Never enough 7/16th Wrenches

Subteams

Engineering

Engineering is by far the largest of the sub teams consisting of over 30 members. The engineering sub team is responsible for designing and building the robot. In a given build season the this sub team is divided up into smaller groups consisting of 4-6 students, at least one of which being a veteran member. These groups focus on individual parts of the robot such as drive train, electronics and mechanisms. There is often more than one mechanism group either focusing on different parts of the robot, or competing against each other for the better design.

To keep track of all these sub teams we have a President and Vice President of Engineering. It is their job to make sure that all of engineering is running smoothly. The director of Engineering is the person responsible for making sure each one of the groups are operating according to a predefined timetable. We also have a primary machinist who is responsible for machining all parts of the robot and educating others in the use of the machines.

Programming

What is a robot? Ask yourself this question and at once you will realize how important the onboard software has become. When the engineering team finishes designing and building their precision made lump of metal, it remains just lump of metal. The job of the programmers is to write software that controls the robot's logic and motion on the playing field, as well as ensure that the electronics are running smoothly. Essentially, we breathe life into an otherwise lifeless statue. The programming team is also responsible for making sure all old robot codes are accounted for and capable of being loaded on the correct robot when the robot is called upon to perform for a demo.

Programmers are also stuck with a double duty. Because code is foreign to many incoming students, we take it upon ourselves to teach them our language. The current language in use by FRC is "C." Teaching C is no easy task, especially in our painfully small timeframe. The pressure and patience pays off, however, when we see our code being executed by a 120lb robot flying out into the field. Team 694 also believes in open source software and the free distribution of our code to the greater community. All of our code is free for anyone to look at and learn from. Note: Some files may not be under the same open license, please check the comments of each file for specific licensing information.

Though more resources are soon to come, our subversion repository with all code (past and present) is available for viewing at svn.stuypulse.com (popup) thanks to Matthew Jording for his generous donation of server space and willingness to help us maintain it. Please also visit the forums for a more in-depth view of our team.

Marketing and Logistics

Our marketing and logistics sub team has a very diverse list of responsibilities. It is in charge of : fundraising, branding, logistical work like meals during build season and travel planning, award submissions, outreach as well as any other task that does not fall under the other sub teams. To make sure all these projects are running smoothly we have a President and Vice President of Marketing. They are also responsible for being the primary contact for our sponsors. Our Director of Outreach is responsible for coordinating all of our outreach efforts which include mentoring FLL, FTC, and FRC teams as well as reaching out to local restaurants and communities’ centers. We also have a secretary whose responsibility is to make sure there is communication between all of our Mentors, Faculty Advisers, Parents, and sub teams.

Website

Our website team consists of members of both the Programming and Marketing sub team. This sub team is responsible for everything relating to the website, including but not limited to, hosting, backend programming (done in PHP) , frontend programming (done in CSS, HTML, Javascript), and content. To learn more about this year's new site, visit the 2008 Website page.