[HN Gopher] Show HN: High school robotics code/CAD/design binder...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Show HN: High school robotics code/CAD/design binder release
        
       Hello HN!  My name is Patrick, and I am a junior at my High
       School's FRC robotics team FRC 341 "Miss Daisy" (yes named after
       the movie). Every year, during the first weekend in January, a new
       robotics game is released (no it's not battlebots). The game could
       be about launching balls into a goal, climbing monkeybars, or
       placing cubes on a see-saw. This year we were challenged to build a
       robot that could shoot orange foam donuts into a goal about 6 feet
       in the air. Here is a yt video with the game animation
       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9keeDyFxzY4&t. After we received
       the game we then had six weeks to design, build, program, and field
       a robot capable of playing the game. And we did pretty well this
       year! I have attached a ChiefDelphi thread (robotics forum) where
       we have released our season materials. This being our CAD (3D model
       of robot), code, and design binder. I encourage you to take a look
       and leave any questions that you may have.  Thanks a lot!
        
       Author : Hacktrick
       Score  : 71 points
       Date   : 2024-08-24 19:40 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.chiefdelphi.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.chiefdelphi.com)
        
       | Hacktrick wrote:
       | An additional comment, you can check our blue alliance page
       | (https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/341) to see our in season
       | results.
        
       | altcognito wrote:
       | I haven't read through the binder yet but I appreciate you cross
       | posting this to HN because the work many FRC teams do is
       | excellent for a bunch of high schoolers and deserves more
       | visibility.
       | 
       | Good luck, next season is just around the corner.
        
         | Hacktrick wrote:
         | Thanks! I am excited to see what the new game is.
        
       | mkoubaa wrote:
       | I sincerely hope the next game is rocket league
        
         | Hacktrick wrote:
         | That would be really cool! There was something kind of like
         | that in 2010, you had to score soccer balls in goals. But there
         | were these obstacles on the field and poles you could climb at
         | the end for extra points. It was called breakaway.
        
       | FredPret wrote:
       | I'm not even that old but the phrase "high school robotics"
       | would've been pure daydreaming back then.
       | 
       | Incredibly exciting that you can do this!
        
         | core_dumped wrote:
         | I'm in my mid 20s and FRC was probably my favorite high school
         | memory. From the community, to the challenges, to the robots
         | you get to participate in building. It's such a cool program.
         | 
         | Hopefully it gains higher adoption among other public schools,
         | FRC was foundational to my SWE journey
        
           | vrosas wrote:
           | I'm a SWE now, but being on the build team of FIRST taught me
           | an incredible amount and now that I'm a homeowner I'm
           | realizing how applicable it is. I remember cutting 2x4s to
           | build demo field parts and now I'm building walls of my home
           | out of the same material with the same tools I used as a
           | teenager.
        
           | lobsterthief wrote:
           | Same, I'm in my late 30s and it's one of my best high school
           | memories as well. Learned so much, made so many great
           | friends, and worked with amazing technologies.
        
         | WillAdams wrote:
         | Back in the days of personal computing, an administrator at my
         | high school managed to secure funding for a robotics course
         | despite there not being anyone at the school who knew more than
         | basic wiring.
         | 
         | We wound up buying an Apple ][ and a Rubbermaid trash can and
         | an early voice recognition module (Cognivox) which we then
         | mounted on a set of wheels and put the monitor on a lazy susan
         | on top and the opening was made into a drawer for the
         | computer/keyboard, and the bottom was opened up to have a
         | latchable door where an extension cord and other accessories
         | could be stored.
         | 
         | We called it CTC-1 (Computerized Trash Can, Mark 1) --- always
         | wondered what happened to it and the lab of TRS-80 Model
         | IIIs...
         | 
         | I still regret not over-ruling the finance committee and buying
         | my kids a Lego Mindstorm set when they first came out.....
        
       | dano wrote:
       | If you have an interest in FRC, consider becoming a mentor at a
       | local program in your area. I've mentored Team 812 in La Jolla
       | California for about 14 years. It's incredibly rewarding.
       | 
       | https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/volunteer/men...
        
         | pryelluw wrote:
         | There's also the Microsoft Teals program that is focused on CS
         | (I'm a volunteer). Just putting it out there. Not all schools
         | have robotics programs.
         | 
         | Btw, congrats to the OP and team. Proud of yalls work!
        
       | mafm wrote:
       | Nice work!
       | 
       | Cool that you made this available for other people to benefit
       | from.
        
       | NathanielBaking wrote:
       | You left your credentials in the open on your github site. Please
       | change them post haste!
        
         | oxume wrote:
         | If you're referring to the obfuscated ghp_ token, it's a
         | read:packages token, documented here:
         | https://github.com/Mechanical-Advantage/AdvantageKit/blob/ma...
        
       | WillAdams wrote:
       | Why OnShape?
       | 
       | Why not Commonwealth Robotics Studio or some other opensource CAD
       | option?
        
         | boromi wrote:
         | Super easy for collaborative work. As good as some opensource
         | CAD options are, there isn't really anything out there in terms
         | of OnShape for collaborative CAD work.
        
         | avhon1 wrote:
         | Commonwealth robotics studio doesn't seem to be suitable for
         | designing typical FRC robots. It looks like it's meant to
         | design and simulate robots that mostly consist of servo-driven
         | legs around a central body.
         | 
         | The only open-source CAD option I've seen that might be
         | suitable for doing this kind of design work is FreeCAD, or its
         | Ondsel fork. There are not many people available to FRC teams
         | to teach them how to use these programs, and there's a high
         | risk of them running into serious bugs or limitations.
         | 
         | Most FRC teams use professional CAD packages (like Autodesk
         | Inventor and Dassault SolidWorks). These packages are offered
         | to teams for free. Many teams have mentors who have
         | professional experience using one of these programs. OnShape
         | has taken over in the last couple of years as the most popular,
         | because it is easier to license, doesn't require installation
         | permissions, works on any device with a web browser, has an
         | easy to understand and administer way for multiple people to
         | collaborate on a model, and has a critical mass of community
         | scripts, part collections, and tutorials.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2024-08-27 23:01 UTC)