Day 8: Today started off with writing sponsor e-mails. We have had some workshops on how to do this over the last few days, and we sent some off this morning!
We’ve continued working on a top-secret knitting projects, and we’ve started some hats for some of our newer members.
Some people have been very creative in where they choose to knit… when we asked Sam why he was under the desk, he blamed “corporate America”.
Another knitting photo of our top secret project: Watch it grow over time!
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.
Some of us worked on finishing up the field and setting it up in the gym…
…While others worked on CADing various parts of the robot, including the drive train and some other ideas we’re working on.
We’re doing CAD in small groups, and in bigger groups too.
After consulting some of last year’s parts, we’re almost ready to order the things we will need to start building.
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.
The field’s barrier was finished today! The field makers have been making excellent progress so far and we are very eager to see the completed field.
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.
Then we use our organizational chart to divide ourselves up into several groups. We have a timeline of season goals, along with weekly goals and daily tasks on our blackboard. Each student and mentor have their name on a magnet, and choose their tasks for the session.
Our field building crew worked really hard to get the backboards complete, including the proper coloured tape. 
Today we completed the middle level backboards. We can’t wait for the hoops to be delivered.
To test some of our ideas, we tried to use our robot from 2010.
We’ll know a lot more about how to approach our design dilemma when we can see a robot moving over a barrier and onto a bridge. Programmers are keen to get their hands on the test chassis too. We like to multitask in a productive way.
K-Bots, beware…..more pop quizzes are in your future. Please learn the 
It’s nice to see things coming together so quickly! We look forward to making more progress on the field pieces tomorrow too.
Today we were very lucky to get a tour of both of 
We saw their machine shop, and also saw one of their automated high speed assembly robots. The robots are really intricate and complicated. They are also top secret, so we couldn’t take pictures of them. We did take a picture of the warehouse. This was where we practiced driving our robot last year.
If you are interested in trying to drive a robot with the Kinect, please come to KCVI room 107 on Saturday. We’re there from noon until 3PM.
Reporting live from KCVI. We are camped out, with 120 other people in the school basement for Relay For Life, a night of activities and fun aimed at raising funds and awareness for cancer research.
Zumba dance lessons….
The luminary ceremony, where the luminaries were lit, and the gym was dark. We sat together and heard from another cancer survivor–a KCVI teacher, then walked another lap around the track.
We had a sing-along in the courtyard, and then we demonstrated our robots for the crowd.
Our robot is doing well, and has scored lots of tubes, even in autonomous mode!
We’re looking forward to seeing Frontenac’s team, the 
…but we’re all keeping busy with lots of little jobs. We’ve been busy finishing up our circuit boards…
…we make use of all little helpers we can find!
Our Queen’s mentors are on their reading week now, and we are glad that they are staying in town to help us out!
We’ve taken a second look at some things….including our minibot design. We’re calling it “Minibot Revisited”.
We look forward to seeing everyone at the warehouse soon! We work from 10AM-10PM today, Sunday and Monday too.
