Progress Update

With our engineering notebook almost fully compiled and completed our main focusses are on fine tuning it and preparing for our presentation coming up in a couple of weeks. Aside from the verbal portion of our presentation, which our entire team is pretty good at, we need to begin focus on the actual construction of our exhibit boar. Each of us as an idea  of what we would like to go on the board and the main points we would like to emphasize on it, but we still need to come together as a group to compile these ideas into one cohesive piece. However, once we designate our respective tasks i am confident that our exhibit board will be among the best, if not, the best on display.

Research

Though our project was more hands on and required very little research I still understand the power research has. Everyone knows research is used to gain and test ones knowledge on a certain subject and understand what outcome to expect when working in said subject, but most people fail to realize that that research is still valuable even when the outcome differs from the hypothesis. Aside from knowing what outcome to expect research also helps you to understand why you get a certain result. In fact by getting a "failed" result you may end up gaining an even deeper  understanding of the subject by going back through your research, finding, and understanding the error in your calculations or assumptions. Research is the basis of all learning from the time we are born. Whether we realize it or not from the moment we open our eyes we are conducting observational surveys of our surroundings in order to get a grasp on the world around us. Additionally, nothing is considered fact until someones observation or research proves it. In other words, without research we know nothing. And with so many resources for research literally at our fingertips on the internet we are slowly becoming a society of know-it-alls, but, is that a good thing?

Presentation Board

I envision the average viewer of my teams presentation board to be someone who has either some background in robotics and engineering or just a general interest in technology, or a nice balance of the two. Being that our robot is so eye-catching our board will most likely focus on background and information on its innovation process and functionality, with a touch of detail regarding our team android app and outreach programs. Honestly whoever walks by our board will probably find themselves thinking: "Wow these kids really did all of this!?" To which we will respond with a smile as we continue with our presentation, as if to say "Yes we did all of this." Then again we may also encounter someone with a more in depth understanding of robotics and higher expectations, who thinks to himself "I've seen better." Though this response may seem more on the pessimistic side we will still respond with a smile silently agreeing saying: "So have we." That is not to say I am disappointed in what we have done, in fact just the opposite. After seeing the high level of competition at our first qualifier we had no clue if we would make it through the next, let alone walk away with an arm full of awards. The bottom line is that the accomplishments we have made as a rookie team should be nothing short of impressive, no matter the viewer.

States

Todays the big day, and i can't be there. All the work and hours lead up to this, and I can't be there. The most exciting moment of this journey yet, and I can't be there. It's honestly my own fault that I can't be there. As much as it sucks to be stuck at home today, it's my own fault. With the end of the trimester just around the corner i let assignments build up on me in all my classes. So rather than being out with the team I'm inside with my face buried in books an old assignments. I can only hope that today goes well as I spend the entirety of my day stressing about it. Hopefully the team puts on a show again at this competition and makes it to nationals so that i get a chance to make it up to them.

Change

Looking back on it now this experience has been great but I could have made it better. To start I would have made myself far more familiar with Robot C programs so that i would be able to help the team, not only on a building and odd-job level, but on a more in depth programming level as well. That in mind, I could have also put much more effort into studying programming along the way. Maybe I wouldn't be able to contribute on the programs as much as some of my other teammates, but that would have at least put me in a position to help. Above all i would have voiced my opinions a little stronger. Perhaps it was do to my lack of knowledge on what we, as a first year high school team were capable of, or maybe just my lack of confidence in what i had to say; either way I regret not being more assertive with my ideas. This post is in no way meant to discredit the experience I had, more so it is meant to help me reflect on what i personally have to improve upon in the future when in similar group scenarios.

Qualifier: Part 2

Finally our hard work sees its first true payoff! After our tough loss in the semifinals at the last tournament we bounced back stronger than ever. We hit the drawing bored creating a new arm, tightening our wiring, writing more efficient autonomous programs, and finally our most under rated improvement was improving upon our driving skills. In the first competition we we thrown off by every unexpected variable on the field, from blocks, to down wires, all the way to a wheel popping off. This time, however, we were ready. Managing every obstacle and dominating the competition on every level. In addition to being a member of the winning alliance, we won the award for most creative and innovative design, and placed second for our programing and the inspire award. Since most of you aren't familiar with the competition I'll explain: the inspire award is the most prestigious of awards going to the team with most all around excellence and all finalist for the award qualify for states automatically. So when you break it down we went from a disastrous tournament to qualifying for states in 3 separate categories, stay tuned to see where our underdog story goes.

I Built a Cart

After a much appreciated five day weekend we got right back into the swing of things today as we put the finishing touches on our robot and began the final testing ad debugging stages of the autonomous programs. Being that I am borderline useless when it comes to programing I found myself sitting aside staring at what was little more than a two layers of wood on four wheels. I then had the idea to convert it  into the two layer cart we needed as opposed to spending 100$ or more on a new one. I initially intended on putting the project off until tomorrow, but my teammate, Magic Mike as I like to call him, got me off my lazy butt and convinced me to get started. I surprised even myself when I not only started but finished the cart today with the exception  of swapping out the current clunky wheels for some omni directional wheels, which will not only make the cart easier to turn but slim it down enough to fit through a single door. All the little things seem to be coming together as we enter the home stretch before our competition on February 8th.