Now that we’ve spent some time building FTC robots that can run autonomously, as well as a unit working on getting robots moving through driver controls, it’s time to put our plans into action! This next unit will give you and your team time to finish putting together all the parts of your robot for the Lathrop FTC Robotics Competition! This competition will involve:
- Following the 2019-2020 FTC Robotics Game: SkyStone
- 30 Second Autonomus rounds followed by 120 second Driver-Controlled rounds
- In class competition to see whose robot is best
By now, you and your team know how the process works: pick a challenge to tackle, brainstorm solutions, build a prototype and write the program, test and evaluate and fix until it works reliably. Your team will get the freedom to build and improve your robot with the following goals in mind:
- STEP 1: Work with your team to improve upon your FTC robot, adding ways that you can score in autonomous and in driver controlled periods. Get your robot scoring as high as possible and as reliably as possible!
- STEP 2: Compete in the Lathrop FTC Robotics Competition!
When your team is all finished, you should be able to demonstrate that you’ve implemented the engineering design process throughout the creation of your robot!
This is our big chance to make our FTC robots do some awesome stuff. Over the year you’ve had the opportunity to make your robot do simple autonomous tasks. Most recently, your team built a robot that could be controlled by a driver with a remote control. Now you get to combine the ideas and improve upon your previous designs. Work with your team to build the best competitive robot you can!
GRADING & PROCESS
Think and plan with your team! Decide which autonomous and which driver controlled tasks you want to try and accomplish in competition. What’s your strategy?
Complete the Brainstorming Assignment with your team
Work with your team to build a reliable winning robot
Record your team’s progress – success, failures, changes, ideas – every day in your engineering notebook
Keep Mr. Benshoof up-to-date on your progress
Robot Example 1
Robot Example 2
Robot Example 3
With your robot all ready to go, it’s time to compete! We’ll have a round robin format in class, where each team gets to compete on an alliance with every other team at least once. We’ll compete for three class periods, and at the end the team with the highest number of combined points will be named our class champion. If time allows, we’ll have the class champions from every class period compete to determine an overall winning alliance!
GRADING & PROCESS
Compete in the LHS FTC Robotics Competition with your team. Make sure your robot is ready to compete for every one of your scheduled matches.
After nine weeks of FTC Robot building, it’s essential that we review and recap our experience. A good engineering practice is to reflect on what you’ve done, what worked, and what didn’t. This reflection process is an important part of improving as an engineer, and can play a big role in the development of any kind of engineering team. In this final part of the unit, you’ll be asked to complete a written reflection on the FTC Robotics experience, as well as to help play a part in our class robotics cleanup.
GRADING & PROCESS
Complete a full page reflection in your engineering notebook by writing about your experiences building robots in the FTC program
Participate in the end-of-quarter robotics cleanup day with your class
Have Mr. Benshoof confirm your completed reflection
Part 1 Resources
Part 2 Resources
Android Studio Reference
Unit 9 Quiz