Battle Bots

Hey everyone!

I had sooooo much fun today! My team got to the shop bright and early to work with me. First, they addressed some concerns that people were having. They added tape to the metal parts of my boulder intake to avoid scratching them. They wired up some things that were finalized. They also added in my radio permanently and cleaned up the wiring. They added a limit switch to my boulder intake so that when it comes in, the drivers won't bring it in too far. That could make controlling it tricky.

Most of today's time for the builders was dedicated to working with my tape measure mechanism. During the morning, the builders were trying to find ways to conserve space and downsize the mechanism. They tried using smaller motors, but they were going crazy fast. Then, they tried to work with Legos to make a gearbox. However, the motor was spinning so fast that it melted the Lego gearbox. The builders spent the afternoon and evening working with the original design. Hopefully at some point tomorrow, they will be able to test it out!

Robot's new frame made a lot of progress today. His holes are slotted just like mine are for the wheels. The girls are working on adding on to the basic frame now. They are holding off on taking the gearboxes and electronics off of Brother until they really need them so that he can keep practicing in the meantime.

The programmers are continuing to work on the autonomous code. They are making major progress every day and I am so happy for them!

In case you were wondering why the title of today's post is Battle Bots, I have a reason. Tonight, as things were winding down, Brother and I had a great idea. We asked some girls if they wanted to drive us around for a little. We let them start off with some basic things like driving under the low bar. Then, we started fighting. It was so much fun! I would like to say that no one got hurt, but Brother's pool noodles got pretty shredded. We loved shoving each other around and racing. I also showed off my new skills on the moat to Brother. He was really scared when I got stuck the first time. We figured out that I just have to go full speed in low gear. I can't look back or hesitate. It's a really bumpy ride but it's also so fun!!!

Well, now Brother and I are powered off so we can't play anymore. In fact, he's already asleep. I'm pretty exhausted from our little battle. I think I'll go to sleep, too.

Goodnight!
​Robot