A Wheely Fun Day!!!

Every day, I get a little big bigger and stronger! So does Brother - today his pneumatics and electronics got all finished! I can't wait until I am all put together just like him!

The programmers are working hard to get his programming all set up. Soon, he will be taking his first drive! Today, the main focus was on connecting the roboRIO to the radio and looking at sample coat. They also played around with adding a supplemental screen to the driver station to make visualization easier for the drivers.

So many things happened with my frame today! I started the day by getting extended holes drilled in my frame where my wheels are mounted so they can be moved if my builders decide that my wheels need to be adjusted. Then, my wheels, gearboxes, and belts were attached to me. The team spent some time deciding where would be the best place to put my electronics since I am such a condensed robot. Eventually, they decided to put my electronics on two shelves on my back end. The bottom one will have my roboRIO and power distribution board. The top shelf will have all of my other electronics, such as my motor controllers, radio, and circuit breaker. They also decided that my battery will go between my ball intake mechanism and my gearboxes. The top shelf will open up with a hinge if we need to access the bottom shelf. The rest of the day was spent building the shelves.

Some girls also worked on building the drawbridge out of wood for me. While I don't plan on being able to open it from the neutral zone, I can open it from inside the courtyard for a buddy. 

My hanger made a lot of progress today! The team figured out that in order to make the tape measures stronger, they could stack two thicker tape measures on top of each other. They took one tape measure and wrapped it around a drum that is going to be spun by a motor on a gearbox. The second tape measure will be mounted behind the drum and pulled along by the other one. A hook was made out of bent Lexan. To test the hook's strength, one of the team members who weighs about as much as I will used it to hang from a bar. It worked!

Life is good when you're a robot. Life is even better when you're a part of this team!

Until tomorrow,
​Robot