Ontario Provincial Championship &
year end update
Week 13 • July 2024
Thank you for all your support of our team! Without your sponsorship, this build season would not be possible. Here is what we have been working on over the past week.
Before Provincials
During our competition in Waterloo, we encountered issues with notes getting stuck in a gap on the guarding on the robot. To address this, we modified our design. Additionally, to prevent our chain from slipping, we installed chain tensioners to ensure it stayed in place. With these adjustments, we felt confident in our preparation for the provincials.
Day 1
Upon arriving at the International Centre in Toronto for the competition, we were assigned to the Technology division. Alongside approximately 50 other teams, we set up our pit and participated in a few practice matches. During our qualification matches, we encountered minimal issues with our robot and won 4 out of 6 matches.
Day 2
Day 2 of the competition had a lot of really close matches, with some being a difference of as little as 2 points. We won 3 out of our 6 matches, and did not face many issues with our robot. Compared to the many amazing teams there, we were doing quite well. With our high ranking in the qualification matches, there was a high likelihood of an alliance captain picking us on day 3.
Day 3
Our third and final day of the competition began with alliance selection. After teams made tough decisions and compromises, we were picked for the third alliance. Despite the promising conditions so far, our first playoff match had us face a huge obstacle; our breaker shattering. Halfway through our first match, our breaker was destroyed and our robot rendered immobile. Even with the strict time constraints, we were able to replace the breaker before the next match. Unfortunately, our shooter accuracy was off and we weren’t able to secure a victory.
Next Steps
Since we are finished with our competitions for the season, we are now preparing students for the competitions next season. To start we are teaching some students how to make models in CAD programs, meaning they will be able to create designs for parts on our robot. Related to this, we are also attempting to redesign our robot to use a swerve drive instead of a tank base, meaning we will be able to navigate around the field quicker.
This year many of our students will be finishing high school, meaning they will no longer be eligible to be students on the team and some may be back with the team as mentors. Since we will need new programmers next year, we will be teaching some students to program in C++ for the robot. If we are able to accomplish all this, we will have the capacity to build amazing robots quite efficiently next year.
Off-season
Recently, during our off-season, we built a swerve drive for our robot, which we plan to use at this year's STEMley Cup. Compared to our old tank-based movement system, the swerve drive offers numerous improvements and enhanced capabilities.
The robot is holonomic, allowing it to move and rotate in any direction independently. Its movement direction is not influenced by its rotation, enabling precise navigation around objects. This characteristic also simplifies the autonomous system's maneuvering, making it more efficient and easier to control.