Today we modified our robots so they could be improved for the next competition, which isn't that far away. We got our new VEXnet keys for our robots, and the group with the bad connection will have no problems now. Everybody's robots are doing great and they are all working perfectly and we improved the autonomous mode.
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Parents and youth from our club visited the Navy's ship research and development center in Bethesda, Maryland. We observed testing of a scaled model of the Zumwalt Destroyer in the wave pool at Carderock, and we were shown how the engineers make the scaled models. The kids also got to drive the SeaPerch remotely operated vehicles that they made over the past few months, and had a great time. It was exciting for the youth to meet and talk to engineers who help design, build and test the vessels for our country's Navy.
On January 20th two of our SeaPerch teams competed at the regional middle school SeaPerch Competiton. They had four events where they competed against other teams. They had to drive their SeaPerches through an obstacle course, see how fast they could drive their SeaPerches down a pool lane, emerge and then come back, and they had to pick up weighted pool rings and put them in a goal. The kids had to give a presentation before judges as well. Our teams did very well and one scored in sixth place overall.
Today was the first VEX meeting for a competition that is in February, which is not that far from now. There is no time to make a new robot so we are just going to tighten the screws and make sure everything is working well. For some robots, there were minor adjustments to make so they are easier to drive.
After we read out minutes and other important things, the kids had different activities after the meeting. The Sea-Perch kids did experiments that taught buoyancy and The Archimedes Principle. Some kids let other kids use their robot for a while and then started working on the next competition, which is in Feburary. Our club members were invited to travel to Prince William County to talk to community leaders about robotics in Prince William County. We brought a VEX robot and a SeaPerch robot to demonstrate. Our kids loved showing off what they built with their own hands and showed their gratitude at being able to participate in the robotics program in Prince William County.
Our three VEX teams had a great time on Saturday, which was the first competition for many of our members. One team finished in the top third of the competitors after the qualification round, and they invited another one of their teams to partner with them in the semi-final matches. Our third team had technical difficulties with the VEXnet key, and we will make sure they have a new key before the next competition. Somebody tried ordering a new key this morning but they are out of stock. They said that they are going to have new and improved VEXnet keys so I hope we won't have the same kind of problems in the future. Today was the final day to work and then after today, it was the competition. Everyone was done with their robot and was exactly how they planned it to be. I guess all they can do now is wait for the competition. Today was 2nd to last meeting to work on our robot before our next competition, but the good thing is that one group is practically finished. Both the other groups are almost finished but they need to work hard because sometimes random bad stuff happens and sometimes it can cause lots of problems, so you must keep testing and testing. |
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September 2016
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