In Powerplay FTC’s game for the 2022-23 season, two alliances with two robots each compete against each other by trying to place as many cones on the junctions before time runs out. They can also score by placing their beacon on a junction as well as owning a continuous path from one terminal to the other.
1. Why did you join robotics and what were you expecting to learn in the beginning fo the year?
Kyle (9th grade): “I joined robotics because it seemed fun and I wanted to learn how to engineer.”
Andy (9th grade): “I joined robotics because it seemed fun and engineering is something I want to look into as a job opportunity.”
2. Did you learn what you were expecting to? If not, why and what did you learn instead.
Andy (9th grade): “I think I am learning what I was expecting to, like problem solving, especially fixing problems we run into while building the robot.”
Connie (9th grade): “I learned how to do a lot of technical stuff, such as attaching bearings onto wheels and the proper procedure for that.”
3. What were the greatest challenges during build season? How were you able to tackle the problem?
Connie (9th grade): “I think the biggest challenge during build season is the size restriction for the robot, because whenever we changed something, the size of the robot would change and it usually doesn’t fit the size limit anymore after.”
Andy (9th grade): “We were not able to get a linear motion kit, so we decided to build something similar from scratch, and we were successful at it.”
4. What are you hoping to achieve this year?
Kyle (9th grade): “I’m hoping that our robot and whole subteam do well in competition and that we learn a lot of things to help us become better engineers.”
Connie (9th grade): “I hope to learn about the different subsystems so that if I want to in the future, I can work on a project that includes both business and engineering.”
The Iron Panthers competed at the Saratoga Qualifying Tournament during the 2022-2023 FTC season. Despite some initial setbacks, the team demonstrated outstanding teamwork by resolving technical issues.
In the 2020-2021 game, Freight Frenzy, both our teams competed at the NorCal Qualifying Tournament. Despite having technical issues both our teams did especially well. The Iron Panthers made it semifinals and the Kittens ranked 12th. The Iron Panthers also received the innovate award and the Iron Kittens were awarded with the design award.
Though our robot in 2019-2020 FTC Game, Skystone, was stationary during its first match, we successfully diagnosed the problem! One of the REVhubs was fried due to metal shavings, so we had to switch the wiring for driving onto another REVhub on the robot. After match 3, we replaced the broken REVhub with a spare one, and re-wired the arm on it. In the end, our arm, intake, and driving were working!
At the Saratoga tournament, the Iron Panthers was the winning alliance captain and winner of the Rockwell Collins Innovate award. Then, at the Daily City Tournament, the team was a member of the winning alliance and winner of the Rockwell Collins Innovate award. The Iron Panthers went on to the Norcal Championships, winning the third place Inspire Award which qualified us to compete in the Western US Championships, also known as the Super West from March 8-11!!!
This season, the 10336 Iron Kittens merged with Iron Panthers 7316.
At the NorCal regional, the Iron Panthers wins the Judge’s Award. Then, they later on win the Connect Award at Saratoga. At each Qualifier the Iron Panthers attends, they are chosen during alliance selection!
The Iron Panthers starts the Iron Kittens FTC Team (FTC - 10336) and is part of the winning alliance at Redwood City.
7316 wins the Design Award.
Intakes game pieces through geko wheels
Elevator uses four stage wiper slides to lift game pieces
Intakes the game pieces through surgical tubing that spins and takes in the game pieces
3D printed container mounted on the arm, extends to the highest level in the shipping hub
Capping mechanism attaches to the capstone via a metal rod with a magnet
Green wheel serves as the carousel mechanism, spins the carousel to release the ducks
A small frame that allows the driver to steer the robot through narrow gaps
The wheel rotates inward to intake freight into a 3D printed container
Built-in ramp streamlines the process of collecting freight
Freight is carried to the top of the arm by a pulley system
Tire spins carousel in order to knock down ducks
4 inch Mecanum wheels for strafing and precise driving
Two 2.75 inch Traction wheels for the stone intake with rubber bands for a fast and reliable intake and outtake
Lifting arm run by 2 motors to deploy and retract the intake quickly
2 custom machined side plates with the team number
6 Wheel H drive, geared 20:1
Consistent climber
Intake and extender
Complete auto including capture of two gold minerals
