2025 – Quickstrike Niagara

February Update

Week 5 • February 2025

Quickstrike Niagara

Team 6978

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.

February Newsletter

Over the past month, our team has been actively brainstorming and prototyping our robot design to tackle the game's required tasks. Using Onshape, students have been developing these prototypes, while the students on the build team refine the design to maximize efficiency and performance. With just five weeks remaining until our first competition at Niagara College in Welland, we are focused on finalizing and optimizing our robot.

Robot Weight

FIRST has updated the robot specifications this year, setting the maximum weight limit at 115 lbs. Currently, our robot exceeds this limit by 15 lbs without the battery, bumpers, and arm. To address this, our build team is diligently working to reduce weight by replacing certain metal components with thinner, lighter materials. While this requires disassembling and modifying parts of the robot, our team is efficiently tackling the challenge to ensure compliance with the new regulations.

New Parts

Our team has collaborated effectively to develop three new components to help us achieve our game objectives. Over the past few weeks, we have designed and fabricated an algae manipulator, enabling us to pick up and transport algae to the designated goal—either the algae processor or the barge—to earn points. Additionally, we have built a coral intake system, allowing our robot to collect coral and bring it onboard. This system feeds into the coral gripper, which is currently under construction, and will enable us to strategically place coral onto the reef to score points.

Extra Swerve Drives

For the 2024 season, we upgraded from a tank drive system to advanced swerve drives, significantly improving our robot’s performance. Based on their success, the team ordered an additional set for this year’s robot, along with spare units for unexpected situations during competition. Swerve drives are a vital part of our robot’s success, providing increased speed, precise maneuverability, and adaptability to obstacles and other teams' robots on the field.

PAsta Dinner

Join us for a pasta dinner fundraiser at Club Capri on February 12th from 6:00 to 7:30 PM, with takeout available from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. Tickets are $25. Enjoy a delicious meal featuring pasta, meatballs, salad, and dinner rolls while we showcase our 2023-2024 season robot. A 50/50 raffle will run from 5:00 to 8:00 PM, along with additional raffle prizes. Our LEGO robotics team will also be present, demonstrating their skills. Don't miss this exciting evening of great food and robotics!

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2025 Kickoff Newsletter

Week 1 • January 2025

Quickstrike Niagara

Team 6978

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.

2025 Kickoff

Welcome to Quickstrike Niagara’s 2025 season kickoff! We began the season on Saturday January 4th with the exciting reveal of this year’s game. Just like last year, we divided into groups to analyze the game manual. Each student focused on a specific section, then shared their findings with the rest of the team. This collaborative approach allowed us to quickly understand the game’s requirements and jumpstart the design process for our robot. Following the manual review, we brainstormed ideas for how our robot could tackle the tasks needed to maximize points during matches.

Designing the Robot

After the robot is built, we’ll need to test it extensively. Each build season, we construct field objects and game pieces to practice with. This year is no different, as we’ve been busy assembling and experimenting with components for the 2025 game. One crucial element we’re working on is The Barge, which will allow us to test our robot’s climbing capabilities. Without these practice elements, we wouldn’t know how well our robot performs until competition, which could make troubleshooting a challenge. These preparations are key to ensuring our robot is ready for the season.

Preparing Materials

Creating a high-performing robot requires careful planning and strategic decision-making. To maximize our performance within the constraints of time and resources, we’re carefully evaluating which features to include. Challenges this season include adapting to new devices and game pieces. For instance, we need to figure out how to properly mount and use the new radio. Another significant challenge is designing a mechanism to maneuver Coral pieces and place them on The Reef both quickly and accurately. Solving these problems is essential to building a robot capable of excelling in competition.

Next Steps

Looking ahead, our focus will shift to prototyping key functions for the robot. We plan to develop a 3-axis arm for picking up Coral and an algae pickup mechanism, similar to the note collector we used last season. Additionally, our robot will need to climb, so we’ll be tackling the challenge of navigating this year’s complex climbing elements. These prototypes will be critical as we move closer to finalizing our design and ensuring that our robot is competition-ready.

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