It was Valentine's Day! That means it's time to sing love songs to the robot! (And now you have to listen. Or read it. I guess you don't really have to read it if you don't want to.)
L is for the way you look at me (with that super dooper cool camera we have that's fully functional! Yay! We're using it to aim our little hooky things to pick up the totes and such.) O is for the only one I see (Since we're basically here every single day. The next day, and then the next day, and then the next day, and then the next day, and then the next...) V is very, very extraordinary (The robot can pick up two totes and a recycling bin at the same time! Wow! Truly extraordinary!) E is even more than anyone that you adore can... (We will love you forever, you hunk of metal.) Ah yes. We had our open house yesterday. It was basically the day we consecrated (or consummate, if you swing that way) our love to the Guillotine. Many families of our very own Protonians came to see how the robot was doing, and we had chili hotdawhgs made by PLovey. Thank you!!! We've made significant progress in every part of the club, as our robot is completely up and running! Woo hoo! Three days before the bag date too! Today, we have just been working on tweaks. For example, our robot is over the weight limit, and we have been putting it on a diet and exercise program in order to shave a few pounds. (We're just shaving off some metal bits and swiss cheesing some stuff). Electronics is finishing some connections and attaching the limit switches, while the programming team is ready to practice and refine their autonomous code. The team is also working on the two plastic side shields to go on the robot, and the fabric to get our team number on the robot. Finally, our dedicated CAD engineers are virtually done with the bill of parts. Each robot we've made is quite the bucket of dough. And today, we made history by coming in on a Sunday. Woohoo. Many woohoos! Also, we're trying to name our robot, while making the finishing touches on our robot. Here are some of the names we've come up with:
Feel free to express your opinion to anyone on the team or right here on this post! Polish that robot up, Team Pronto!
0 Comments
As we (or I) ponder that philosophical question, the builders are actually doing things. So are the programmers and the electronics people. In fact, I actually need to run to the bathroom right now in the middle of writing this, so give me a second.
Now I'm done. Back to writing. Our robot is more or less done by now, with mainly minor stuff that needs to be done to it. Much of the focus nowadays is towards extra stuff, like the imagery plan that is being worked on for this year's competition pit along with the revival of Robograms before the home competition. Personally, I feel that our imagery mascot should be named "Sparky". ...Uh... what would Brian say at a time like this to sound interesting... CATS. Or SOMETHING. I DON'T KNOW. We had our lipdub get finished today, and it'll be up shortly, so we'll link to that on here for everybody to share with everybody. Although it's not up yet, so... Uh... Some of us were quadrant leaders in that, so we helped. Buy Ritz, guys. YEAH PRONTO. WOO. bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum
okay there's your intro guess what chicken butt Except not. This is much better than chicken butt. Let's have a drumroll........ OUR COMPETITION ROBOT IS LIKE BUILT AND STUFF. The builders and electronics teams have gotten the robot completely built, WITH THE ELECTRONICS BOARD ON THERE AS WELL. How exciting! The programmers have had time to program the robot as well, and I quote, the programming is "virtually done," besides the autonomous code, and limit switches. Several things have to be done before we stuff our robot into the bag, though. We're making things like our robot home (a crate, which is quite the 5 star hotel for robots), better support mounts for all the motors on the robot, 3070 signs on the robot for competition, and even stylizing our tent/pit. We're awesome. We're a... seven nation ROBOTICS TEAM. (If that makes any sense.) Oh, also, the dreaded Bill of Parts is being put together by our diligent CAD captain. (oh my god thank you so much that thing is like the devil's father reincarnated in hell's toilet). In other news, Team Pronto has had yet another successful outreach event. The outreach squad went to Echo Lake for their Science Night, and preached the good word of FIRST. Many more children got to catch the ball Chuck threw, and many were enthralled by the LEGO® MindStorm robot we brought from the FLL team at Cascade Elementary. Woohoo. We are so close!!! SOOO CLOSE. Don't give up now! Finish strong, Team Pronto! The second to last weekend has past. We can count the rest of the build days on our fingers. We are counting the days to the Armageddon. We can hear Gabriel blow his horn as we are approaching the end. I am sounding very dramatic right now. DUN DUN DUN *organs blast a very, very deep note* The robot bagging day looms ever closer...
