Foley Freeze Robot Requires Alignment of Myriad Efforts

By Alison Moore and Emily Eisenhauer

One of the biggest challenges each year for many teams is coordinating dozens of students, working on more than a half-dozen focus areas, to design and build a robot with hundreds of parts, wires, and lines of codes in just six weeks.

This year, with the largest Foley Freeze team yet, more than 60 students and their mentors will have to be extra disciplined as they juggle the needs of design, prototype and assembly, fabrication, drivers station, electrical, programing, and public relations. These subteams work hand-in-hand to meet the challenge, Destination: Deep Space, which will require a robot that can see better and climb higher than ever before to work on a simulated planet to safely deliver cargo. With pre-season planning and project management, each subteam will pull their weight to accomplish the collective goal before the six-week build season ends.

DESIGN

Design creates the final schematics for the robot that all the other subteams use. In just a few weeks, Design works to narrow down the best way to assemble the robot and creates blueprints which are sent to other subteams for building. Design works with the most sub teams to ensure the robot comes together as smoothly as possible.

Aidan Darmetko, a member of the Design subteam, said, “There can’t be one subteam without the other. All of the subteams need to interweave so we can work together and actually make the robot; there’s so much that goes on behind the scenes.”

PROTOTYPE & ASSEMBLY

While Design is finalizing plans, Prototype and Assembly tests different ways to accomplish the multiple objectives of the game. The team will try different methods for scoring in the game and experiment with a variety of parts, builds, and driving styles. After all of the parts of the robot are ready to be built they will then assemble the parts to make the robot.

“We work together with fabrication to make parts more effective and lighter to help stay underweight,” remarked Adam Dixon, a subteam member.

FABRICATION

Once blueprints are complete, Fabrication manufactures the parts for the robot. They will cut, mill, and drill every piece for the robot by hand. A new CNC machine, donated by a Foley Freeze family, will make the job much easier this year. Fabrication is The Foley Freeze’s largest subteam.

“Design are the people we work with the most because they supply the prints to build with. It’s back and forth work,” said assistant lead Matt Seamon.

DRIVERS STATION

The Drivers Station subteam makes the control board that drives the robot in competition. People on the driver station team figure out the board layout and what kinds of buttons and controls need to be constructed into the board. Part of the subteams job is to include everything necessary on the board, but to also make it easily controllable for the drivers in the heat of competition.

“Fabrication helps us a lot by building us a new test base for a test drive station and helps us make sure that our buttons are fully intact,” said Caroline Sharbaugh, the subteam lead.

ELECTRICAL

Electrical wires the robot to make it work, creating the nervous system for the machinery. This work includes electrical wiring on the robot itself and some wiring on the control board. There can be hundreds of wires and wire connections in one robot.

“We help wire the robot so that it can run, and the other subteams rely on us for various electronics” added assistant lead Kevin Kendro.

PROGRAMMING

Programing creates the code necessary to make everything respond to commands. The more experienced team members have just a five weeks to teach the new students the software needed to make the robot move, react and even see. Much of their work begins after the robot is complete. They test their software on a practice robot that is identical to the robot used in competitions.

“Right now we’re talking to CAD [and Design] to figure out what everything looks like so we can theoretically program a robot,” says Programing lead Emma Smith.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Public Relations works alongside the various subteams to aid in keeping branding streamlined. Graphics are made for sponsor and image visibility on the robot, Drivers Station, and even a trailer for transporting the robot. PR ensures that the parents, sponsors and other members of the school community are kept informed of the team’s progress and upcoming events. They write articles for publication, post updates on social media, take pictures, and transform the Freeze branding to match the FIRST theme each year.

“We make everything look pretty,” said Collin Graettinger, subteam member. “Graphics would be lacking and elements would look boring without us.”