Start of week 7*

Goals for this week:

• Finish the robot
• Fix the gear ratio (again)
• Program the brain

Next week is the tug-a-war competition so we have to step up our game. Although working with this robot is stressful, we know what we have to complete. When we tested out the robot last week, it was built for a speed robot, not a torque robot. Our compound build was wrong, so we have to fix it. 

End of Week 6

What we accomplished :

• Fixed the gear ratio (again)
• Finished the mechanism that'll hold our weights
• Re-sized our robot because it was too wide

This week we did a lot of re-arranging. We found out that having our wheels on the outside of our robot made it 20' wide, when the maximum length is 18'. We moved the wheels into the inside and had to reposition the gears. We realized our brain wasn't working because none of our batteries were charged. Next week, we have to work on programming the brain with the remote control.

Start of Week 6

Goals for this week:

• Check to see if the motors work
• Discover why the gears aren't turning
• Finish the compartment that will hold the weights.

Although we are finished with the basic structure of the robot, there are still some improvements we need to make. The gear ratio we have is not turning when the motor is on. Also, the compartment we built for our weights is not yet finished. We also need to re-program the brain to make sure the motors work

End of Week 5

What we accomplish:

• Found a design that can possibly beat our competition
• Programmed the brain
• Implemented our new design

This week we talked to some of the experienced engineers and received guidance and advice. We have discovered a new solution. Although we are limited by the amount of gear we can use, we hope that the compound gears will give us an advantage. We have to finish rearranging the gears next week.

Start of Week 5

Goals for this week:

• Finish the base 
•  Put in all of the gears
• Program the brain

This week we aim to finish the gears because we came up with a new design. We realized that if we build our robot to combat our toughest competitor, then we should be able to beat mostly everyone in the class. We are learning how to compound the gears. Hopefully, this will give us an advantage

End of Week 4

What we accomplished

• We continued to make progress on the robot
• We continued to make progress on solidworks

Although we continued to make progress, we are not where we want to be. Next week, we are going to put in over time and work really hard so we can finish on time. Today, we worked on solidworks parts so will be ready for the certification exam. It was challenging and proved to us that we have a lot more to learn. 

Start of Week 4

Our Goals This Week

• Make sure our gear set up is effective
• Continue to build our robot for tug a war

We want to make sure we make the most effective robot, which means it has to have a lot of torque. We also need to begin the programming process.Although it has not been stated, we know that time is running out and we have to finish this robot soon. The gears will hopefully be the key to us winning.