Buuuuuttt the robot is getting closer and closer to completion as well! The robot frame already has the entire base completed, the motors mounted, and the supports attached. The build team is moving towards attaching the pulley system, which is very close to the last steps of completing the hardware of the robot. The build team has also worked on constructing the specialized worm-drive motor that we are using in order for the pulley to complete the task we are working towards (stacking totes, if you weren't aware). Each of the four cars going on the track of the robot are also being polished and carefully constructed in order to slide up and down the track nicely. The programming team is currently on standby, since they have already finished completely programming to the limit! ...switches. They have not been able to program the code that manages the limit switches, which we hope will allow us to track how many totes we are picking up at any given time. They are not present on the practice robot, but will be on the final robot. So kudos to you programming team, for being on top of everything! *smooching noises* The electronic team has been ever busy with working with the electronics, and they have been just as on top of things as the programming team. They have finished the electronics board, but since the builders are still working on the robot itself, they have yet to mount it on the robot and wire everything in. Friday night, we also had a team outing to King's FRC Team's annual robot reveal! Various teams from around the area showed off their robot's design, or in our case, talked about what our robot was all about. (And in the case of our guillotine robot, it's all about cutting off the metaphorical heads of our problems.) Team Pronto had a blast. The build season is officially only in its thirties, but it definitely feels like we've already had 10 mid-life crises. But nonetheless, the team is building with a passion that mirrors someone who has only had one! We've got the stereo on, and while we're hammering, sawing, and drilling away, we're simultaneously dancing to jazz and rock (in a safe, non-extreme manner, because we are in an auto shop). We're close, so very close. The apprehension in the team is palpable. But y'know what, we know how to express those feelings by singing the Bohemian Rhapsody. SING IT OUT, Team Pronto! (And finish the robot. I didn't say that because it doesn't sound very motivational.) ARE YOU READY, HEY! ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat? yeAH, you should be, because we are on the edge of glory. Each day, the build team and programmers have been able to inch forward towards the completion of the Guillotine. The carts are completed, the practice robot is completed, the competition robot is taller than ever, and all we have to do now is complete the building of the final robot. A robot that's unnamed I might add. *Hint hint* *Nudge nudge* *Ladylegs, ladylegs* OH YEAH, we also went to Cascade Elementary's STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) Festival, which was a blast. Our poor ol' Chuck wasn't working for the first half of our stay there, but in the latter half, we got to throw last year's competition ball to many excited children! NONE OF THEM SURVIVED. THEY ALL DIED FROM EXCITEMENT. We're all getting a little tired from this grueling build season, but the team has been doing what this team does. Pronto-ing LIKE SOME BOSSES. boo yah. Boss it up, Team Pronto! row row row your boat
gently down the BLOOD-FILLED RIVER NEXT TO THE GRAVEYARD FULL OF OUR HOPES AND DREAMS. nah. Well, kind of. We're cutting it really close, and we may not have very many days for practice, but we can totally finish our robot. And on that note, we are going to need a name for the robot soon. I personally vote for Antointote. Guillotine? French people? YEAH. There's also Gilbert. Have an opinion? I'LL HAVE COMMENTS OPEN. I should probably brace myself for 0 comments. *sigh* The robot's progress has been flowing like the blood in the river: quite nicely. Take a sip, why don't you. Or go skinny dipping while you're at it. The programmers now have free reign over the practice Guillotine, the build team is almost done with the car/hooks, and the competition robot is already resembling the guillotine it is growing up to be. In other news, Chuck has been fully revived. CHUCK HAS RISEN FROM THE RIVER OF BLOOD GLORIOUSLY. We have put our sweat, blood, and tears into this project, and we can definitely really taste the victory in all of them. We ARE SO CLOSE...! It drives me a little wonky. Maybe a little blood thirsty too. Excuse me... ROW ROW, Team Pronto! We are in officially in February. Fe-bru-ary. That's kind of spelled strangely, isn't it? Weird. Kind of like WEEK 5. IT'S AN ODD NUMBER. IT'S ONE WEEK AWAY FROM BAGGING THE ROBOT. GAH. GAGUJAHNGUJAKM. But we're totally okay. No we're not. Yes we are. Maybe we're not. Regardless, the practice robot is close to completion. The guillotine is looking more and more guillotine-ish. heheheh.
The "head-chopping" mechanism is growing in size and weight. Our baby robot is growing so fast! *sniffles* The pulleys are all put together, they're attached to the cars, the tracks have guards on them, the wheel arms are attached to the robot, the electronics board is completely wired, and there has just been so much progress! We may be around two weeks behind, but we definitely know how to use our nimble fingers to put together a piece of artwork. If you can call the guillotine a work of art. It's always so exciting to see the robot moving, too. We usually have to carry it around like some 100 lb corpse. The programmers and electronics have been right on the heels of the builders. The code for the robot is completely up to date to the practice robot based on the current design of the robot. Way to go, programmers. And the electronics have been just as productive -- the electronics boards are constructed, and they have been creating a cooler electronics board for Chuck. Chuck will be in the new Shorewood Lip Dub after he gets a nice renovation, complete with a pedicure, manicure, and full-body massage. (As well as a completely organized re-wiring.) In other news, the CAD team also has a completely up to date rendering of the robot on the computer. AHHhhhHHhHH, it's totally crunch time RIGHT NOW, and we are totally doing a ton of CRUNCHING. While the practice robot is almost done, the competition robot is also being constructed parallel to it as well, and it's looking quite like the father-robot it is being made to be, if not better. So many robots this year. Robots everywhere. Push it to the limit, Team Pronto!! |