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       The final week is now over and it has definitely been very productive.  We started the week creating the VIBs--very important brackets (Oh ho, we're so funny).  These brackets are vital to the completion of the machine because they support the elevator/lift.  We also cut out the electrical boards and drilled a myriad of holes in them.  Wendy drilled holes in the celtec boards for the PWMs.
      Next, we mounted the boards onto the robot.  Amidst our stupid jokes and lame stories, we made the battery and compressor supports.  Helen created and screen printed the bumper design.  In the process of assembling the robot, we discovered our secret weapon.  Now we are finding ways to let our secret weapon unleash its greatest potential.  As time dwindles, we are diligently putting our efforts into this robot!
       And the week ended like this:  Wilson cried, Ryan discovered the true meaning of SLEEP, Wendy and Lixi made chocolate, John coughed up a storm, and Helen (who deliberately came on a Saturday to have a say in the weekly report) magically reached the trackball on the six foot overpass.

 

       This week was a very hectic week.  Our last week for the season consisted of the electronics/programming team making a custom controller, soldering wire to the serial connection, and crimping connector to switches.  In conjunction we also wrote a function to control the robot with the IR sensor decoder for our hybrid period, though it's a prototype design.
       Other changes in our programming included driving forward and backward with the two potentiometers on the side of our steering wheel but also control of the elevator and the arm wheel.  Using the print function, we mapped all function on the steering wheel.  Our controller console is finished and now we're wiring all the electronics on our robot to the battery and robot controller, and labeling wires.
      By the end of Presidents' Day, we are hoping to finish our programming and majority of the wiring process.  See you at the Hawai'i regional.

 

       This week we have done the usual: taking pictures and video of the many events that have occurred during week 6. Hopefully, these documentations of this year's work will be preserved for future teams to enjoy.
       We have continued to modify the website and we have completed the testimonials page this week. We also did something special this week; we have at least 50 photos this week for all of you out there to enjoy.
       The media team has also filmed the practice runs of the robot in action and grabbing the trackballs. We will post these videos up some time in the near future.

 

       This week we experimented and tried out new functions on Inventor such as bend and framing.  With these new tricks that we learned it was much easier to create frames without creating several extrusions.  Also we learned how to use the basics of Invertors Studio where we learned how to adjust the scene settings, lighting, reflections, and positioning of any piece and render them in jpeg form.
       Throughout the week we searched on the internet for other tutorial videos and programs that would further teach us how to fully utilize Inventor and use it to teach next year's Inventor team. 

 

 

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