Welcome back to Robot Review! Today, we will be looking at a team that only started FTC last year, but has won many awards already in their first year! Malone talked to Alejandro from Cosmic Loop about their philosophy of simplicity.
| FACT SHEET (as of October 22, 2024): | |
| Team Name and Number: | Cosmic Loop, 23248 |
| Team Website: | none |
| Team Social Media: | Youtube |
| Team Location: | Longmeadow, Massachusetts, United States |
| Team Affiliation (Community/School): | Community |
| Team Rookie Year: | 2023-24, Center Stage |
| Team Size: | 6 |
| Team Mascot: | None yet, considering Baby Yoda |
| Team Awards: | Think (2023-24, Local) Connect (2023-24, Local) Inspire 2nd place (2023-24, Local) Motivate 2nd place (2023-24, Local) Winning Alliance (2023-24, Local) Winning Alliance 2nd place (2023-24, Local) |
(This review has been paraphrased for brevity from the available audio)
Malone (Interviewer at FabPub, member of 22059 Overclocked): What role do you have on your team (like programming, outreach, building)?
Alejandro (Team member of 23248 Cosmic Loop): I mainly focus in the off-season on outreach and then during the season I do a lot of CAD and just like, mechanical/hardware things.
M: Is there anything else?
A: I am also Co-Captain.
M: When was your team’s rookie year?
A: Centerstage 2023 – 2024.
M: And when was your personal rookie year?
A: I have been on and off with FIRST robotics. My rookie year was probably 2017 with FLL and I did that for like 3 years and then stopped because of covid and then I came back last year for Centerstage.
M: How many people are on your team?
A: Hmm… My team has five core members that have been with us since we began in Centerstage, but then we have had two teammates join for that season, and in Into the Deep we have a new member, so right now we’ve got six.
M: Does your team have a mascot?
A: When we went to States we used a Baby Yoda as our mascot, but it’s tentative.
M: What are your goals for your robot design for this season?
A: We want to use more CAD and ensure we have a more methodical approach to designing our robot, definitely getting rid of the wire clutter. We also want to focus on modular designs and consistency. It would also be nice to use more autonomous features in tele-op so that would be like more sensors and other things.
M: Has it changed a lot from what you were focusing on last year, and if so how?
A: I would say that it’s sort of the same as last year but our expectations have changed because we’ve learned a lot from the previous season, like we want to start using more of the sensors earlier on and just in general implementing CAD and other things.
M: Next up is what fabrication tools do your team have access to? Like a 3d printer or CNC machine, that sort of thing?
A: So we haven’t really gone into fabrication much other than 3D printing. We are open to using CNC, but we have never done it so strictly 3D printing for now.
M: Approximately how much of last season’s robot was developed by your team and how much was pre-bought?
A: Maybe, I would like to say 35% to 40% of our robot was bought. I am including things like the sliders because we don’t have fabrication tools to make them. We also used some open source parts like our battery mount and some spools for the sliders. We did start off with a goBILDA strafe chassis but we changed how the motors were on the U channels themselves just for packaging and other things, but the rest was custom from our team.
M: Now, it is still early in the season but if you’re far enough into the design process, how much would you estimate it would be this season?
A: Maybe around 25% to 30%. We have changed some of the practices that we did last season. Like I said, we’re trying to use more CAD, which has changed our approach to building the robot.
M: Out of curiosity, how many people on your team do CAD?
A: Five, so all but one, everyone has exposure to CAD, but five people generally use it.
M: What parts are you using for this season’s drivetrain?
A: We are sticking to goBILDA U-channels because, like I said earlier, we don’t really want to use CNC, especially this early into the season. U-channels are just really big and have tons of different holes where you can mount stuff on. And we stuck to Mecanum wheels because we are already comfortable with them and there’s no point in making it swerve and we’re just using goBILDA yellow jackets.
M: About how much would last year’s robot cost?
A: So from what I’m seeing, about $675 to maybe $800.
M: Have you learned anything from this or last year’s robot?
A: One thing I would like to say is that simpler is better. You can have the most intricate design ever, that you think could impress the judges, but if it cannot be consistent on competition day, it’s not worth it. Another thing is CAD is a very important tool; it can step up the game in your robot, especially in stuff like iterating and working with different parts. However, if you’re a starting team, then free-building (no CAD) is really where it is at, and you can take your time and familiarize with the parts. But mainly focus on CAD, take your time, and when you’re iterating through designs, make sure you have an actual logical reason for changing designs, it’s all a part of the engineering process.
M: If you’re willing to share, what would you say your team’s average annual budget would be?
A: For my team, it’s unclear because we have only been around for one year, but what we tend to do is each team member’s parents will provide some money, especially if we make it to states or even worlds if we get the chance. So that varies, but about $500. It just depends on how many competitions we’re able to make.
M: Interesting, so you have a reward-based funding structure?
A: Somewhat, but it’s more like, “Should we put more money into this team if we aren’t gonna get farther?” However, how we organize our team will change over time.
M: What would you say your biggest challenge was when building last season’s robot?
A: It was definitely getting familiar with the parts; something we tried to use in last years robot was using BWT link sliders, which are the black skinny ones, and we didn’t know how to mount the Sonic Hubs with the string winch. Simple designs are generally the best (like my mentor always says, “keep it simple stupid”), especially since a simple way to mount your strings is the best way to prevent chafing and stuff, and that goes for every part of the robot. Simpler will be better, especially for a team that is our size.
