Tons of excitement today! The biggest development of the day is that OUR ROBOT WORKS AGAIN! YES! We also got our new shirts in! They look sweet! We have a new drive station laptop! We got more pulleys in so the whole bottom level of the conveyer works! Exclamation points!
The two big build projects for today were the conveyer and the cRio not working. We ordered a bunch of pulleys from Industrial Farm and Supply. They got here super fast which was great. Ryan worked really hard on getting the belts onto our new pulleys. It is not an easy job but someone has to do it. The belts are incredibly tight (which is a good thing) but also makes them hard to get on. We got the entire lower level on. Hopefully we can get the other levels on this weekend or Monday. That's pretty much the last thing we need to build.
The other big build/electrical project was that the cRio was not working yesterday and today. We tried a bunch of different batteries yesterday so we thought that was the problem. Bryce tried a bunch of things today. He replaced the terminal connections on the wires. He replaced the wires. He replaced the power distribution board. THEN, finally, he looked at the circuit breaker. There was a screw at the very end of the cRio that kept hitting the circuit breaker and shorting it out. That's why everything was working except the cRio. Kind of a dumb thing to happen but an easy fix. We moved the cRio a half an inch and it works great. It was a huge relief for the team to find the problem and fix it. We were going through contingency plans of ordering a new cRio and batteries and all that. Turns out, it was just a screw.
We got our t-shirts in today! They look so awesome! Cowing Robards did a fantastic job. They ran out of red metallic paint so they did red and added glitter. They sparkle so much. Very recognizable and very cool looking. Jenna did most of the work for the t-shirs (organizing payment, taking sizes, designing it, etc.) so great job to her. Jenna also finished the poster. Looks awesome. Colin worked with the laptop we got from Alex Tech so we can drive with it now. The bigger screen and faster processing speed will be really nice. The netbook we got two years ago... just didn't cut it. Colin also fixed the horn programming. It goes up and down nicely.
Demian and Molly started putting together our practice robot. As we get more resources, organization, and team members, it becomes more important to have a practice robot to work and teach with. We are going to create a practice robot we can show off after box up day. Mainly this is for the student showcase on March 6 but it's also good practice and great to teach with.
Jesse, Steph, and Kacy worked on the mascot some more. They detailed one foot and started on the other. They also painted the skirt. The mascot is really coming together. Hopefully, they can get it mostly done by next Friday when we show off at the girl's basketball game.
FRC is really a roller coaster ride. After worrying all of yesterday and all day today about the cRio and the batteries, it was a simple fix. We went from worrying and sweating to jubilation. Another reason why it's so cool. Some people stayed late and played Rock Band for a while. The team will be at the Ice Fishing Tournament tomorrow selling Dominos pizzas. Check us out!
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