Day 19: Today was a snow day! Due to the snow, all of today’s exams have been postponed to next Thursday, Feb.2nd. Enjoy the extra studying time! However, it takes much more than snow to keep a K-bot down.
Even though there was snow, many K-bots showed up bright and early. As they say, “The early bird catches the worm.” During exam weeks, room 107 is open starting at 8:30 a.m, so drop by whenever you can!
Throughout the day there have been driver training sessions in the hall outside of room 107. The trainees had to maneuver around pylons that were setup on the track. 
While the robot was having communication issues, we ran through the course instead! Also, our mechanism for crossing the bridge has been confirmed to function.
But the robot has sustained some damage, as has the bridge!
Much progress had been made in knitting today as well. While some of us are knitting …
Others are sorting out the knitting cabinet …
so neat!
And others are winding the wool into more manageable balls….
…with greater or lesser success…
The wool will be used for team hats and for Kare-bots
kare-bot in progress
We have a team member who is planning on taking some Kare-bots to India to distribute this winter!
Kare-bots for India
As usual, the never ending CAD party is still occurring. We have printed out two-dimensional drawings of the robot and the three-dimensional sketch of the robot is nearing completion.
We love it when people bring us snacks. Parents sometimes bring us left overs from work. Today we got some interesting treats from Stacey.
We had many visitors in 107 this evening. We were very glad to have the custodians dropping in for a visit, and a quick eye-glass repair. We have the best tools around!
We were also very happy to have some friends of friends come to check out what we are doing.
We received a call from the Cyberfalcons, team 3710, asking some software questions. Our lead programming mentor was unavailable, so our student lead took his turn being tech support.
For dinner, we had a delectable meal of perogies and ham. It is so great how our parents volunteer their time and money to make sure our team gets to eat good food.
After dinner, some K-bots checked a motor to see if it had any malfunctions.
BEEP! (that's for you Kevin H.)
If you are having any difficulties getting along with each other, remember, “Cooperation rather than competition” – Eric, Grade 9
Tomorrow, we meet from 10-6 and lunch will be served. Get lots of sleep this week, and GOOD LUCK ON THE EXAMS!
We’re getting a second driver station up and running so we can have drive practice before we hold tryouts later in the season. 
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.
Our robot was one of the earliest on the field. We passed inspection quickly, and have been fine tuning programming for autonomous mode and attaching our new minibot deployment system.
We vastly improved our lunch time routine. This year we offered three restaurant choices, and got cash in advance, then brought a marker to label everyone’s sandwich/burger order with their name so we could distribute them with minimal chaos.
The afternoon proved interesting: we improved our minibot deployment once again. We dealt with some pneumatic leaks, and we had plenty of knitting lessons in the stands!
Our big purple family had dinner together at Swiss Chalet tonight. We’ve never had a reservation for 48 before! It was lots of fun–we celebrated RJ’s birthday with a song and a sundae complete with candle.
Pits open tomorrow at 8AM. Stay tuned to the webcast to see us in action!
We made good use of the printer, laminator and paper cutter today! Precision work and attention to detail are key when preparing visuals for our Chairman’s presentation.
We got really wacky and broke out the suspenders. They look really awesome!
It was learned today that WD 40 is fantastic at removing logo goo. New logo’s were also printed and cut to fit the armour. We’re not going to stick them on until we’re sure that the armour is in its final configuration. It all depends on the minibot deployment!
Our colourful lights that have many uses, are now much lighter. They were cheeseholed, and some mechanisms were replaced with lighter alternatives.
And of course the back of our room is still a mess, we really should stop looking at it and clean it up.
We’re all going to bed now since it’s daylight savings tomorrow and we lose an hour. Wake up call will be extra early! Watch us tomorrow on the webcast (
