[FIRST 2010] Three more days till shipment date

 There's only three more days left till Team 114 (as well as all the other 1,800 FIRST teams around the country) must pack the robot up and ship it to the regional competition site.  This ensures that all teams equally have 6 weeks to build the robot after the rules are announced regardless of when and where the regionals are being held.

(Photo: Team 114 robot taking more shape and character)

 All the components have safely arrived and the team has had the chance to drive the robot around. But today, they have taken the drive train off again. "Why now?" asks Ms. Davis, one of the team advisors. The answer is, they need to attach an encoder so that the robot can control it's speed.

(Photo: James, one of the mentors, helps installing the encoder) 

(Photo: The roller that keeps the ball will be attached in front of the robot)

 

 Another last minute change were the bumpers. Instead of using different color flags to tell which robot belongs to which team, this year the robots have to be able to change the color of their bumpers. This has turned into a sewing project which Ms. Davis decided to take over. "I'd rather have you guys focus on the engineering part." 

(Photo: Team advisor, Ms. Karen Davis)

(Photo: Flipping the cloth will change the bumper from blue to red)

(Photo: Team 114 believes their powerful kicker will be a differentiator at the games)

And yet the story unfolds...........