Today we got some more machining and welding done on our parts. Before we know it, we’ll have all of the pieces, and have to scramble to put it together.
With more welding comes more filing–It will be an exciting day when all of these pieces form a robot!
Our bumpers got their angle today…
Our chains are being tensioned…
Our chairman’s team had a brainstorming session…
Our programmers worked hard on getting the vision system working, and also getting our old robot for try-outs ready to drive in various configurations.
Our super-top-secret project is continuing to grow larger every day…
…and we’re bending a whole lot of Lexan. 
We’ve got some little jobs around here perfect for some little fingers! We’re glad to have little friends come and work with. 
Although our team is feeling the time crunch, we’re still looking out for each other. There’s always time for a hug!
Meet chain-man, a new friend of our team. Chain-man was created when we dismantled our drive train for what must be the 10th time. Each time we reassemble it, we realize that something’s missing. We’re getting a lot of practice which will be very valuable for our pit crew!
Our team has no machine shop access at school, so we’ve had to get lots of work done via our sponsors. We want to thank Transformix Engineering, one of our gold level sponsors, for helping us out with machining and welding today. We do have access to a bending machine at school, and we’ve been working with Lexan to make various robot parts. We need to carefully lay out the pieces, then cut them out.
After we cut the Lexan, we need to file it smooth, and then we put it in the bender.
We’re working also on our electrical system. Thanks to Kraftwerk for bending our electrical box for us this year. We’ll be installing our components and wiring things over the next few days.
We’re grateful to parents and families who continue to support us as we work long hours building robots. Tonight we were fueled by quiche and ice cream sandwiches. Delicious!
Some of our mentors are working very hard on their knitting. 
This season we’re knitting little hats to be give-away buttons for competitions. We’re known for our hats!
We had a wonderful ham supper from Jan and Ann tonight, and some special treats for Chinese New Year! 
After dinner, we got right back to work. Some of us are trying to get the camera code to work properly.
Our Chairman’s video is really starting to take shape. 
…and we had a great session to edit our Chairman’s essay.
Plenty of us are working on the very confusing bumper math. 
We’re trying to make reversible bumpers again this year, but in a slightly different configuration. It’s a pretty good math problem! We did lots of research today, and called different stores to source fabric and white Sharpie markers.
Our prototyping team is looking at various ways to manipulate the bridge. We’re coming up with some good ideas! It helps to work with such a big creative group.
For those of us who are in the know…this picture marks a rather momentous occasion. We’re starting to work on the next part.
Lots of us are tired out from long hours at robotics.
Nap time is much more comfy with bumpers as pillows!
We made LOTS of cookies!
We’re thankful to everyone who is pulling strings to help us out. We are lucky to have a great support system, including our own superhero!
We had a really big CAD party and at the end of it our virtual robot is almost finished… Oh my gosh, it’s just like Tron!
Kare-bots provide comfort for children in recovering nations, they also reduce environmental waste and provide a practical alternative to traditional packing protection for medical or other aid supplies. The dolls will allow our team to connect with children and spread a love of robots all over the world.
We’ve continued working on a top-secret knitting projects, and we’ve started some hats for some of our newer members.
Our programmers have been working very hard, using our test chassis to decide how the controls will be laid out.
After modifying things, it’s really fun to drive the robot around!
We held a meeting right before lunch to discuss our latest outreach activity… we’re going global! After our meeting we ate a delicious lunch. Thanks parents for keeping us so happy and healthy! We couldn’t survive our hectic build season without your support.
After lunch, we split up into groups to work on various tasks that needed to be completed before the end of today.
…While others worked on CADing various parts of the robot, including the drive train and some other ideas we’re working on.
We’ll meet next at the usual time after school on Monday. Enjoy your day off to relax and do your homework!
Today we got the bridge done
We build Saturday from 10AM-6PM.
We decided to suspend a weight from a meter above our robot to mimic anything we might build up there, and then give it a try. We installed plywood chain guards to keep us all safe.
Some of us spent a great deal of time doing calculations, doing research and gathering our materials.
It’s nice to see things coming together so quickly! We look forward to making more progress on the field pieces tomorrow too.
We discussed the plans for the 
Our group split up for rotations of CAD tutorial work–some of us are getting really good at the practical applications of CAD.
We held a brainstorming rotation for Chairman’s report ideas, and activities we should engage in over the year to help our community and build up our team. We also walked everyone through the 
The remaining station was a super top secret design challenge. Groups had 30 minutes and a variety of materials (wheels, newspaper, straws, plastecine, skewers, cardboard, wood, screws, saws, measuring devices, and lots of tape) to construct a vehicle that was powered by a balloon that could travel the farthest down the school hallway.
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award brainstorming breakaway build season bumpers CAD Chairman's Report communication community competition construction Cyber Falcons dance demo design electrical families field field trip First Robotics FLL FRC fundraising GTR kick off Logomotion Machining media mentors New York City Regional organization pre-season challenge programming prototype Queen's University rebound rumble safety scouting sponsors team building testing thank you Transformix video WAFFLES
