Today we got caught up on some little jobs. We’re still waiting for our machining to be finished, and for our welding to be done. In the mean time, we painted more bumper numbers… 
…looked online for teaser videos to see how others are approaching the competition….
We worked with programming some more…
And, while all this was happening, part of our team met with CanAssist to get feedback on our Kare-bots initiative. We were glad of the good ideas our discussions produced, and we’ll be talking with them again in the near future to discuss details.
We machined a few parts today. 
Most of our cheeseholes are now complete!
work in progress
Things wrapped up a little early this evening, but we’ll be back on track again tomorrow.
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!
Programming needed a little tweaking to make the robot easier to drive.
It takes a little time to get used to the controls….
…and then it takes intense focus to drive the robot without hitting the cones. We saw a lot of promising drivers today! We’ll keep practicing, and have some driver tryouts in early February.
We’re organizing all of our tasks on our big organizational chalkboard. There is so much to do!
We’re working on our CAD drawings still. We’ve got lots of part drawings to get done before we can manufacture all of the parts. 
We’re prototyping various devices to manipulate the ramp. To make it more fun we split up into two teams (girls vs. boys) and had a competition.
We’re planning and measuring and cutting material carefully.
We’re working together, mentors and experienced team members are showing our rookies how to work safely.
It’s exciting to see our designs work well! Even if our designs don’t work well, we can learn from that.
We also get to meet family members…
…and welcome them into our big purple family. Family members love Tweedles as much as the rest of us!
After dinner we kept working on our prototypes for ramp manipulation. When tested on the ramp, the boys’ prototype was definitely the loudest, but the girls’ seemed to be a little more effective. Good work girls!
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’re getting a second driver station up and running so we can have drive practice before we hold tryouts later in the season. 
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!
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.
