Since today was Superbowl Sunday, the team had the day off and although none of the students came in, mentors dedicated their game time to make adjustments on the robot.
Today, Mr.Lee visited us after school and we were ecstatic to see him for the first time in more than a week. Right now we are focused on preparing for our statewide open house, which is in less than two weeks and completing our robot. Tony and Galen are busy making our work stations nice and spiffy for our visitors. The documentation team is writing our speeches and finishing up the open house video. Our animator is creating the underwater scene for the dolphin he just made. The construction team is finalizing the electronics on the robot. They are putting on the remaining encoders and a telescoping attachment for the arm, which makes the arm extend. The electronic board was bolted onto the robot frame and the pneumatic pump and cylinders were reinstalled. We also tested our robot for the first time today to ensure that the programming works.
Today, the documentation team focused on their upcoming deadlines: the web page and our statewide open house. Everyone put time into checking the grammar, clarity and overall appearance of our web page as well as planning for their presentations at our open house. The construction team took apart our robot so that it could be sent off to powder coating. Soon after they received a call from Mr. Lee who said the robot will not be powder coated until next week. They added grip to a mill stand that will ensure both students and mentors remain safe while fabricating parts on the mill and drilled holes in the frame of the robot to attach bumpers. In addition to the powder coating mix up, the construction team soon discovered that the holes they drilled for the bumpers would not meet the term of the bumper rules. The remainder of the day was spent putting the robot back together. Tomorrow is early out, meaning more time to get back on track!
Today work started promptly at 3 p.m. due to faculty meetings and lack of advisors. The documentation team is sending the final Chairman's and Woodie Flowers this weekend so now they are working hard on perfecting all the documents. The construction team is done for now with our robot. Today they weighed the robot for it’s final weight and measured the front bumper. They also made an inventory of all parts that were used. They are finished until Mr. Urata can complete the programming. Our statewide open house is in 10 days. Since our robot and documents are coming to a finish, the team is busy with preparation for this big event. We are composing the speeches for the different stations in our tour and still making our work areas spic and span. Ashley and Jessica finished their presentation video and are now critiquing it. Our animator Reef actually made his dolphin jump out of the water! We still are eating voraciously and finished a huge box of nerd ropes in one day! In addition, we ran out of plates for dinner! We are getting closer and closer to the end of our six weeks with only 1.5 weeks left.
We began our fourth day of week 5 construction today. Our animator Reef is basically finished with the animation portion of his video and is now working on the voiceovers. He is using the actual team member’s voices for the voices of the characters in his video. The web site is due in a week, so the documentation team is checking for errors on the page and making sure that all required information from the award rubric is included. Jessica and Ashley’s deadline for their open house video is also next week . Part of the robotics team got to preview their video after dinner yesterday. They are now using the constructive criticism from last night and are adding some new clips and also further editing it. The construction team redesigned and mounted the bumpers for the robot because the first bumpers were three inches from the ground. They also painted the handles of the moving cart black. Mr. Urata came tonight to help us with a lot of the programming. We must fix the programming that is affecting the gear shifts, plus the hybrid and Infared mode, and the controller programming all in about a week! We are getting closer to the end of our six weeks by the hour and everyone is being pushed by upcoming deadlines.
We are coming to the end of week 5 and are all stressing to meet deadlines. The documentation team is submitting all documents tomorrow including our Chairman’s Award and the Woodie Flowers. Ashley was videotaping the documentation team to add into the open house video. The construction crew is finishing up building the strolling cart. They made blocks of wood, which will raise the robot onto the cart and ultimately make robot transportation much easier. Metal railings were installed on the bumpers to meet the robotics competition regulations. After the bumpers are fully installed, the main focus will be on the programming, which is a very important part of the robot. Mr. Matsunaga made a tab that will push the limits switches when the arm gets to the right position. Mr. Urata came again tonight to help with the programming. Tomorrow is the last Saturday until our open house the following week!
Today we end week 5 and have exactly more one week left! The Chairman's crew uploaded the Chairman's Award, Woodie Flowers, and all the pictures on the website. They are finishing up some of the supporting documents and polishing the final drafts. Our animator Reef did the character's voiceovers and is now rendering his animation video. Jessica and Ashley added some new footage for their open house video, which will be shown next Saturday on the 16th. At lunch, grandma Lendio brought her infamous fried rice for lunch, which was very ono! After lunch, the construction team tested the robot out at the media center where our playing field is located. The first test try proved our robot's speed; however the robot needs more work on turning and the arm adjustment. They identified four problems that they need to work on next week. They have already fixed one of them by changing the value of the angle so that the arm can pick up the ball more easily. By the end of the night, our robot had undergone some major improvements.
