We met today to work a bit with our mechanisms that we withheld from the bagged robot. For some of our mentors who were on their reading week, this is the first time for them to see the robot in a bag!
Friends of K-Bots are always dropping by to see what’s going on. It’s hard to explain exactly what goes on at robotics, and much easier to invite friends to see for themselves.
As we design more robotic components, we’re finding that we’re needing to take lots of measurements to determine the optimal place to mount our appendages. We’re really glad the bag is clear!
We’re looking for any place we can to lose weight on the robot. Our programmers offered to cheesehole the code a bit to help out.
Our workspace is looking really great! We have tables put together and shelves waiting to be filled. It will be a much more organized place to work next season.
We’re working from 5-10 on Mon, Wed, Fri and from 10AM-6PM on Sat and Sun until competition.
For all who are going to competition, we need your forms and money handed in by Friday.
After school many parents volunteered to drive us to Transformix Engineering where we ate snacks and did homework….
…and worked on programming the robot….
…and finishing up the wiring.
Thanks so much to Transformix for letting us use their space for the weekend and letting us bag and tag tonight. We’re making ourselves at home! There are Queen’s jackets everywhere!
We had a few visitors come to see the last exciting moments where our robot was driving around and shooting baskets. It’s really thrilling to see everything come together at the last minute and work like it was supposed to!
Chris, from FESTO, was excited to see the pneumatic components in action. He’s arranging FESTO giveaways for competition this season.
We also had our follow-up with CKWS TV. It was exciting to have media present for the final moments of our build. Bag and Tag was officially documented this year, and a two part series about our team will air Monday and Tuesday at the 6pm news on CKWS.
One minor hiccup that we had to negotiate before bagging the robot was our bumper design. After recent clarification our original split number bumper was deemed to be against the rules. We quickly made some patches to sew on. 
There were still plenty of people taking naps on the sidelines…It will take time to regain all of the lost sleep from recent days.
With 30 minutes to go, we separated our shooting device from the robot to hold back and work on over the next little while. Thank goodness for a withholding allowance!
There was great hustle near the robot, and also in the Transformix lunch room. We cleaned up all of our dishes and food and prepared for the excitement of putting the robot into the bag.
But first…we needed to weigh our robot. Using the bathroom scales gave us one estimate…
…Transformix’s industrial scale gave us another….
With a 20 pound shooter, we’re under weight! 
We gathered at 11:50 to bag our robot. Everyone wanted to be a part of the momentous occasion.
It’s all caught on film!
With a sigh of relief and a few cheers we were done, with a few minutes to spare!
It’s a strange feeling to be done building. We’re used to seeing each other every day, and now we’ll take a day to rest and recover before we start thinking of all that remains to be completed before going to competition. 
We’ll miss each other in the mean time though! Good work everyone. Thanks to all of our families and supporters for helping us through an intense 6 weeks. Enjoy your rest.
Today we continued to cut holes in our robot…
….and we are optimistic about reaching the 120 pound weight limit.
We’re filing down all of our parts to keep things smooth and to lose weight where we can.
As the mechanical team finished up their work, the programmers kept working hard writing code….
….while wires were run between all of the robot’s electrical components.
Our human players took to the field to try their long distance shots.
We had two really great meals which kept us working hard all day.
We’re realizing the importance of washing hands before we eat. Look at all of the dirt!
After getting the mechanical and electrical and pneumatic systems all rigged up, we ran into some issues with our victors…
…and our jags…
We’re working hard to resolve these issues, so we can make our robot fully operational!
Today we started off bright and early in the Transformix Engineering Plant 2 Warehouse.
We worked hard to reassemble our robot to get everything in working order to test some key components that Purolator delivered today! 
We’re so excited to be in the warehouse and wrapping up build season. Some of us are wearing robot themed accessories!
Before too long we set to work putting holes into our robot….EVERYWHERE!
We weighed the robot….and look what the scale said!
Just kidding….that was only part of the robot. We think we’re on target though.
We ate a yummy lunch provided by our parents. It’s so nice to be well taken care of during a very stressful time.
After lunch it was nap time, until we had to construct the field. It takes a lot of power to keep the warped wood lined up properly.
The Cyberfalcons, FIRST team 3710, joined us in the warehouse today, and helped out fastening the field pieces to the carpet with heavy duty velcro.
Hard work leads to more nap time!
Our electrical and programming team worked hard to get all of the sensors connected and working.
Productivity was everywhere….
The Cyberfalcons made bumpers…
We worked on programming….
…and built a human player station….
….and made sparks fly!
Some of our mentors were ABSOLUTELY happy with all of our progress…..while others were a little concerned to see the robot disappearing before their very eyes.
Our families came to visit us and see our progress all day long. All of Mr. Wood’s family was here all at once!
We appreciate our families encouraging us through these last busy days. It’s nice to share the excitement with everyone we love.
Spontaneous sweeping is always a good thing….so is collecting piles of files! Rhyming organization is the best kind.
While waiting for the testing to begin, we entertained ourselves in many different ways….one of which was a crazy hair extravaganza! Thumbs up to everyone!
It was such a great work day today. Thanks to everyone for bringing your best effort, enthusiasm, and patience today. Please also bring your homework tomorrow….there will be some moments of down time where you can get ready for Tuesday. Also….when you arrive tomorrow, say happy birthday to Kevin!
See everyone here at 9AM!
…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 
We machined a few parts today. 
Most of our cheeseholes are now complete!
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!
