Oops!... I Built It Again (and Again)

Remember how I was telling you about my brother and how he got his wheels and gearboxes yesterday? Well, slight change of plans. The team realized this morning that his wheels made him too short. With those six-inch rubber wheels, he would not be able to go over the defenses! The girls quickly decided to swap out his wheels for eight-inch pneumatic ones. But then, another issue arrived. The girls realized that they were supposed to be making my brother on a different frame so had me trade with him. He needs to be made of the basic frame because all he needs to is drive. Meanwhile, I get the ~special~ frame. So currently, my brother is still in the box unassembled and I am the one who is being worked on! No offense to you, brother. It's all for the best. What a fortunate turn of events for me! (This scenario is something my builders are referring to as "switched at build.") For now, they are working out how to line up my gearboxes and wheels.

The programmers worked with test programs for my brother (or were they for me?). They plan on downloading them onto the roboRIO. They spent a lot of time familiarizing themselves with Java, the programming software, so that we can drive as soon as we are ready. 

A lot of prototyping happened today! Girls were working on both my boulder intake mechanism and my hanging mechanism. They are thinking about possibly using a tape measure extension system to help me hang. Builders worked on fine-tuning the boulder grabber and spitter that was prototyped yesterday.

The field elements that I will need are almost finished! Today, the girls finished the ramparts. They also got started on the low goal and the hanging bar. Seeing these field elements build out is helping my team to visualize what I am going to have to do.

It was certainly a crazy day for everyone involved. Fasten your seatbelts, friends. This is likely to be one of many days filled with plot twists this build season!