The Progression of this Season
Within Buzz, each student is part of a subgroup where they usually work: pro-
gramming, electrical or, mechanical. Each student is then further divided into groups
within the subgroups that dictate which part of the
robot the student will be spending the majority of
their time working on, such as specific mechanisms
or codes. This year, the groups divided into even
smaller groups in the mechanical subgroup, with
students working with the same concept (for exam-
ple using hook tape to pick up the hatch) but with
different applications (hook tape on rollers, hook
tape on bars, etc.). This was done to explore as
many ideas as
possible in a
short amount of
time. Although
Buzz spent multiple weeks in this prototyping/
planning phase, the extra time spent was worth it
once the construct of the final robot actually began.
Knowing specifically what concepts wouldn’t work
after execution led to the elimination of multiple
problems Buzz has experienced in the past, such as
mechanisms not working as planned.
In addition, this year Buzz kept an “Engineering
Notebook” which tracks the team’s progression
throughout build season. Maintained by senior, Sa-
rah Boynton, this document is a catalog of all of
Buzz’s discoveries from pneumatic powered pistons
needed to detach the hatch from our mechanism to
deciding to use a pixie camera. Tracking these dis-
coveries will aid Buzz in discussing our build season
progress to judges at our competitions coming up in
March and April but also will provide a key teaching
material to the future students of Team 175. This is
the 24th season of Buzz Robotics and much has
been learned over these years but, without being
recorded, this knowledge has needed to be tested over again each year to check uncer-
tain facts. By using the notebook as a tool to track progress, the team can now record
successes and failures accurately. Therefore, previously discovered knowledge does
not have to be retested and can build up over time to make future build seasons go
more smoothly.
Issue 3: February 16, 2019
PAGE 4