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It's the last week of the entire build season, everyone is stressed and yet excited for the upcoming competitions. With Open House coming up very shortly, the video team is very busy trying to compose the video that will be shown on that day to the students, parents, and guests. Today, they were able to make the outline, putting on clips and music that will be used to show what Team 359 has done throughout the school year. Making videos is not very easy. It takes a lot of time to create one, especially with choosing the clips you want to use since there are so many to choose from. Overall, they are working at a steady pace and is nearly done with the video. On the other hand the construction team busied themselves with a lot of tasks. They fixed the crate that will be used to ship the robot by adding another shelf to store spare parts since the robot is smaller this year. Then they put on the laminated shipping signs that the graphics team made for the crate. While a couple of students worked on that, the rest made spare parts, re-made the bumpers, and continued to work on the end of the game bonus. Because the robot will be shipped before the team leaves for the regional's, they needed to make a test bot. The reason for this is that the robot will be gone so the test bot will be used by the drivers to practice before departing for the competitions. Taken on the side, Senior Christopher Nakagawa, was asked how he liked the change from being on the graphics team to construction. His response, "I learned how to do a lot of hands-on work like using the machines, but I would rather work on the graphics team. The construction team is a lot more 'fierce' and dangerous than working at a computer."
With the controller board almost complete, the programming team was able to install the software onto the laptops, which will be placed onto the board. They programmed two things: The camera that they mounted onto the robot so that the drivers could control it while the robot was tested; and once again the kicker so that the robot is able to kick the ball at different speeds. All in all, we're all hoping that the robot will be completed by Monday so that it could be powder-coated and ready for Open House.
It was a long work day as the students worked from early afternoon till past midnight. The stress is building up as the last day of the build season is quickly approaching. There is yet a lot of work that needs to be done. The end of the game bonus is still not complete, as well as the Open House video. The students today are trying to get as much as they could done. Claire Munguia, rookie on the team, says, "In my opinion, the six weeks of build season went by pretty fast. Faster than what I expected because there are many things to do. It's not as bad as what my friends told me about last year's six weeks." As the construction crew mentors are making the mount for the encoder of the roller, they are also trying to figure out what they will do to perfect the end of the game bonus. In the mean time, the rest of the students occupied themselves with miscellaneous work: cleaning the testing room by sweeping the floors, cleaning the cabinets, and wiping down the counters; dusted all the past trophies; and some painted the bulldog and stenciled numbers on the shipping crate. Once the students were finished with those tasks, they continued to aide the mentors on whatever they needed to done. At certain points, the construction crew needed to test the bonus mechanism. So the programming team needed to remove the top level of the electronics board of the robot to test the bonus apparatus. After they finished testing the robot, they took it back to the auto shop to continue working on the end of the game bonus. Meanwhile, the programming team programmed the controllers for the robot to make each button perform a different task. As the day continued, the video and graphics team tried to get their work done. For the video team, they started on week six's video and filmed footage of everyone working. As for the graphics team, they finished week five's synopsis for the pit crew booklet.
With the Chairman's Award write-up, Executive Summary, and Woody Flowers write-ups all revised and completed, it is one less stressful task that the documentation team has to do. Revising our entire web-site and Chairman's binder are the only jobs left for the documentation team to do. They were very productive in their work areas trying to complete their assignments. From getting photos and figuring out where the write-up, summary, and Woody Flowers essay will be submitted, they were able to finalize things! Meanwhile the video team had their own goals to fulfill. Working with mentor Mr. Kois, they looked through many documents and CD's, to retrieve as many photos and videos from previous years as possible. The collected photos and videos will be used for the Chairman's Award video. They also managed to work on the week six video, uploading the footage onto Final Cut Pro, the program that is used to create all of their videos.
A visitor from Managua High School, Mr. Stuart Nishimura, a former mentor of Team 359, paid a visit to our facilities. He came to get a valve that he needed for their robot. We gladly assisted their team. For the rest of the students and mentors, they were also very busy in their work stations. When the construction team tested the end game bonus last night, it did not perform correctly. So they had to create a second design. Working very diligently, they were able to finish the design. They took it to the testing room, where the programming team is working on their own tasks. With both sub-teams working on the robot, the programming team managed to make the revisions of the polycarbonate board for the electronics. Then, they figured out which pieces of the frame will be cut off to decrease the weight and where all the electronics and pneumatics will be placed on the robot. The construction team tested to the revised end of game design. The team then discussed how the bonus will work. Coming to a conclusion, both crews went back to work. Meanwhile, some of the students in the testing room worked on the control board. They needed to drill holes onto the board where the controllers will be wired. All sub-teams got a lot of work done, hoping to be finish by Open House, where the team will be able to ultimately demonstrate the robot.
