TechHOUNDS members continue to train new members and work on their drive train project in part of the preparation for their build season in January. According to George Giltner, the team sponsor, the drive train project will involve building a swerve drive, which will give the robot the ability to rotate its wheels 360 degrees. Giltner said that the drive train project is one of the many progresses that the team is making.

“We’ve never finished a drive train during the season before, and I think right now we’re about post-50 percent done,” Giltner said. “That’ll be good experience for the young kids to go through the instructions of how to build a drive train and for the older kids to get an idea of what drive trains will be like at the build season.”

Ryan Wilmes, TechHOUNDS team leader and junior, agrees. Wilmes said that all of the new members are learning a lot from the preseason experience, including building prototypes of robots.

“All the divisions have been making a lot of progress,” Wilmes said. “The new members are coming up to speed.”

Both Giltner and Wilmes agree that the members are ready for the build season. They also stated that the team members have not had any particular struggle or obstacle in their performance so far during the preseason.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to match the last two years in the Boilermaker Regional,” Wilmes said. “There’s a learning curve for beginners, but they’ll soon be overcoming it.” By David Choe