On September 17, 2016, one of the first meetings for the N.E.R.D.S team was held. Those who attended were Emily Skoglund, Gerald Nelson, Evan Nothstine, Caden Peck, Dick Ross, Kevin Henggeler, Reece Green, and Michael Burke. Once we finished cleaning the old robot arena, business began.
N.E.R.D.S team founder Mr. Gerald Nelson began with showing us two demo Lego scissor lifts. A scissor lift, (pictured below.) is a popular machine used in construction for lifting. One of the demos was made akin to the one pictured. The other had the connecting pins offset, so it would go to the right in an arc. Mr. Nelson proposed that
the arcing scissor lift could be used to propel both types of balls used in the match into scoring zones. For information on the challenge, visit our post here. The team went over match rules as well, and their emphasis on sensors this year. With many points in autonomous button pushing, N.E.R.D.S had to think of a future in robotic sensors. For new members, we covered vocabulary relating to the matches, such as alliance, (two or more teams joined together) and control. (when a robot is controlling an object, like a ball, this object when being moved by the robot is considered part of the robot. Final issues covered were solutions to heating and wireless networks. It gets cold during the dark Missouri winters. Therefore, a propane space heater was provided. As for the wireless, a router is to be installed shortly.
After main business was handled, the group went on to further clean the robotic arena. Hopes are high this year that with a large team and a ready mind, we will advance to State, and beyond.