Once again, the Melbourne RoboCats have been busy designing and developing exciting new robots here at the Monash Tech School facility.
The Melbourne RoboCats was fortunate enough to hold in-person and online workshops in 2021. They started with a catapult workshop where the girls worked on their hand-tool skills and competed to see how far and accurately they could shoot. Following the excitement of the first workshop, the team settled into an Arduino and soldering workshop, learning new skills and making new friends. Together, they learnt how to make an LED flash, determine the room's brightness, and wire up a distance sensor. Their final workshop for the year was online, where the girls designed their own printed circuit board, making a flashing RoboCats badge.
This years' FIRST Robotics Competition game is called 'Rapid React' as they focus on the transportation industry. A small group of girls are excitedly designing and prototyping a climbing mechanism that climbs uneven bars, whilst another group aims to shoot a ball into the hub over 2.5m high. On the electrical and software side, the girls are gearing up to implement encoders to track the speed and position of the robot during the autonomous period of the match and use a high-performance distance sensor for the first time. The teams are working swiftly to finish the robot within the allotted six-week time frame and are excited for the competition in March.
