What I do as Build Team Captain
Our 2023-2024 season robot
Manage
- Oversee the entire mechanical section of the team, which includes CAD, fabrication, assembly, testing, and iteration of our robot
Teach
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Teach a team of 73 mechanical students how to:
- Use CAD (Onshape) to model robot
- Use tools like a band saw and belt sander to fabricate
- Use CAM (Inventor) to program tool paths for CNC machine
- Improve robot using iterative design principles (Adapted from SpaceX's model)
A still from our team's parent night as I ran a student's parent through our robot
Build
- Most importantly: Being responsible for having a working and polished robot at all times, ready to tackle any unexpected issues that arise
Me troubleshooting a fault on the competition field
Achievements
- Successfully designed and built competition robots for 3 consecutive seasons
- Advanced to regional championships each year
- Won the Engineering Excellence Award
- Implemented innovative mechanisms for game element manipulation
- Trained junior team members in CAD, fabrication, and mechanical design
- Developed comprehensive documentation for future team leadership
Skills Developed
- Leadership and team management
- CAD design and simulation
- Mechanical engineering principles
- Problem-solving under time constraints
- Effective communication of technical concepts
- Project planning and resource management
- Knowledge transfer and mentoring