Thursday 13th March 2025, this week we all focused on our upcoming outreach project.

Outreach 

We decided for our outreach at our local primary school we would get the kids into small groups to copy code for a robot and then race against the other groups. So this week we were testing the activity with our school’s younger FTC teams, working on our plan and smoothing out any issues with the activity – as well as keeping an eye out for any hazards and things we may have forgotten. Additional to this, we designed the course for the racetrack that the children will drive on.

Wednesday 5th March 2025, this session we were all working hard, our Hardware team on developing our strategy and plans for adjustments from last week, our Finance team handling the finances and our Outreach team continued planning – it was a very productive week!

Additionally, this week we had the chance to look over our feedback form from judging which was a great starting point for a lot of our discussions and plans.

Hardware and Strategy

Our Hardware team were still refining our game plans and discussing what to improve about our robot for the upcoming Championships. One thing that we plan to do is making a linear lift arm, as well as changing the bucket motion to be more effective. Another thing we considered, but were unsure of the usefulness, was changing the size of the bucket. Furthermore, we found during Qualifiers that our robot kept breaking in many ways, which forced us to just have to ineffectively push samples – to ensure if this happens in London that we aren’t completely stranded we plan to add a board in front of the intake to scoop sample, this will hopefully not only make pushing samples easier but collecting them as well.

Outreach and Finance

For outreach, we finalised some dates, planning an April Fool’s themed bake sale on April 1st, and deciding to go for our Primary School visit on the 20th March (however we have not heard back from the school so this may change). For our bake sale we also came up with some ideas for what to do to make it themed.

In terms of finance, our Finance Lead, Charles, kindly counted up the money from our previous bake sale – this totalled to £221.71 – which we are tremendously proud of. Additionally, we were looking for further funding and considered making a bid for a fund that AstraZeneca offers.

Outside of Sessions

This week on the Friday, we checked the minibots that we’ll use for our Primary School visit and ensured they’d all work properly and Leonard very generously wrote the program for them. 

Thursday 27th February 2025, the first session after our very successful qualifiers! This week was incredibly celebratory, with Alex bringing homemade cake in and us taking team photos for the school, but still productive with us working hard developing our strategy and upcoming outreach plans.

Hardware and Strategy

In terms of hardware and strategy, we took some notes during the competition for ideas of improvements, taking inspiration from the other teams and using what we learnt in our matches to develop our robot. We found at qualifiers that it was very effective to have one specimen scoring robot and one bucket scoring robot as it ensured you didn’t get in the way of your alliance partner and slow each other down. This meant during our session we considered options to adapt our robot to also handle specimens as well as develop our existing bucket mechanism to reach the high basket. Furthermore, we discussed changing our intake to allow it to extend forwards to be able to grab samples from a further distance.

Outreach and Fundraising

For Outreach, we began brainstorming bake sale ideas for this half-term, coming up with some themes and when we could do it – but still not deciding anything. Additionally, we continued making plans for our Primary School visit – brainstorming ideas for what activity to run, taking note of everyone who will be involved, and writing an email to the school finalising a date, however we have not heard back from them since.

Wednesday 12th February 2025, with Half-Term week blocking us between now and Qualifiers we were tense to get everything done as once we got back we only had a day to be ready. Our robot was half-unfinished and our Engineering Portfolio not nearly done yet, we were all feeling the pressure. We stayed behind at school longer than usual to ensure we could get as much work done as possible.

This week – instead of separating into our usual sub-teams we simply split into two groups: one working on the robot, another on the engineering portfolio and judging presentation.

The Robot

Our robot was still completely in pieces and we were tight for time in terms of finishing everything. In the session we assembled and tested our intake which was finally working, we switched out the rubber tubing for a mix of rubber tubing and cable ties so that it could efficiently take in the samples. We also staggered the alignment of the cable ties and tubes for that they could be more efficient. We tested the programming and we found it worked but for some reason would tilt the samples the wrong way occasionally which might prove a hindrance if occurs in a game situation but we chose not to focus on fixing it at the moment. We also adjusted the height of our back arm as it slightly exceeded the limit.

