November 2021 Newsletter

Jacob, Takoda, Piper, Amos, Isaac, and Charlotte 
during a photoshoot at the Manchester Machine Makers’ new headquarters.
Jacob, Takoda, Piper, Amos, Isaac, and Charlotte 
during a photoshoot at the Manchester Machine Makers’ new headquarters. 

We have gotten to work on our robot! Here is what the team has been doing this fall:

  • We have been cleaning out and organizing our new space donated by TPW Real Estate that we are sharing with two local First Lego League teams: the Fiery Froggies and the Explore team. 
  • Also, along with the new space, we have welcomed some new members this fall: Amos, Jake, Zach, and Takoda. See their full profiles on the Team page. 
  • After finalizing our strategy and plans for our robot, we have documented our goals and deadlines for the season. Currently, our drive base is scheduled to be fully built by November 23, 2021.
  • On October 24th, Randy Marsh, our engineering mentor, who has helped the Manchester Machine Makers before, attended one of our virtual meetings, giving a demonstration on different aspects and features of the 3D modeling software, Solidworks, which the team uses often to model its builds and custom parts. Helping the team further, he provided the team with valuable feedback and advice on our custom field element. 
  • On October 29 we met with our founding mentor Mike Cole to brainstorm ideas about our delivery system
  • We fully constructed our half playing field for the competition. Additionally, we catalogued the parts we already had and ordered more for the robot. 
  • We received a donation and an internship opportunity for team members from EPS, Engineered Printing Solutions in East Dorset VT (see blog post, EPS Supports Manchester Machine Makers). 
  • We also have been working on the design of our robot’s intake mechanism, since it will be vital in Freight Frenzy. We can’t score points without being able to accurately and efficiently pick up freight!
  • As of mid-November, we have finalized our custom field element, and it will be 3D printed as soon as possible (most likely in December). We have also fully finished creating a 3D model of our drive base.

However, this is just what we have done so far!

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