrical system is powered by a 24V, 36W wall adapter. It connects to the rear of the base using a barrel jack. The 24 volt power is routed through a two-position selector switch. When the switch is in the “on” position, power is supplied to several LEDs lighting the city buildings and one photoelectric fork sensor that detects whether the “switch” game element is level or not. If game element is not level, then the light beam is unobstructed and sensor output switches 24V to the solenoid valve. This extends the air cylinder which raises the city and opens the shield.  The shield also closes and protects the city when selector switch is in the off position. With this design, we have become finalists for the contest and have expanded our creativity in the process.

Written by ​Kimberly Velez (12th)

Overall, the Techno Titans have been busy welcoming rookies to our team and training them during our bootcamp process.

Mechatronics (Design, Fabrication, and Electrical):
Mechatronics continued teaching the elements of CAD to members, and have started transitioning into a new stage in the training process: assessments and level-ups. The Level 1 Mechatronics students completed their assessment late last week and have advanced to Level 2. Throughout the week, they learned the basics of CADing an FRC tank drive as well as how mechanisms, such as elevators and manipulators, work. The previous Level 2 students have completed their assessment, and once they receive their results, they will transition into experience-oriented projects such as robot modifications. In the upcoming weeks, Mechatronics hopes to develop designs for numerous projects and continue training the current Level 2 members.

Programming:
In our programming subteam, members installed software needed for vision, such as pycharm, python, and opencv, and began learning python.

Business:
On the business side of things, the app development subteam continued to work on their GAFIRST app, and the marketing subteam started making their video for the safety animation award and editing our team podcast. Additionally, our outreach subteam started contacting other teams for our podcast and preparing for podcast postings, while the communications subteam began applying to several grants.

Hey Seniors! We have some exciting news for you guys! FIRST scholarships are officially up for you guys to apply to! Any Senior who has registered with FIRST is eligible to apply for one of these scholarships, so start writing! You can find specific details about each scholarship in this link:

www.firstinspires.org/scholarships

​Techno Titans’ first meeting will take place tomorrow at 3:45 PM. Please mark it on your calendar. We’re beyond excited to see everyone there!

The Techno Titans as a team has been adapting and working hard during these challenging times. Our team has transformed our operations and activists online in order to keep everyone safe. Over the past few weeks, we’ve hosted a successful virtual summer camp with 45 attendees. We’ve trained some of our team members on the engineering sub team how to CAD, and other sub teams have also been learning. We’re proud to say that Techno Titans as a team contributed to the fight against COVID-19, some team members used their knowledge and equipment to print face shields and donated them to local hospitals. These are the updates so far, and safety will always be our priority!

At the beginning of Week 6, we were able to start our final 2 mechanisms: the climber and Control Panel. By the middle of the week, we were able to build most of the structure for the climb and currently are waiting on a few parts to arrive to complete and test the mechanism. Friday was our official Stop Build Day and we spent the day in our school's cafeteria, building mechanisms, fixing minor issues, and testing our mechanisms. The team had a party to celebrate the occasion (with lots of cake)! By the end of Week 6, the mechanisms were built as far as they could, with the Control Panel mechanism ready to mount and the climber waiting on the last few parts. Electrical was able to reorganize their wires as well as finish wiring the shooter system. Programming was able to test their code on the existing mechanisms, apply current limits, and further develop their vision systems. Business is working on creating a robot reveal and our last few publications for awards. Our Dean's List nominees were also submitted by our mentors. During Week 7, we hope to dedicate our time to testing and driving to further prepare ourselves for our Week 1 competition!

During Week 5, we were able to integrate most of our major mechanisms and test them! The intake, hopper, feeder, and flywheel systems have been confirmed to work with no major issues spotted. With most of the basic mechanisms done, we will be shifting our focus to our other mechanisms: the climber and Control Panel. Fabrication worked on finishing the mechanisms associated with the power cells and the drivetrain. Fabrication also finished attaching and testing the intake, hopper, feeder, and shooter, alongside working on bumpers and starting to CNC some of the components for the control wheel and climb mechanisms. Business has gotten all awards submitted as well as ordered most of our team merch. The plan for Week 6 is to complete the other mechanisms and attach them and to take the robot up to the school where we will be able to test with our "mini-field." Friday will be the team's unofficial Stop Build Day celebration and we will be spending the remaining time until our first competition testing and driving!

Throughout Week 4, we were able to begin and complete most of our major mechanisms for the robot. The assembly for the hopper and intake began on Monday and were both completed in terms of fabrication work on Saturday. The shooter mechanism was built throughout the week and was also completed Saturday with the turret being close to finished as well. The feeder parts were CNC'ed on Saturday and the plan is to have assembly to begin on Monday. Fabrication field team also built a storage box to contain all the wood pieces to help better organize our workspace. Field team painted the power port and added reflective tape to help Vision team identify targets, and also completed the colored control panel and trench. The Electrical subteam successfully mounted and wired major components on the belly pan and assisted Fabrication and Programming with wiring and testing the mechanisms as they were built. Design is currently in the final stretch to complete the climb mechanism, and once completed, assembly will start during Week 5. Our Business team has made considerable progress on our awards as well as the GAFIRST mobile app, and are finalizing team publications. Our team has also selected Chairman’s presenters (Berkan, Kimberly, & Shiv) and appointed a new Safety Captain (Harish) alongside two new apprentices (Clara & Shriya). The plan for the upcoming week is to complete and finish the integration of all components of our robot, as well as finish up our award submissions and prepare for competition!