We started the day cutting out fabric for our bumpers.
It’s so important to measure twice before cutting…
We need to leave adequate seam allowance, and leftovers to staple to the plywood.
We cut, sewed, and stapled, and then put the numbers on. To do this we use a stencil, and white pencil crayon to mark out the numbers. This is a job to do when everyone is awake and focused so numbers end up oriented properly.
Fabric paint, in a squeeze bottle, is used to apply the border paint for the numbers. This is a job for someone with really steady hands. Once the numbers are outlined we’ll have a painting party to fill the numbers in. Painting within the lines is an important skill!
While the bumper making happened on one side of the room, we had a little machining going on in the back of the room.
We also spent time organizing our connectors…
…and making some last minute CAD edits.
We’re also continuing with the Kare-bot production! 
We’re thrilled that Wool-Tyme Kingston has helped us to spread the word in their monthly newsletter. To knit Karebots please check out the pattern here.
After doing extensive calculations, we purchased Galaxy Twill fabric from Fabricland. We cut out pattern pieces, and pinned them to the fabric, and cut out what we needed.
Making bumpers is hard work. Sometimes you just need to take a nap.
“I didn’t know that I could sew!” -Liam, grade 9
We took turns making sure that the seams were straight. While sewing machines were used in one half of the room, the saws were working in the other half.
…then made a template for our bear paws…
…we punched to mark the center of each circle….
…and then started to drill.
We lined up the holes pretty well this year…
..it is a precision operation!
There are lots of cheese holes to make, so we all took turns.
While not cheeseholing we occupied our time updating the media binder with our recent news coverage.
We drilled access holes to the valves for our wheels…
…and we displayed our Kare-bots in the main hallway at school.
CAD drawings got completed…
…we weighed our metal…17 pounds!
…and we took a trip to buy bumper material.
To burn off steam we took a break to practice throwing.
We’ll have human player tryouts after we have a bit more practice time.
The Tweedles showed us how to throw with great distance and accuracy. 
Programming work is coming along too. “We’re declaring Friends”-Mr. Wood
To make these parts we needed to go through quite a process. Drawings were made using CAD software.
The printed drawings, were then checked over
And then they were taken to Transformix for machining.
We turned all of our metal into much smaller parts.
Thanks to the machinists who made it happen!
When parts are completed, they need to be examined, and the sharp edges removed.
Looking at the pieces in this small cardboard box….we begin to wonder about the final size of the robot.
Meanwhile…back at KCVI. We had a visitor today who dropped by to get more yarn for 
We also had visitors who brought us our batteries from Florida. Thanks so much!
We devised a way to do tandem knitting. 2 knitters on one project is pretty cool stuff.
We did some bumper math calculations. Look at our reversible bumper instruction 
We looked at various sensors and how to use them effectively.
Our team had been working on a super top secret project for the past few days. We’ve made warm fuzzies for our mentors. Today they were delivered. Mentors are appreciated for the time and effort they put into our team.
Who doesn’t like warm fuzzies?! Why not thank a mentor today!
Our orders have been coming in so we’re unpacking boxes, and moving forward with our plans. The biggest excitement came when boxes of electrical components were unpacked.
In other great news, we got some machining done today! Thanks to our Queen’s mentors who spent lots of time in the shop and accomplished so much.
When the pieces came back to our work room, we deburred…
There’s more machining to come in the next few days. Here’s another cool part that we’re using for our robot. 
Does anyone know what it is?
“The muffins are SO DELICIOUS!” -Liam, grade 9
After snack time we got back to work putting together the wheel assemblies for our robot. Working together is always more fun!
We got to work on our top secret project
A few snips later and it looked like this.
Some more secret business involves our strategy for flipping the bridge down. We’ve been working for a few days to develop a good idea. Today we moved our sketches onto CAD.
Some shenanigans took place repeatedly today. Over the course of the evening almost everyone ended up trapped at one time or another. Here’s proof that even a Tweedle can get caught! Despite being caught, the Tweedle is still smiling!
Part way through our work session today we took a time out to learn about talking with the public, particularly to judges and to the media. We are lucky that CKWS TV, our local TV station is interested in following us through build season, checking in from time to time, watching our robot grow and develop, and watching us come together as a team.
We look forward to the opportunity to share FIRST Robotics with the rest of Kingston!
…and then we got to use it ourselves. 
Thanks to our mentors for waking up early and supervising us at Transformix. Thank you to Ira and Kevin for the instruction this morning.
