Dead Robot Society Blog

That I’m gonna hate this song very quickly.

Finally some footage has been taken four our video that I promised four blogs ago. Didn’t you know blogs were a unit of time measurement? Anyways, we’ve picked a song for the video and in case you didn’t catch it from the title of this post, we’ve picked “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas. I can’t give you too many details because I don’t want to spoil the song, however I can tell you that I’ll have heard it so much by the time we finish the video, I will never want to hear it again. But  I promise you guys will want to watch the video, it will be very amusing.

There are only three weeks left until competition and the team is responding accordingly. Everyone is trying to come two or three times a week. There’s a lot of movement in the BotCave these days as well. Software writes code, downloads it, takes it to the board, tests it, and repeats the process. I’ve noticed that software requires a lot of tweaking. When they run the program with the bot on the board, I’m always impressed. However they always return to their station and adjust the turns by a couple of degrees or the speed by a couple of seconds. I guess this whole process is why the Dead Robot Society has always been so successful.

Hardware is working on the basket of the create bot. The basket will bring the frogs and BotGuy to our wetlands after the arm of the create bot has knocked them off the platform. The hardware guys tell me that the basket will be finished today. I believe, don’t quote me on this, that the completion of the basket will mark the completion of the create bot. Well the building of the create bot at least. Like I said before software will probably continue to enhance the code for it.

We're actually almost done I swear.

In summation, I will tell you that as usual, the Dead Robot Society has had a tremendously prolific four hours together. I probably sound redundant, constantly telling you that we accomplished a lot. I really do mean it though. Every time we get together we work hard and see results. The demonstrations I saw today were pretty excellent, aside from the fact that I barely escaped a near fatal collision with the arm of create bot. Okay I might be exaggerating on the whole “near fatal” thing. So don’t fear, it’s always safe in the BotCave.

Today we had two Dead Robot Society alumni come visit the BotCave.

As a current member of the team I thought it was pretty cool that this organization made a large enough impact on people’s lives that they actually came back to visit years after they left the team. To me this says that the things I learn and the people I meet here will stay with me as I continue with my  life.

Alright enough of that sentimental stuff cause there’s only so much of it I can take. The hard work everyone has been putting in for the last few months is really starting to show. Even those of us who are technologically challenged (and as usual by “us” I of course mean me) are able to see the fruits of hardware and software’s labor. The robots appear to be almost completely built. At least to me they do. Software  has successfully run a program that allows the robot to move to the platform and knock the frogs and BotGuy off. I know this is really important because ever since the first day I got here the team has been talking about getting those items off the platform as the first priority. Go team!

You’ll notice that I knew exactly what software was doing. This is a great improvement. I was able to put it  in better words that someone from the actual software team was. When I asked Kelly what software was doing today she answered me with “We’re getting the things off the thing.” Fortunately Allison was able to better explain what they got done today which is good because then I was able to tell you. Also we were apparently so productive we had time to watch the Caps in overtime. Obviously this is a positive thing and not at all a sign of slacking.

Today we were all in a rather joking mood. “Drinks anyone?” “Thin mints.” “Thin mints is not a drink.” There was some fist pumping in there somewhere too. However words cannot do any justice to the greatest joke of the day. It can only be captured in a picture.

Only in the BotCave

I think Mr. Gras got too much of a kick out of that. Sometimes, just sometimes I wish I had another blogger with me. An English person, not a math person, to make grammar jokes to. But alas, I am on a robotics team and therefore math jokes will ensue. Even though I may not be fond of pi and imaginary numbers, I do enjoy being a part of this team. Besides the fact that we’re totally boss and we win all the time, we work well together and today was no exception.

This means that the BotCave is now open all day errrryday.

Okay not all day, but everyday! Which in turn means that competition is coming up fast. The workshop last week was a great success and it has gotten the team really focused. As I write this the BotCave has only been open for 37 minutes and already the hardware guys are gathered around the game board working on the duck grabber and the software team is huddled in front of computer doing their thing. You’ll notice my use of general language describing the software team’s work. That may 0r may not be due to the fact that even though this is my fifth week in the BotCave, their job remains somewhat of an enigma to me.

No photos, please. Kelly can't be bothered while programming.

Exhilarating announcement of the day: we now have two software teams working at once! This is extremely important because even with the little knowledge of software I have, I know that without their hard work and success, our team would be nowhere. That’s not to say that hardware isn’t just as important, because obviously without a robot we would be even more nowhere. (Is it possible to be more nowhere?) So really what I’m saying is everyone is of monumental importance to the triumph of the robot except me. I am important to you the outsider, the reader of this blog.  Yay for blogging!

'Nuff said.

The hardware team is working at an accelerated pace and the only logical explanation I can find for that is the motivational music I hear coming from their table. I mean seriously, who doesn’t work better when listening to “Party in the USA”? That’s an inspirational tune if I’ve ever heard one. By the way of software they’ve begun to program the machine to move about on the actual board. It’s a rather impressive feat and I’m shocked they were able to achieve it without any help from Miley Cyrus.

To close out today’s blog, I think I’ll give you guys a little piece of information I have been withholding from you. We at the Dead Robot Society have a secret weapon- Mrs. Newcastle. From my previous blogs you may have thought that Mrs. Newcastle’s skills were limited to the culinary arts. In fact she is the best programmer we have. Whenever we’re in a jam one thing is certain: Mrs. Newcastle can help.

Technically it’s 7 weeks and 6 days. But who’s counting?

Well, we are to be perfectly honest. Competition is quickly drawing near and in order to prepare, Mr. Grasmeder called a team meeting today. We discussed the workshop next week, which our veteran team members and mentors will have the pleasure of assisting with this year. Next Mr. Gras laid it on us: we need to shift into overdrive. Eight weeks sounds like a long time, but considering how much work everyone has to do, it’s really not too far away. We’ve got a few robots to build and a few programs to write and it’s not as easy as it sounds. Of course by “we” I mean the rest of the team. One of the many perks of blogging is the absence of a ticking clock working against me. Although, Mr. Gras is riding me about getting the movie done.

Welcome Alanna. The expression on your face tells me you'll fit in just fine.

What’s this movie you ask? I refer you to my previous blog in which I mentioned that exciting things were coming for the Dead Robot Society. This aforementioned movie is one of the exciting things I was talking about. Another exciting thing is our new member! We welcome Alanna to programming. It makes me feel better that I am no longer the newest new kid. Thank you Alanna.

Today has been a pretty chill day. Everyone is buckling down and getting things done. I took advantage of this atmosphere and did quite a bit of questioning. I asked Alanna how her first day in the BotCave was and she said she was enjoying herself. I asked Kelly and Mary how the program was doing and they said, “Uhh our robot won’t stop moving…” (Not to worry though, the issue was resolved.) I asked the hardware team what they were up to and they said, “Workin’ on the duck grabber. It grabs ducks.” Then Mr. Gras tried to explain what he was teaching Alanna and I asked, “…what?” Not a Sunday goes by where Mr. Grasmeder doesn’t lose me in conversation.

However I have assimilated quite well into my own role. In fact, today Allison punched me and I responded with, “Hey! That’s my blogging arm!” I promised myself I wouldn’t become a nerd, but apparently it’s unavoidable. Enough about me. As usual our marvelous team has made excellent use of their time here. Alanna is picking up on her job quickly, the rest of the software team is chugging along with their program, and hardware is making headway with the duck grabber. In addition, Mrs. Newcastle went above and beyond her call of duty by preparing not only taquitos, but mini tacos as well!

Just another day in the BotCave.