Engineering Portfolio and Presentation

For our engineering notebook we had 3 of us cycle between the pages so we could finish the pages that were our personal speciality so it was more efficient for us to finish – we didn’t complete it by the end of the session but it was only missing a couple refining details by the end.

The presentation for judging was similar – with people on the powerpoint adding and formatting the slides to present everything we could as well as possible. To save time we copied some information off of our engineering portfolio and blog to fill the space (however during the competition we plan to present without looking at the slides – just summarising them).

By the end of the session, both were mostly done with only a few details to be refined.

Outside of Sessions & Half-Term

Outside of our sessions – and over half-term – we were finalising everything and we made lots of progress, specifically to the robot. Our main focus for the robot was the intake and had been for several weeks – we kept re-iterating the roller design and the mechanisms but we finally assembled it to the main robot and tested the software over half-term – ensuring it all did as planned. Furthermore, we re-printed our bucket to be larger so the samples fit and didn’t risk missing and/or bouncing out. We also printed a spare in case it broke during the game.

We also submitted our engineering portfolio – after having added all the final touches. It was the day preceding the deadline and our teacher emailed letting us know he’ll check over and submit it for us, which was a huge relief.

It’s been massively stressful but we can’t wait to see how all our hard work pays off at Qualifiers!

Thursday 6th February 2025, this week we were relatively productive working hard to tie any loose ends as Qualifiers are rapidly approaching. We also spend more time outside of our session this week working on the robot and testing.

(And, of course, we split off into our usual sub-teams to ensure we all got work done and weren’t disturbing each other.)

Hardware and Assembly

In terms of hardware and assembly, it was a relatively normal week – we attached more of our pre-made parts and tested how they functioned. We are still prototyping our intake – so more discussion was centred around that.

Some photos:

Outreach and Fundraising 

Our Valentine’s Bake Sale is approaching and we had some final touches to add in order to finalise the whole plan. As our school has 3 FTC teams, we all work together for the baking effort and we only see the other 2 teams every fortnight so we had to communicate everything this week. We made a document entailing who was baking, quantities and allergens. During the session we also considered who would be running the stall on the day and who would go round the school the day before, reminding all the forms of the sale – something we do every bake sale. However we didn’t finalise a decision on this as both would be done by members of our teams so didn’t need to be sorted out there and then and could be communicated at a later date.

Outside of Sessions

This time outside of our session we were very productive as well, I’m even tempted to say more-so than within our session. Our drivers finally got time to test out the robot – our Player 2’s first time driving the robot in Team Cipher. Both beginning to familiarise themselves with the controls until they become second nature.

Furthermore we began properly filling in our Engineering Portfolio, thanks to our Data Officer. We also decided to make it look a little nicer than previous years – opting to add banners on each page to add some flair to it. The rest of us also took time out of our lessons to work on this as well as starting our presentation for the interview at Qualifiers.

In terms of Outreach, we got in contact with the three main primary schools, in our local area, for an opportunity to work with their students to hopefully inspire them with what we do. And on the 7th of February, one of them got back to us, agreeing to let us run sessions for their Year 5s and 6s. They said they’d like us to do four sessions of 30-60 mins, which we were very pleased with. And after the initial excitement of the acceptance of our request ceded, we immediately got to brainstorming what we’d do in those sessions. We’ve considered ideas such as doing demonstrations with our robot and/or getting them to design robots to solve simple problems, as well as many other options. Currently we haven’t decided on a final idea of what to do in the sessions but we’re very excited at this opportunity and plan to run them not long after Qualifiers.

Wednesday 29th January 2025, this week’s session was less productive than previous weeks, taking on a calmer, chiller atmosphere as there were fewer of us in attendance this week. But that’s not to say we weren’t productive at all! We made progress for sure, just a tad slower.

