FRC 4992 Learn by doing mock-up

It is week 2 in the FRC 2015 build season and team 4992 has made some great plans for a drive and lift system. We were at school all day today working on plans and looking for parts. Many of the parts we ordered earlier this week will not be in until next week but I wanted to make something happen. I challenged the students to build a mock up lift system so that we could look at the pitfalls and challenges. We took the ball grabber off of last years robot and turned it upside down to use as a winch. Up-rights out of wood and nylon rope from the back of my van completed the build.

I enjoyed watching the students work on this project and it is easy to see that this is the best kind of learning. We could see it work - sort of. We could use the mock-up to discuss and further refine the plans for the competition robot. We could see the students learn about making plans that are accurate and that use materials that can be sourced.

If you read my posts about the build season last year you will see that I was the lone adult working with this group during the build season. This year there are 2 other adults. What a difference! Thank you team 4992 mentors.