Today we are reflecting on the results from this weekend.  There were a lot of issues that we still have to work out with the robot.  While at competition, we discovered that there were mechanical issues with our drive system.  We found out by Friday morning that we were able to fix these lock up issues by losing  screws on the drive gear boxes.

Friday after noon after we were not picked during the alliance selection, we began looking towards our future.  We gave the programming team their first chance to move the articulation on the robot.  We found that the intake mechanism had problems getting the ball, however we were able to intake a ball if there was another ball already there and the two balls are then able to force each other up the into the intake mechanism.  When it came to the shooter, the programming team had to fix the wiring for the encoder.  When the shooter was in a function order we went out the testing area and played for a few minutes.  Unfortunately these few minutes were enough for one of the motors on the shooter to dislodge  itself.  It is sad to say that this was the end of our Los Angles competition experience as Saturday was over and we had to rebag the robot.

While the competition was extremely stressful, there is still a glimmer of hope, we believe that our 14″ robot base strategy for balancing a third robot on the bridge will be a real winner.  We are now busily at work attempting to plan our next attack, we are working on a new mechanism to lower the bridge because the last one was unable to reach low enough.  Additionally we are working hard to lower the center of gravity the reduce the chance of tipping over.  The programming team on the side also is claiming that they will be able to get the shooter working if they are given time on the Thursday.

LA it was good, and we did make good progress on our bot, and now Central Valley we are going to be coming back stronger than ever.