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It’s the first day of the fifth week. WOW! The first four weeks just flew by! Before we knew it, it was the end of the fourth week. It’s the second official day that Mr. Matsunaga, Team 359’s machinist, was not scheduled to be here, but he graciously came and spent approximately two hours in the autoshop with the construction team. The construction crew worked very diligently until break time, along with the programming team. Today they busied themselves with a lot of work. They were able to construct a bracket for the CIM motor, made a new front for the frame of the robot by adding rollers, and made a frame for the end of the game bonus. Mentors Adam Butac and Cody Smith also contributed their help by fixing the roller, improved the the grip on the ball, and changed the speed of the roller. They also attempted to make the attachment for the end of the game bonus. To do this, they cut diamond plated aluminum into pieces for the frame that will be used for the end of the game bonus. The students also had to make some changes to the kicking mechanism. Some students changed the base of the kicker where it contacts the ball by making it wider and drilled many holes into it to decrease the weight. The construction sub-team also made a big change to the robot. To do so, Joe Gudoy, one of the mentors, grinded the frame, welding it back together once he was done. Now, the robot has a new front design, which we hope will work better. Overall, they are working really hard, trying to get as much done as they can since Mr. Matsunaga is not available and Open House is in under two weeks. The robot has to be completed by then so that it can be showcased.

For the programming team, they did their own work and later watched the construction team work on the robot as they couldn’t do anything until the robot was finished. But in the meantime, they managed to swap the pneumatics valve for the trigger mechanism and took off all the electronics from the robot so that the construction crew could work on it. Once they were done, some students practiced crimping and soldering many wires.

While many sub-teams were busy at their work, some had extra time to finish any homework that was due on Monday while others started on their Open House scripts, editing it, and having it proofread by a mentor. Like the other nights, the team stayed late into the night trying to get as much as they could done since we have a day off tomorrow! It’s Super Bowl Sunday and hopefully they all enjoy their day off, relaxing while they watch the game.

Team 359 is back to work, after a day off. It was Super Bowl XLIV and everyone enjoyed the game.  The programming started off the work day, taking the electronics board off of the robot because the construction team needed to fix a few errors.  Some parts that they worked on was repairing the kicking mechanism.  Because it was too wide to fit into the sides of the ball magnet, they had to cut the corners of the kicker base in order for it to fit.  Another problem they had to overcome was figuring out what type of material would work best for the roller.  They tried using duck tape and even tire rubber to cover the surface of the pool noodle.  In conclusion, the duck tape was more efficient.  In order for the roller on the robot to work, the construction students also had to fix the chains for the motor by making it shorter.  The team is slowly progressing by working on the roller, changing the speed of the roller wheel and trying different locations for the roller.  Once they were done making the necessary changes, it was the programming team’s turn to work on the robot.  They put the snap rings onto the wheels and reattached all the electronics so that they could test drive the robot before ending the day.  On the other hand, the video team finished the opening for the Open House video and continued to film footage for the week five video.  The graphics team cut out tags on the big cutting machine in their work room which will be used for the lanyards that will be given to other teams at the regionals.  Overall, the team is working diligently, trying to complete the robot, electronics, and everything else that needs to be done before the team ships the robot. 

It’s a slow and hot Tuesday, as Team 359 is back to work, but not everyone is here at the school.  Mr. Matsunaga is still not here, but he will return tomorrow.  Also Mr. Matsumoto is not here because of work.  Both Mr. Matsunaga and Mr. Matsumoto are mentors on the team who work in the autoshop, building various parts to construct the robot. Because of their absence, the construction sub-team did not have to report to work today.  Also not here is Mr. Wood, a mentor on our team who works with the programming students.  He traveled all the way to the Leeward Coast of Hawaii to Nanakuli High School to assist their robotics team with programming and electronics.  Tomorrow he will be back to work with our team. But spending time in their work rooms are the documentation, web-site, visual media, and programming team.  Today’s main focus was testing the robot.  The programming crew and drivers tested the robot, observing whether or not each part worked.  One problem they faced was the trigger mechanism of the kicker which was not working for a period of time.  They worked on the problem then continued to practice driving the robot, going over the bump and herding the ball to the goal, then scoring.  The video team filmed footage for their week five video while Mr. Lee had a meeting with the web-site team.  They sat and discussed the changes that needed to be done and informed them of their deadline.  Once the meeting was adjourned, they got to work, making changes that needed to be done.

