Making a splash this weekend was BARRACUDA, our robot for the 2025 REEFSCAPE game. In this year's game, robots work together to score "Coral" pipes and "Algae" balls into designated areas, with additional points in the endgame awarded for robots climbing a truss structure called the Barge. This past weekend, Barracuda tested the waters at The 25th annual Sussex Scrimmage, hosted by FRC team 537, Charger Robotics. As an unofficial "week zero" competition event, this event fosters training and knowledge sharing, offers inspection stations, and matches for testing and practice, and boosts team enthusiasm for upcoming competitions. We were one of 29 teams competing, and we participated in 8 exciting matches.
The Sussex Scrimmage was all about testing and experimenting... whether it be getting our drivers the chance to drive the robot and seeing what worked or figuring out ways to improve efficiency, the goal was to learn. In between matches, RTR students enjoyed seminars to learn more about the Impact Award, Dean's List Award, and scouting techniques. Business team students were able to practice competition photography, and the scouting team was able to practice scouting.
Also this week, RTR invited friends, family, sponsors, and community members to our Robot Reveal, where we revealed the name BARRACUDA! Members of our team came up with Barracuda inspired by the song Barracuda, released in 1977 by the rock band Heart. Other close contenders for robot name were 'Billy Fishkins' and 'Poseidon.' We named our robot to bring personality to our robot and to celebrate the build seasons' hard work. Before Barracuda's grand entrance, a member from each subteam spoke about their team's accomplishments and individually recognized each member. Our Impact team presented their Impact Presentation for us, and we even had FLL Team 386683 Pengweenies come to talk about their team and Innovation project! After that, Barracuda was revealed and ran a short demo. To finish up our Robot Reveal, visitors were invited out onto our field to take a closer look at the robot, tour our shop, and have a tasty piece of cake!
Coming up soon, we have a FUNDRAISER! Our Gender Equality in Manufacturing program is hosting a private showing of the movie Rule Breakers! We would love if you could join us for an inspiring movie night! This special event will take place on Thursday, March 6th, at 6:00 PM at Oak Creek South Shore Cinema. Rule Breakers is based on the true story of an all-girls FIRST Robotics team from Afghanistan, showcasing their perseverance and determination. A trailer can be found below. Tickets are only $20 each, and all proceeds will go toward our summer camp program, helping us impact more young minds. Don't miss this chance to enjoy a powerful film while supporting a great cause! Scan the QR code below to purchase your tickets today!
Now for our subteams! This week, the design team worked on fixing some of the minor issues and fine-tuning so we can make Barracuda more efficient.
Assembly worked on post-scrimmage repairs as well as a disassembly project, which was our original 2024 Crescendo season robot, Boombox. Assembly also worked on fixing the climber and putting together our new lightened elevator.
This week in programming, our programmers troubleshooted the issues we noticed during the Sussex Scrimmage and made sure our robot ran smoothly for Robot Reveal night. By the end of the week, they began to implement PhotonVision onto our competition robot, Barracuda! PhotonVision is a community resource developed by the FIRST community to help students use cameras on their robots. This can be for tracking game items or viewing where we are in the field. Finally, they began iterating on our autonomous routines on our testing robot, Alpha.Â
Scouting had a successful day in Sussex. We gathered a substantial amount of data with the help of our scouting alliance team 6223 Arsenals of Engineering during the scrimmage. We were able to analyze this data throughout the week. Two members of our team attended a scouting conference and returned with new insights and ideas they wish to implement in our spreadsheet over the coming week.
Electrical was able to help the programming team diagnose problems with the robot and add through bore encoders, as well as add other sensors to the robot.
This week, fabrication produced the bars for a new elevator. Team members Justin and Jacob worked very well on this project, and their skills are improving quickly. Once the bars were cut, we then polished them for a professional and clean finished product.
Last but not least... Check out some robot action from the Sussex Scrimmage!