The TechnoTicks Go Virtual!
By Phia Adkins
The FRC Team 236, TechnoTicks had yet another successful club meeting over Zoom this week. Due to Covid-19, the TechnoTicks have found it most practical to have online meetings until the start of their competition season in January. In an effort to prepare the new students that have taken an interest in everything that is robotics, the mentors and returning students of TechnoTicks have been teaching the rookie engineers new concepts, including OnShape and TinkerCAD, two 3D Design programs made accessible to all devices.
As we continue to push through pre-season, robotics students have learned about the importance of an Arduino board. The Arduino board is a circuit board system designed for anyone looking to further their knowledge in basic engineering techniques. Arduino interacts with many electronics, including LEDs, motors, speakers, GPS units, cameras, and even cellphones.
In the following weeks, students will continue to advance their skills in basic electronics and start to CAD shapes. As any new skill takes time, not every attempt will be perfect, but it will teach valuable lessons that will show evident as the season truly begins. With the need to adapt under any circumstance, the TechnoTicks have taken every integral moving piece in stride and have shown gracious professionalism through every step.
The students and mentors have been working in TinkerCAD in breakout rooms on Zoom. After watching videos, they have been taking what they learn and creating their own designs, and then talk about real-world projects. The photo here is a model of an Arduino circuit built in TinkerCad. It is set up to control a Red, Yellow and Green LED. The code on the right is in a language called Blockly which allows a graphical approach to programming making the initial lessons more straightforward for new Arduino programmers.
Lessons
1 Blink LED
2 LEDs and Breadboards
3 Fading LEDs
4 RGB LEDs
5 Pushbutton
6 Potentiometer
How do I attend the online training?
RETURNING MEMBERS | You should have received an email from Mr. Derry. Please complete all four assignments to receive the Zoom link and participate fully.
NEW MEMBERS | To join the team, contact Mr. Derry or fill out this form. Once we hear from you, we will send you links and instructions on how to sign up.
