Team Blog
Italian Dinner and Kickoff! (1/9/2016)

After much anticipation, we have finally learned what this season's challenge is going to be. We were all extremely excited to see the new field mechanics and on the return trip from the kickoff viewing site many team members were already discussing ideas for the robot. As with tradition, before we dive head first into build season, the team hosts our annual Italian Dinner to introduce the new challenge to the community. With many auction items and a good sized crowd to bid on them the Italian Dinner went just about as well as we could have hoped. We are all extremely excited for this season, and we look forward to seeing all of the different robots that teams come up with to complete the challenge. Good luck to everybody, and we'll see you at the competitions!
-Bradley
-Bradley
First Build! (1/10/2016)

So today marks day two of FRC Stronghold! Team 2648 is already busy creating a strategy on how to build this year's robot! With this year's game we have to really think hard about how we want the robot to be built in order to deal with the thousands of different possible field configurations. Many of our mentors and alumni came today to brainstorm ideas and share suggestions! In the many hours we spent brainstorming we have come up with several ideas that we want to try! We can't wait to see what else this year brings!
-Geoffery
-Geoffery
Build! (1/16/16)

The snow wasn't going to keep us down today, there is far to much to do. Several things got worked on today after we finished our team meeting.
The scouting group worked on what information they wanted to record when reviewing matches, and also discussed what medium they want to use to compile and study the data.
There was a group working on our shooter design prototype, we had the opportunity to test fire it several times with many successful shots.
The electronics and programming group worked on getting ready to test sensors. We'd really like to try some vision tracking this year, and with the new GRIP software that the WPILib released, it is well within our reach if we practice enough with the software.
There was one final group working on creating some of the field elements for testing. Normally not the most daunting task but this group definitely has there work cut out for them this year. They were able to get a couple of the elements done but there is definitely more work to be done.
We still have plenty left to do, and we continue to look forward to what this season will bring. Stay tuned for more updates!
-Bradley
The scouting group worked on what information they wanted to record when reviewing matches, and also discussed what medium they want to use to compile and study the data.
There was a group working on our shooter design prototype, we had the opportunity to test fire it several times with many successful shots.
The electronics and programming group worked on getting ready to test sensors. We'd really like to try some vision tracking this year, and with the new GRIP software that the WPILib released, it is well within our reach if we practice enough with the software.
There was one final group working on creating some of the field elements for testing. Normally not the most daunting task but this group definitely has there work cut out for them this year. They were able to get a couple of the elements done but there is definitely more work to be done.
We still have plenty left to do, and we continue to look forward to what this season will bring. Stay tuned for more updates!
-Bradley
More Build! (1/20/16)

We're really starting to get into the thick of it now. With week 2 being half over we're starting to move into building the real pieces of our robot along with a lot of other projects for awards and such.
The Chairman's award group spent a healthy amount of build working today. They were able to get our short essays done and they've started brainstorming for the long one. It's always a lot of work but it's all worth while in the end.
There was another group working on our team standard. They've been doing a lot of research into medieval themes, now they just need to decide on the actual design that we can put together.
The electronics testing and programming group did some work today with learning how to solder. The also did a bit more work on using GRIP and vision processing. After all the work that we've done we're finally at the point where we can get the test bed robot moving and trying out some stuff with sensors.
There was also another branch of the electronics and programming group working on the CAD model of our robot. This year, with our focus on CADing our entire robot, we also wanted to CAD where all of our electronic components go before we start placing them on the robot. Most of the CAD is done, and hopefully this year with our focus on designing before building our robot will end up looking more professional than it usually does.
Build is really starting to heat up now, and we're all looking forward to starting to bring all of the pieces together and get a robot up and running to start practicing with.
-Bradley
The Chairman's award group spent a healthy amount of build working today. They were able to get our short essays done and they've started brainstorming for the long one. It's always a lot of work but it's all worth while in the end.
There was another group working on our team standard. They've been doing a lot of research into medieval themes, now they just need to decide on the actual design that we can put together.
The electronics testing and programming group did some work today with learning how to solder. The also did a bit more work on using GRIP and vision processing. After all the work that we've done we're finally at the point where we can get the test bed robot moving and trying out some stuff with sensors.
There was also another branch of the electronics and programming group working on the CAD model of our robot. This year, with our focus on CADing our entire robot, we also wanted to CAD where all of our electronic components go before we start placing them on the robot. Most of the CAD is done, and hopefully this year with our focus on designing before building our robot will end up looking more professional than it usually does.
Build is really starting to heat up now, and we're all looking forward to starting to bring all of the pieces together and get a robot up and running to start practicing with.
-Bradley
Even More Build! (1/27/16)

