CAD design from team 2834, the Bionic Black Hawks

This 2024-2025 school year, Bloomfield Hills High School showcases outstanding innovation and ambition as clubs make their mark on the world. From empowering girls in STEM to debating global issues in Model UN, students are not only participating in, but they are shaping the future with their creativity. One of the most hands-on and dynamic teams leading the charge is robotics. For the past six weeks, they have been building a robot, working Monday to Thursday for three and a half hours each day, and an additional six hours every Saturday. Despite midterms and sport commitments, the team consistently shows up and shows out, so let’s take a look at what they have been up to these past hectic weeks.

The process begins in early January with intense brainstorming through computer-aided design (CAD) which is then transferred to a hardware app, Fusion360. Once a solid CAD model is developed, the team conducts design reviews to ensure it functions as intended. While these initial steps may seem simple, they are critical to the teams success at the upcoming competition at the end of February. 

From there, students and mentors form two teams in order to bring the robot from concept to reality. One team is dedicated to troubleshooting hardware issues, and another to crafting precision parts using computer numerical control (CNC) machining.  work together with students and mentors to bring the design to life. 

With the pieces in place and the design refined, the team moves onto the next phase: building the robot. There are typically many trials and tribulations at this stage, however the team collectively puts in immense effort to refabricate any issues. As the building process comes to an end, the robot is passed onto the programming team while the drive team practices the robot’s capabilities until the competition. While many high schools have robotics programs, what sets Bloomfield Hills Robotics apart is its forward-thinking approach. Our team is taking inspiration from top businesses to improve their approach to robot building. By adopting methods such as Kaizen from Toyota, the team has shifted into iterative design and improvement after every test or event, successful or not. 

Additionally, they have implemented a modular system, allowing swift replacements from broken components to perfectly functioning ones. To increase the team’s efficiency to reach its highest productivity, the team has implemented MOD Squads, small groups of students dedicated to designing and assembling crucial components of the robot. With competition season fast approaching, the Bloomfield Hills Robotics Team is refining its final design and strategy. As they enter the final stretch, their focus remains on execution turning weeks of hard work into outstanding results.