build

We have not uploaded any of the photos yet, but we have, in fact, come back from the Microsoft Seattle Regional mostly alive. It was wild and crazy, and like the announcer said, something of a "Cinderella story." Almost everything that could go wrong did, and we ended up walking off the field with medals. Pity? Fluke? Maybe I should recall the story...

We were working on "upgrade parts" before we got to the regional. We built new steering wheels, calibrated them, and built them in a way that allows us to mount them quickly. We also got a replacement gearbox with a wheel, just to switch out one of the wheels.

It's been quiet around these parts lately. The build season is over, and club attendance rates have dropped dramatically. Spring sports have also started, and the female IB/robotics kids needing a physical education credit (Mary) have taken this opportunity to join Badminton. Here's to a winning season. There's been nobody to write articles, and, quite honestly, nothing to write about. There are competitions happening these weeks, nay, right now (maybe), but we are not part of them.

We are allowed to build spare parts for our robot while in this inter-ship-and-competition period, and have taken advantage of this time to order some new gearboxes. We suffered catastrophic drive failure on a consistent basis during the 2007 Pacific Northwest Regional, and intend to have replacement parts should something happen to the wheels. We received our gearboxes this past weekend, but something was wrong.

Boten Anna

This year's robot has been crated and shipped, and is now, presumably deep in the bowels of the shipping company, or in storage somewhere, sitting and waiting. And it's going to sit there for at least a good three weeks, because the Microsoft Seattle Regional is not until March 20th.

Our 2008 robot is named "Anna", after the Basshunter song "Boten Anna" [Wikipedia article] that went around on the Interwebs a little over two years ago, and peaked on the charts of several European countries. We were going to name the 2007 robot Anna, but it was not very well-put together, so we called it Ultimate Novice halfway through the Pacific Northwest Regional to reflect that. I'm not at liberty to discuss all the bells and whistles, but I can talk in general terms!

We have moved our robot to Tony's house for the final build weekend. Here we are painting the "plunger" which will be used to knock the balls off the rack at the beginning of the game.
We will be here all weekend, putting final touches on the robot. We are mainly focusing on decorating and painting our robot today as well as sticking and painting decals on plexiglass which recognize our sponsors. We will also be practicing driving and test our robot for glitches.
A big thank-you to Mrs. Pimenova for bringing us a delicious lunch with sandwiches, chips and lemonade.

Today, in the Saturday meeting, the bumpers finally came on! While I was fixing the wiring on the robot, Mary, Mr. Moore, Derik, and Tony were finishing up the bumper. After much blood, sweat, and tears (I get very emotional), we were finally able to attach the bumpers and the top frame.

On the other hand, the wheels came loose, again. Mr. Moore will take the robot home, where he will cut a hole for the key. If that doesn’t work, we will glue, key, and screw the wheels on.

Today marked just about 50 hours on-site for this build season. Of course, this does not include days where we stayed late and the countless hours spent writing emails and planning outside of designated club time. With the IB program and AP classes, students who have been showing up have given a lot of themselves for the completion of the robot and associated tasks.

Saints Robotics' robot's drive system and wiring has been completed today. The appendages still have to be completed and the software needs to be uploaded, but having something that moves is a great step forward from having nothing but motors, wires, and metal.