We're still hard at it this season, hence the reason why we haven't put up a blog post over the past week.
We've finally got one of our drive bases together, and we've been able to do some tests with it. We have some electrical issues to overcome because each time we hit the bump the robot shuts down. But it moves, so that's something! It was very quickly put together, we'll be diagnosing and rewiring over the next couple days to try to solve the issue.
We're also trying to get our Chairman's essays touched up, a lot of work has gone into them and we're finally at the point where we can take a step back and review what's been written as a team and make corrections and updates so it's the best it can be.
We also have some side projects going on. Some team members have been spending time cutting 80/20 stock for necklaces while others have been reworking our 2013 robot in an attempt to make it look more presentable because we use it often for demonstrations (because who doesn't love a robot that can shoot frisbees at an alarming rate of speed).
We'll have another update on Saturday, when more of our drivetrain is put together and more of the pieces of the super structure that make up the robots frame are finished.
-Bradley
We've finally got one of our drive bases together, and we've been able to do some tests with it. We have some electrical issues to overcome because each time we hit the bump the robot shuts down. But it moves, so that's something! It was very quickly put together, we'll be diagnosing and rewiring over the next couple days to try to solve the issue.
We're also trying to get our Chairman's essays touched up, a lot of work has gone into them and we're finally at the point where we can take a step back and review what's been written as a team and make corrections and updates so it's the best it can be.
We also have some side projects going on. Some team members have been spending time cutting 80/20 stock for necklaces while others have been reworking our 2013 robot in an attempt to make it look more presentable because we use it often for demonstrations (because who doesn't love a robot that can shoot frisbees at an alarming rate of speed).
We'll have another update on Saturday, when more of our drivetrain is put together and more of the pieces of the super structure that make up the robots frame are finished.
-Bradley
And Even More Build! (1/30/16)

A couple more big pieces of our robot are starting to come together at this point, and we're starting to come to the point where it's time to start putting all the pieces together.
The drivetrain is together, and is no longer having major electrical issues. We even had the opportunity to put the super structure on and attach our shooter! We're still working on getting a motor controller and electrical hookups for the shooter on the robot, but preliminary testing with external controllers show a lot of promise!
With the shooter pieces connected to the robot, the next thing we worked on was the intake mechanism. There was a bit of debate on how construction of the intake should be done, but in the end we came to a solution and we're on the way to having it put on the robot frame.
There was also another group working on a hanging mechanism for our robot. A lot of different ideas were thrown around, and we're still trying to nail down a design that sticks to the guidelines that we set out for our robot. But after a little more work, we should be able to put together a prototype or two and see what will work best with our current setup.
The programming team is back at it, we're currently trying to work out how one of our sensing systems is going to work, it's more complex than anything that we've ever done before, and we're really excited to see it working when we get it done.
With the Chairman's essays due in just a few days, there were team members working on Chairman's for a significant portion of build. Much of the essays major edits have been cleaned up and now just a little more proofreading and we'll be ready to turn them in.
There's still a lot left to do, and you can be sure that we'll be hard at it until the very end. Keep checking back for more updates on what we're up to!
-Bradley
The drivetrain is together, and is no longer having major electrical issues. We even had the opportunity to put the super structure on and attach our shooter! We're still working on getting a motor controller and electrical hookups for the shooter on the robot, but preliminary testing with external controllers show a lot of promise!
With the shooter pieces connected to the robot, the next thing we worked on was the intake mechanism. There was a bit of debate on how construction of the intake should be done, but in the end we came to a solution and we're on the way to having it put on the robot frame.
There was also another group working on a hanging mechanism for our robot. A lot of different ideas were thrown around, and we're still trying to nail down a design that sticks to the guidelines that we set out for our robot. But after a little more work, we should be able to put together a prototype or two and see what will work best with our current setup.
The programming team is back at it, we're currently trying to work out how one of our sensing systems is going to work, it's more complex than anything that we've ever done before, and we're really excited to see it working when we get it done.
With the Chairman's essays due in just a few days, there were team members working on Chairman's for a significant portion of build. Much of the essays major edits have been cleaned up and now just a little more proofreading and we'll be ready to turn them in.
There's still a lot left to do, and you can be sure that we'll be hard at it until the very end. Keep checking back for more updates on what we're up to!
-Bradley