(While, like usual we split off into our sub-teams, we did end up regrouping by the end of it as there wasn’t much progress to be made.)

Hardware and Assembly

In terms of assembly – most of the parts being prepared and tested out of session but being attached in the session. We also tested the functionality of certain parts – ensuring their quality and reliability. We also found that, by accidentally crashing the robot into a chair, that the position of the power switch left it vulnerable to being pressed and turned off unintentionally – which would be very bad in a game situation. We considered adding a cover but felt it was against the game rules so decided to either move it to face upwards or add extensions so it’s still exposed but not hit-able. We’ll decide on our course of action next session.

Outreach and Fundraising 

Since this week our school’s younger team wasn’t around to discuss with there wasn’t much we could do in terms of our Valentine’s Day Bake Sale – and we haven’t got much to sort out in regards to it anyway. We did some brainstorming for our next sale, thinking about other outreach activities we should do as well (separate from our fundraising) but most of them didn’t felt very feasible.

Outside of Sessions

Our Valentine’s Day Bake Sale poster was put up onto our school’s online newsletter so that people know of it’s happening. Nathan also printed our rollers for the intake this week, so massive thank you to Nathan, it looks fantastic!

Thursday 23rd January 2025, this week’s session was very productive, and we all felt very refreshed and well into our regular flow of working – but being a good chunk into the term meant we were all feeling the pressure from the approaching regionals competition.

(And of course, we split off into our usual sub-teams for the session)

Hardware and Assembly

This was our most productive week in terms of hardware and assembly so far; with many people, who traditionally weren’t seen on the hardware side of operations, chipping in to help out. We started by attaching the wood panels to the outer parts of the wheel – unfortunately due to some miscommunication (or lack thereof) they were painted upside down and we decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to re-paint, we would rather progress and attach them regardless, if we move onto nationals we’ll consider re-painting them. However, despite how unfortunate it was, it definitely taught us an important lesson on communication! Attaching them was a quick and easy process, at one point three of us were working on individual wheels which led to some uncomfortable positions trying to screw the screws in.

We found that the wheels were splaying out, our original plan to fix this was to attach an aluminum bar to keep it from doing so but after further consideration we felt it would be easier to simply attach a plate onto the end – but were unsure if the laser cutter would be able to cut to that size.

At the same time of our wheel parts attaching, we had people working on additional parts to the robot, for example the expansion hub. On top of that, this week we were prototyping an intake. Leonard, our main person for anything robot related, printed a roller that had holes to stick surgical tubing through. During and after hot gluing all the tubes in, we started to realise the tubes would likely be too flimsy to move the samples, regardless of how fast we spun it, we also noticed other problems with the intake as well. After this, we thought of changes to make to the intake, the main being to use cable ties instead of the tubing, to make it more spacious, and to use gears instead of a chain.

Outreach and Fundraising

This week we really focused in on refining the details of our upcoming Valentine’s Day bake sale. Since we only see the younger team every fortnight we wanted to work ahead of schedule and polish out the plan early so we can avoid any mishaps in the future. Together – discussing with the individuals on our teams – we agreed on who would bake, what they’ll bake and how much, we also finalised who would sell on the day. Additionally, and we sent our graphic designer (me, Emma) home with a task to create a poster for the bake sale.

Outside of Sessions

This week we also did plenty outside of the session as well (partially why this post is coming out so late)! As mentioned earlier, I was sent home with homework to design a bake sale poster, which I designed and then made a second variation of after being given advice and feedback from Shaked (thank youu, Shaked!!)

Furthermore, Leonard finalised the control layout – communicating with our drive team to ensure they’re optimal, and also did lots of 3D printing and CAD design e.g. the bucket for the samples and more. (We would be lost without you Leonard!! Massive thank you, and you have all of our respect!)