The weekly meeting lasted for nearly an hour as Mr. Lee went over the complications that the team was going through, the schedule for the rest of the build season, Open House, and upcoming trips.  He asked us to be flexible with our daily schedules, whether it’s meeting at a certain time for robotics or staying for longer hours to get more work done.  At the meeting, Mr. Lee mentioned that there were some complications that needed to be resolved as soon as possible.  With Mr. Matsunaga and Mr. Matsumoto back in the autoshop, the construction team got back to work.  One of the obstacles that the team had to overcome was fixing the kicker because when it was tested, the team found that it interfered with the rollers which caused the rollers to break off. One reason was the welded tacks were not sturdy enough to hold it into place.  To fix it, they constructed a new one with a wider kicker base.  They also needed to create a new ball magnet.  To do so, they added new material onto the magnet; they used a type of rubber called Red Linatex.  Before applying the material to the PVC pipe, they had to get a bigger pipe, putting parts onto it so that the chain could connect to it.  Once they were done, they attached the ball magnet to the robot to test it.  The team discovered that it doesn’t work because it has too much friction, so now they are deliberating on what changes they could do to make it work. 

The programming team, on the other hand, is progressing really well.  With Mr. Wood’s return from yesterday’s absence, the crew got a new solenoid for the kicker; which enables the robot to have two different powers for kicking the ball.  The solenoid also lets the actuator idle so that it uses only the bungee cord.  The programming students needed to test the solenoid first, to see how it really works as Team 359 has not used that type of solenoid which enables the robot to do three different things.  After testing the solenoid, they installed it onto the electronics board, and tested it.

Working hastily, the graphics team along with some construction students, worked on bumpers.  They needed to put the team number onto the bumpers by spray painting the stencil numbers onto it.  Besides finishing the bumper, they also had to start prepping to make the control.  To do so, they asked Mr. Wood, retired programmer and current mentor, what kind of design they wanted.  When asked, what is the hardest thing about spray painting and making the controller, Armand Gahol, Lead graphics support, replied, “The hardest thing about making the controller is that we need to make sure that the components needed to control the robot is installed properly into the controller.  For painting the bumpers, the hardest thing is making sure that the paint doesn’t smear after spraying the number stencils.  But overall, it’s a great learning process.”  As of right now, all sub-teams are busy trying to finish their work, with still a lot of unfinished tasks.

The end of week five is fast approaching! Boy, it's tomorrow! It seemed like a long and tedious day as students looked exhausted. The past 5 weeks and long nights has finally caught up with us. Yet the students are still hard at work, trying to finish the tasks that still need to be completed before Open House next week. The stress is building up to a boiling point. To start off the Thursday, a representative from VEX, Robert Uhlre, came to Waialua Roboitcs to interview us Hawaiian Kids and took a tour of our facilities. In the interview, Mr. Lee talked about our program and how we sustain our program.

While Mr. Lee gave a tour to Mr. Uhlre, there were a lot of activity going on in all work areas. The video team worked to complete the week five video to submit to our web-site master to upload onto the site. They also worked with Mr. Kois, team mentor and videographer, on this year Chairman's Award video. They planned out what type of footage they wanted and pictures of our program from past years until now. On the other hand, the graphics team finalized the Open House program and made luggage tags. They also redid the team numbers on the bumpers.

For the construction team, they were able to start on the end of the game bonus while the programming crew dismantled last year's control boards for this year's one. They also mounted the camera for the robot and tested it to make sure that it was able to do the required movements.

It's the last day of week five and students returned to the school well rested as the work day started at 1:00 P.M. As Mr.Lee and a couple of students traveled to Honolulu to pick up some supplies for the documentation team. The construction and programming team were very busy today. The construction team finally had the chance to build the parts for the end of the game bonus. They were able to build the entire frame for the bonus and is currently figuring out how they will be able to put it onto the robot. They also needed to modify the trigger mechanism for the programming team, which will be used for the kicker of the robot. They started on the controller board, filing the edges of the board and figured out the spacing for the ATK3 joystick. In the testing room, the programming team members worked on the robot. They were able to program the camera, which will enable the drivers to locate the target from many distances on the playing field. They also mounted the trigger mechanism that the construction team was working on. The drivers then practiced driving the robot and used the kicker to kick the ball while using the camera. They were relieved that the robot is functioning really well. In short, Mr. Wood said, "The robot kicker is good and getting better!"