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Aragon Robotics
February 2024 Newsletter

In This Issue:

Happy February, AR families!

This issue will cover the variety of designs on the newly opened Aragon Robotics Merch Store, FRC 840’s up-and-coming robot design for the CRESCENDO℠ season, and a look back at FTC 4345’s fourth and final league meet.

FTC is Looking For Programmers!

FTC 4345 is looking for prospective programming members! If you are interested in applying, fill out this google form with a few questions about your availability and interest in FTC. More information can be found in the form. All Aragon High School students are welcome to apply, so please consider applying and sharing the info with other Aragon students! Written applications are due by Friday, March 8th at 11:59 PM.

Apply Here

Merch Store: Open from Feb. 20 to 27

The Aragon Robotics Merchandise Store will be open for pre-orders for a week, from Feb. 20th to Feb. 27th. The store currently has four unique designs available for orders, and a separate section where people can show interest for the FTC 4345 hoodie and the FRC 840 Sriracha t-shirt to become available in a future pre-order batch.

VISIT THE MERCH STORE

2023-24 Season T-Shirt & FTC 4345 Hoodie

This year’s full-team shirt and the FTC hoodie were designed by marketing member Giovanni Rodriguez-Miranda. He took in feedback from the Aragon Robotics team to create the designs.

“[Sometimes, the team] will change their minds on different aspects of [the design],” Rodriguez said. “To create the FTC design, I struggled to figure out what [FTC] wanted, especially for the back design.”

This led to several iterations of the design before creating the final product. What Rodriguez finds most rewarding is the creative process of design.

“I use various [design] programs and look through reference material [for inspiration] of what I could make,” Rodriguez said. “I also consider how I can put a creative spin on it.”

Unfortunately, the FTC hoodie is not available at this moment, but the full-team shirt is available for purchase on our website.

Buy the 23-24 Season T-Shirt here!

FRC 840 T-Shirt & FRC 840 Hoodie

The FRC 840 t-shirt and hoodie designs were created by marketing member Jorell Sakamoto.

“I’m proud of the progress I’ve made [in regards to design] compared to last year, which [I felt] was a bit lacking,” Sakamoto said. “I could add more details, but be more conscious about how we incorporate the designs together.”

One example of this is how to organize the sponsors on the back of the merchandise.

“[Last year, I] crammed [the sponsors] together [without] really thinking about where to put them [and] how to actually put them to use,” Sakamoto said. “I learned this year to be more confident [and] think more about how to use the logos, where to place them, and [how to] be more efficient with the space.”

Something Sakamoto struggles with when designing merchandise is coming up with the concept.

“Even if I research [and look at] a lot of designs, not all of them click immediately,” Sakamoto said. “That’s the first hurdle. The second part is making it look like the way you envision it.”

The FRC hoodie and shirt are available for purchase on our website.

In the future, Sakamoto wants to expand the merchandise store beyond shirts and hoodies, thinking of creating caps. He hopes to attract people beyond the Aragon Robotics community.

Buy FRC 840 Merch here!

MegaloDon ROV Hoodie

The MATE ROV hoodie was designed by Alex Lo, the programming lead of MATE ROV, alongside Marketing Captain Momoka Dhanuwidjaja.

“In previous years, we had designs on the front, but I wanted to do one on the back [this year],” Lo said. ‘I started with an idea of having a circle on the back and then having a design inside. [The design] went through [many] iterations and drafts of what we want to do. In the end, I settled on the shark one because I thought it highlighted our robot in the foreground [and it] also had a cute shark in the back.”

Lo is most proud of the eyes of the shark he drew.

“I usually draw on a white canvas with black lines, but our hoodies are black, so we make our lines white,” Lo said. “If you do the eyes and you color them in, it looks really creepy. [To fix this problem,] I figured out a way to add a white border on the eyes and color them black so they still look cute.”

The MATE ROV hoodie is available for purchase on our merch store

Buy MATE ROV Hoodies here!

FRC 840: New Robot Design

Due to the nature of the ever-changing competition between seasons, the FRC team has redesigned their robot from last year to find creative ways to construct a better robot.

“We're being a lot more ambitious with our design and how it's being built,” said FRC design lead George Tao. “Last year, we had a pretty basic robot. This year, we're putting a lot more thought into [its design, taking into account] center gravity and how well it's going to be able to reach places.”

They have more chances to be ambitious with their design due to their proactivity in designing and fabricating the robot.

“We've come up with the design much sooner and we're also trying to get the robot fully fabricated much sooner so that programming has enough time and that we can also do more testing and driver practice,” said FRC lead design Adam Richter.

The major change to their robot is transitioning from a tank drive system to a swerve drive. The swerve drive system allows for more mobility in the robot’s movement.

“The tank drive is lateral, so it needs to turn before moving forwards or backwards. [Utilizing the swerve drive] allows for more versatility in offense and defense, [as the] better autos make it so that we have smoother and consistent movement paths”, said FRC co-captain Jake Sakamoto.

They are additionally utilizing more customizable parts on their robot, including a completely self-designed “elevator” mechanism that dynamically controls the arm of their robot and allows the base of the robot to pivot.

Last year we used an elevator kit,” Tao said. “[However,] a lot of the consumer off-the-shelf solutions don't fit without our design … Making everything custom allows you to be a lot more flexible, and you can have a much more purpose-built robot.”

With these mechanical upgrades, FRC is hopeful that these changes will lead to better performance during their competitions.

FTC 4345: League Tournament Meet #4

At 8:50 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 3 at Jefferson High School, Aragon Robotics competed in their last FTC competition of the season. While they did not qualify for regionals, FTC Mechanical Lead Stuti Goel describes why their results this season were a success.

“Earlier in our season, we struggled a lot,” Goel said. “We consistently improved with each competition and that showed [in our performance], so other teams came up to us and were complimenting us, telling us we improved. That was really rewarding.”

This year, FTC focused on improvement, which made a difference in their reaction to this season’s finale.

“[Last year], we also didn't qualify for regionals, but it felt bad because we [expected] to qualify for regionals,” Goel said. “This time we [focused on doing] better every single time, and that change in mindset really was [rewarding].”

Alongside FTC, the Outreach team prepared an engineering portfolio that highlights the work from both our technical and outreach team. They showcased this work in a five-minute presentation after which they answered questions in a five-minute Q&A. This presentation led to Outreach winning the Motivate Award.

“[The award] celebrates the outreach work that a team has done,” said Design coordinator Aanvi Gupta. “[This includes] reaching out the things that we've done for the local community and for the FIRST community. [In their speech] about why the team won, they mentioned the work we've done with SCOUTreach, IncluSTEM, and our women-in-STEM panel.”

The award also celebrates our team’s spirit and appreciation for the FIRST community. Gupta describes a positive experience with one of the judges on the team, which she believes helped Outreach win the award.

“[After presentations,] one of the judges came over to our pit, and I was able to do a [short pit] presentation [in which] I was able to better explain everything that we've done for outreach,” Gupta said.

Now, FTC is focusing on preparing non-senior members for next year during their off-season in hopes that they are able to improve between years.

“[We’re doing] Onshape training with our newbies so that they're prepared,” Goel said. “I'm a senior [with Captain Jessica Li], and [we’re] graduating, so we’re trying to do everything we can to prepare this team for next year. When our season started off this year, we felt underprepared, so we want to make sure that doesn't happen next year.”