2018 Team Magma Build Season

FIRST Robotics Competition Kickoff

Andrea and I attended the FRC Kickoff with the Kalani High School robotics team on Saturday morning, January 6.


Ready for "I'm Excited" before going into the McKinley High School auditorium before 5:00 AM. Photo by Anne Torige.


Our team filled three rows this year.


Andrea photographed me taking the picture above.


pLaY&44%R3aL! seems to be a phony password. Andrea and I both had to go back to FIRST and download the unencrypted version.


Posing for a team picture after picking up our kit of parts.


Saturday afternoon we met in J2 at Kalani High School and brainstormed strategy and robot conceptual design. Photo by Andrea.


Andrea and I stayed until 3:30 and then went home to prepare for company for dinner.

Team Magma Build Season Week One

Andrea and I supported the Kalani High School robotics team in build season week one.

Monday


The conceptual design has consensus.


Working on subsystem designs.

Tuesday


The daily coordination meeting.

Wednesday


Daily coordination meeting led by Vance.


Breadboarding the electronics.


Putting team numbers on bumper material.

Thursday


Daily coordination meeting.


Putting numbers on bumper cloth.

Friday


Starting the evening with our "I'm Excited" ritual. Photo by Anne Torige.


Andrea looks on during the daily coordination meeting.

Team Magma Build Season Week Two

Andrea and I supported the Kalani High School robotics team in build season week two.

Monday

Monday, January 15, was Martin Luther King Day.


They built a LEGO Rubic's Cube solver for demonstration to elementary school children on Wednesday.


In the electronics and programming room.

Tuesday

Tuesday, January 16, Andrea got her weekly box of vegetables from the local farm.


5:00 PM daily status meeting.


Testing the pneumatic system.


A new mentor with the programming team.


Four CAD stations going at once.

Wednesday

Wednesday, January 17, I started repair of the broken chair I brought home from Magma Robotics.


C-clamps and epoxy will make it all better.

Friday

Wednesday, January 17, I started repair of the broken chair I brought home from Magma Robotics.


Friday evening I photographed the Magma Robotics PR team, and one CAD mechanical designer.

Team Magma Build Season Week Three

Andrea and I supported the Kalani High School robotics team in build season week three.

Monday

Monday, January 22, was a day with good weather with medium trade winds.


We have a functioning testbed. Getting autonomy working using wheel encoders is in progress.

Tuesday


My mentor pin came in the mail from FIRST.


Mr. Kwock worked with the programming and electrical team.


Students working with the drill press.


Refurbishing the T-shirt cannon.


Testing the T-shirt cannon pneumatic system.

Thursday


At 5:00 PM we went to Kalani High school where Becky talked to the robotics team.


We both wore Beach Cities Robotics (FRC 294) shirts. Photo by Andrea.

Team Magma Build Season Week Four

Andrea and I supported the Kalani High School robotics team in build season week Four.

Monday

Monday, January 29, was a day with good weather with light kona winds.


Machining frame beams.


Assembling the electronics board.


Wayland helped work on the CNC mill safety guard.


The PR team had their computers in the shop for better wifi reception.

Tuesday

Tuesday, January 30, was a humid day with stronger kona winds.


Noah and Don were at the white board going over necessary robot commands.


Setting up a video interview studio in "the cave."


Wayland assists the programming team.


A view of Diamond Head (Leahi) from Kalani High School.


Everyone was busy. I calculated the buckling strength of the 45 inch lift cylinder. It's good for about 50 pounds which is sufficient.


The CNC mill was running, cutting polycarbonate gear box plates.

Wednesday


Daily status meeting.


Programming team testing pneumatic solenoids.


Last year's robot on the table for canibalization of pneumatic parts.

Friday


Daily status meeting.


Working on the prototype intake rollers.


Making parts for the robot frame.


Mr. Silver with the electronics and programming team.


Andrea brought Chinese food from Aina Haina Chop Suey for dinner.

Team Magma Build Season Week Five

Time flies when you're having fun. The penultimate week of the build season saw continued progress.

Monday


Zach led the daily status meeting on Monday, February 5.


Assembling the power cube roller grabber.

Wednesday


After the daily status meeting I spoke briefly to the students about FIRST's mentoring program and the Mentoring Guide.


Installing bumpers to the chassis.


The electrical and programming team.


Once again the Maryknoll team was welcomed to use our shop facilities.


The CNC mill worked on cutting lightening triangles in a beam.

Thursday


The Maryknoll robot (left) and the Team Magma robot on the bench.


There was a lot of activity in the cave.

Friday


I'm excited!


Working on the pneumatc elevator.

Team Magma Build Season Week Six

This is the last full week of the build season. The robot ships the following Tuesday.

Monday


Monday was an administrative day with no classes so a core group worked all day.


Assembling the linear lift.

Wednesday

Valentine's Day saw the realization that the pneumatic cylinder pair intended to the robot climb were too bulky to fit in the robot space so plan B, an electric winch, was quickly designed.


Working on parts and assemblies.


Cutting one by two aluminum extrusion on the chop saw.


The PR team worked on the "Magmazine."

Thursday


The team began work at 5:00 PM as usual.


The pneumatics reservoirs.


Cutting parts on the CNC mill.

Team Magma Build Season Week Six

Tuesday

The robot bagging deadline is 7:00 PM and when I arrived at 5:00 PM Tuesday the 20th I found the team testing a running robot.


Alex was working on code at the table.


One of the intake roller motors turned the wrong way and that was quickly corrected.


The final status meeting. Next stop, Australia.


New mentor Donald takes a look.


The robot in the crate. Photo by Team Magma via Facebook.

Email Richard dot J dot Wagner at gmail dot com


index.html, this hand crafted HTML file was created January 31, 2018.
Last updated February 22, 2018 by Rick Wagner. Copyright © 2018, all rights reserved.