Day 9: We had a photo shoot today for our Kare-bots. We’ve been knitting them for our outreach project.
You can knit them too! We’re going to send them as a packing material for medical or other aid supplies going to Africa or Haiti. They are super awesome and lots of fun to play with.
Aren’t they so cute?
Shortly after our photoshoot we discovered that Sam has adorable, itty bitty ears.
Our programmers were working hard to learn how to code.
We emptied our recycling bin today. During build season we have to empty it much more often.
We’re working on learning the game rules. There are lots and lots of rules!
It was really exciting for us to get a postcard today! Thanks JNo!
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!
We had a break for dinner where we had shepherd’s pie, and we went on a Tweedle Safari. Dinner was delicious! Thanks parents.
Observe the wild Tweedles dining in their natural habitat
We sang happy birthday for our birthday girl.
Of course, while all of our other projects are in progress. We take breaks to work on our homework. It’s a busy time of year for culminating activities.
We work tomorrow until 7PM. Remember to RSVP for the pasta night
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.
Between matches, our robot gets worked on by our expert pit crew. It’s pretty crowded and busy in there. Judges and safety officials, robots, mentors, students, families and friends are all milling about, looking around, repairing robots, changing batteries, lining up for matches, strategizing with alliances etc. The pit is a fun place to visit, specially when the robot is working well.
This morning our Chairman’s team did a great job with their presentation. They explained to judges all about what we do that makes our team special, how we work to get others interested in science and technology, and how our team is building a strong foundation for the future.
Our excellent lunch plan was a success today. Thanks to Gord for organizing the sandwich run! We had a tailgate party in the parking lot.