We welcomed the new year with a massive surge in productivity and progress. For our first two sessions we split off, as usual, into sub-teams to ensure we were as efficient as possible, as well as having fun!

Hardware and Assembly

First sessions back and we were very keen to make progress on the robot itself. We concentrated our efforts on assembling the chassis and ensuring it was constructed correctly. Additional to that, Isaiah very kindly helped and tapped the extrusion so that we could fit screws into it – metal tapping is something he’d learnt on the day by our teacher, so massive kudos to him, the rest of us are incredibly thankful! This year we chose to use the aluminium extrusion in between the wood panels surrounding the wheels for greater stability, we also wanted to add more flair to the robot in terms of design and colour so the outer wood panels were sent home with me (Emma) to paint.

Outreach and Fundraising

We decided to open an Instagram account (@teamcipher425) for this season due to the benefits social media brings for being connected to the rest of the community, we spent some time setting it up in our session on the 9th and immediately we saw how great it was. Not long after setting up the account, we received a message request from Robopeda (RO 169 – 19242) for collaboration, which definitely solidified us in our decision to create an Instagram as it’s clearly the best way to connect with other teams. We spent lots of our second session on the 15th drafting and sending a reply to their request and planning for their Global Connections Project meeting.

Furthermore, for the new term we started to plan for our fundraising, we are ahead on our goal for the year so far but we still have to plan and prepare for more. On our first session back we contacted our teacher asking about fundraising opportunities for this term, we had a couple of ideas revolving Valentine’s Day such as selling roses as a secret gift (which is a fundraiser that our school typically has around this time) and standard bake sale ideas with Valentine’s Day twists. We were informed that we could host a standard bake sale but denied for our other ideas, but it didn’t particularly matter as we still had our opportunity to raise money for the team. On our second session back we started to flesh out the plans for the bake sale, deciding to host it on the 14th of February itself as it lands on a Friday.

Outside of Sessions

Outside of our session plenty of progress was made as well, for example, in terms of software, Leonard, our lead programmer, wrote the Front Arm and Intake subsystems. As mentioned earlier, the wood panels were painted, however there was some miscommunication leading to… less than ideal outcomes, which we’ll unpack in our next session update. Also mentioned earlier is the Robopeda Global Communications Project meeting, which was attended by Alex and Leonard on the 19th – it was an overall fantastic meeting and we’re incredibly grateful to Robopeda for reaching out and giving us this opportunity.

This week, we split our group into several teams, since we had quite a few more projects than normal to attend to:

One team wrote a proposal to a member of the Senior Leadership Team of our school to propose another way to raise funding for our endeavors, which was a Secret Santa system over Christmas.

Another team started producing a poster for our next upcoming bake sale, which coincides with and will be held during our school’s Christmas Pantomime. Another member joined them to assist with procuring a card machine to improve our sales methods.

Our last team started designing the drivetrain and other parts for our robot, as well as continuing to teach some members how to use CAD, specifically Onshape, for the design process.

This week, we had another brainstorming session, our second of this season. To allow ourselves to rework and review our ideas as needed, we simply organised our ideas into a sheet of paper, but it will be moved to a Word document in time.

Game plan

For the Autonomous period, we aim to preload a single sample, which we have dubbed “Soap”, into a basket, with an attempt to take possession of and deposit another if we can get sensors working in time. Additionally, we plan to park in the observation zone for some extra points.

During the Driver controlled, or Teleop period, we aim to score predominantly by placing samples in the high basket, moving back and forth between the submersible for the match. An alternate strategy if we are paired with a robot unable to lift samples is for that robot to feed our robot with samples, which we will then upgrade to specimens, then hang those. If our arm, or arms, break during this period, however, we will simply have to grab any stray samples and push them into the net zone.

Our endgame plan, however, is our least developed, and consists of attempting to hang on the high chamber. If not possible, we will either hang on the low chamber or park in the observation zone, whichever is possible at the time.