Agenda for today: Mount all of the electronics and pneumatics onto the robot; film scenes for Open House; and clean all the work stations. Open House is in two days and all work areas are like buzzing bees in their nests! The stress is building up as everyone tries to get their work done. Finalizing all the work, Jandie Sabo continues to edit the Chairman's Award binder, making sure that the spelling and grammar are correct and there are no missing pages. For the construction team, they made some parts for the crate which will be used to hold the robot into place when the robot is on top of the crate. The programming team is stressing out. If all goes well, the programming crew members will take apart all of the electronics and pneumatics to powdercoat. But first they need to place all of the electronics onto the board, finding out where all of the pieces will be mounted. Then, they will positioned the final pneumatics which will lift the end game bonus piece.
The visual media team was also very busy. To finish the Open House video, they need to input the footage where some students had to act out their scripts. After setting up the scene where filming will take place, the students practiced their lines in the script written by the members of the video team. Having to re-film some scenes over, they finally were able to complete the filming. Going back to their work stations, they looked over the footage they captured, satisfied with their progress. All the while, some worked on their script on what they would say for Open House. To prepare for Open House, the students cleaned all of the work areas making sure that everything looked nice and organized. All in all, today was another successful day, getting a lot of work done and is all set for Open House on Thursday.
It was confirmed today during our weekly meeting that all students need to be flexible with their schedule. Students may go home later than expected. Many students are exhausted due to staying at the school for long hours. But today, we will do whatever it takes to finish mounting all of the electronics and finish the robot before Open House tomorrow. Everyone is preparing for Open House, finalizing their scripts, cleaning up their areas, and making sure that the refreshments are ordered. While some were busy with Open House, documentation, too, was very busy. Today, Mr. Lee confirmed where the team was going to submit the Woody Flowers and Chairman's Award. In the video room, the visual media team continued to work on the Open House video. They edited and placed the clips in order. They also retrieved some photos and clips of Japan, pre-construction, and six weeks. With great relief, they were delighted to have completed the video.
The second design for the bonus was tested last night and it showed that it was not going to work. Deliberating on what the next move will be to construct the end of the game bonus, they came up with a unanimous decision in hopes it will work. They decided that they wanted our robot to be suspended into the air by climbing up the pole of the tower. So today, they got to work, constructing all the pieces needed to make the third design while the programming team continued to mount all of the electronics. Their hard work paid off! Moving at a fast pace, they finished building the third design. Now all that is left is to test the robot and see if the bonus design will work.
Open House was exactly three hours away when the students of Team 359 started to set up. Heading straight for the cafeteria once school was out, the team was ready to rock and roll! We got to work, setting up all of the tables for the parents, teachers, and guests to sit on throughout the program. As part of the set up crew, we had help from Mr. Greg Hashimoto and Mr. Ryan Ishimoto, whose tasks were to set up the microphones, projector, computer, and sound systems. From walking back and forth from our various work stations, we brought down everything we needed to make the event possible: The playing field and carpet to lay the equipment; programs for guests; banners; and everything else.
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It's the last day of week six and the start of our last weekend before the robot gets shipped off to the mainland on Tuesday. The start of work began at 1:30 pm during our school's opportunity period. Getting to work, the construction team continued to work on the third design for the end of the game bonus. Before starting on that task, they weighed the robot with the arm of the design, finding that it was a little over the weight limit. To decrease the weight, mentors and students deliberated amongst one another, deciding what pieces should be eliminated. After, they removed the arm from the robot, taking it to the auto shop to be worked on. Some changes they made were changing the length of the chains for the gears of the arm. They also had to fix the transmissions for the third design because they were assembled incorrectly. Once that was done, they put on the transmission, then tested it. The third design was tested several times and coming to a conclusion that it worked. After finalizing the final design of the end of the game bonus, it was time to remove pieces from the robot to lessen the weight. To do so, Joe Gudoy, fellow mentor, and other construction workers, proceeded to detach the top of the robot. In the meantime, the programming team also had a very busy day. They worked on the electronics board, making sure that everything was mounted into its right positions and everything worked.. They also had to redo some wires. The only thing they need to make sure they will accomplish is worrying about the programming for the final design.
For the video team, they worked on the final touches for the six week video, finishing it before compressing it and submitting it to the web-site team to upload to our site. It's a very stressed day as the team is trying to do all they can to get ample work done. At the same time, the VEX students who are also part of the FRC team is preparing for tomorrow's VEX Competition at Kahala Mall.