M: Yeah, while I wouldn’t say that it is the golden rule of engineering, it’s definitely good to not make it more complicated than it needs to be.
M: Is your team affiliated with a school, or is it a community/family team?
A: We are a family/community team because my brother is on the team and also we have a pair of twins on the team.
M: If you know, how did your team come up with its name?
A: I was involved in making the name. We were either going to be called “Smashed to Bits”, “Kinetic Kobras”, or “Cosmic Loop”. I think we decided that “Smashed to Bits” sounded too violent, so it doesn’t really sound gracious nor professional. “Kinetic Kobras” just sounds kinda weird. And then “Cosmic Loop” is fine, but it’s the best choice, so we embraced it.
M: How many Coaches/Mentors does your team have?
A: We have one main coach (the founder) and then two or three coaches last year. One of our coaches was an FRC Alumni who gave us a lot of insight on shape and everything; we owe a lot to him. This year, we have a lot of new mentors from the western Massachusetts and Connecticut area and even invited some family members that work in engineering. So yeah, just, like, ask around and there will be people that want to help.
M: Does your team have a website or social media that you want to share here?
A: Yeah, I think we are working on a website. We also have a youtube channel, Cosmic Loop FTC. We have an Instagram account, and I think it’s also Cosmic Loop FTC. We are hoping to be more active on these social media platforms in the future.
M: Here’s an optional question; Why do you participate in FIRST Tech Challenge?
A: I participate in FTC because I want to be an engineer, and I saw FTC as a way that I could get ahead and get some exposure to the thing that I want to spend the majority of my adult life working in. I’m happy I chose FIRST because it has given me exposure and confidence. I’ve met some great people and learned a lot of soft skills along the way, so I’m grateful for it, and I hope that other people get the chance as well.
M: What kind of engineer do you want to be, if you don’t mind sharing?
A: I want to be a mechanical engineer because I’ve been doing a lot of hardware and stuff but computer science is really interesting as well but I haven’t had as much exposure in FTC and school.
M: On average, how many times per week does your team meet?
A: We try to meet two times, once during the week and then an actual meeting on the weekend for around 5 – 6 hours, but the weekday meeting isn’t as consistent as the weekday meeting.
M: What is one skill you would like to develop from FTC?
A: I want to be able to explain what I’m thinking better. I feel like that’s a really powerful skill to have, especially when communicating with judges and talking with mentors to get the best advice from them and then if you can explain what you want, you can further iterate your designs with their help.
M: Yeah, communication skills are really important.
M: What language does your team code in?
A: We use Java.
M: Does your team use any code packages?
A: So I’m not on the software team but I’ve overheard the software team speaking about roadrunner and I know that Roadrunner is pretty predominant in FTC. It’s really powerful and I know that something Tech Tigers were talking about during season kickoff was Tech Tigers Quickstart, which is like a library of the things that they’ve used through their seasons of FIRST and they are a world championship qualifying team so I’d look out for it, but our team isn’t using it.
M: So I know you’re not on the programming team but are there any strategies or things that your team does that you would like to share?
A: I can share strategy, so I think that for hardware teams, the quicker you get your design and hardware, the quicker your software team can begin coding and a big part of FIRST is good software because you can have a really good robot design but if you can’t control it or even do auto, your not gonna be too competitive in competition.
M: What is one thing you would say your team excels at?
A: Comradery, like, especially with the teammates who have stuck around since the beginning, I’ve been able to make good friendships with them and you know there are some inside jokes that we have from being in FTC from working on this robot for so many hours. I think that’s the case with most teams.
M: Has your team won any awards in previous seasons? If so what are they?
A: Our first award was the Think Award. The Think award is from the engineering portfolio and how you explain the engineering process. In our case, we think it was for taking CAD screenshots and being methodical and descriptive on how we came to our designs and stuff. If you have the chance to be in contention to win the Think award, you can win Inspire, especially in that second qualifier where a lot of teams have already qualified for states. So yeah just being very clear in your engineering portfolio is important.
M: Did you win any other awards?
A: Yes, we won the Connect Award, an outreach award. So being vocal in your school or community for FIRST is excellent, even if it means attending a summer camp and showing kids robotics. We also won the Rookie All-Star which your team won in Power Play, right?
M: Yes.
A: So you guys are familiar with the first-season strategy of just trying your best, seeing how things go and looking at how other teams are doing, and asking “What are the Technomaniacs doing?”, “What is Tech Tigers doing?” and just emulating that but with your own twist. Something we were also able to win was the Husky robotics invitational with the Technomaniacs. A lot of that is luck, but an important part of being able to win is making good alliances with teams even before qualifying by talking with them, showing respect for them and showing a genuine interest; there are soft skills to FIRST, it’s not all hardware and robotics.
M: If you could share one lesson with other teams, what would it be?
A: One lesson I would share with other teams is to stay curious and to have some sort of passion. Look at other teams and see what they’re doing and what makes them stand out. If you’re open to iterating your design and making it better, it will pay off in the end. It doesn’t matter what machinery you have access to, if you’re willing to think and give it time and see the strategy of other teams, you will be able to improve, and you will be able to do better.
M: Is there anything else that you would like to note about your team?
A: I would like to share that our team is very honored to be featured as a part of this publication, thank you for reaching out to us.
M: Thank you for being here.
A: I’m excited to learn from other teams and I’m excited to see what the other teams are going to put out in these next 6 months and even into the off-season into the summer.
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