8/31 - A Computer Conundrum

     We finished installing our motors last class. Now we're programming the motors to function on a two joystick remote control. We have no specific plan on where to go from here, other than simply building our flipping mechanism.
     This blog is short because I'm trying to finish up and help move our old hardware. On Wednesday we got new all-in-one computers. They're really great on first use.

Until Monday,
Diego.

8.27 - A Simplistic Strategy

     Today is the same game as last time. Brandon is running SolidWorks, while Hunter, Samuel and I work on the chassis. We have no clue what we're doing as we go, so the plan is to draw from all of our resources. Some of these are our classmates, the internet, and the vast experience Mr. Martin has. Every time we make a small breakthrough and manage to agree for more than 2 minutes on something, I run over to Brandon to describe it to him or simply have him come look so he can include it in the SolidWorks drawing.
     The week is looking pretty straight forward. Today and most likely Wednesday we're going to continue like this. Hopefully by Friday we'll have a moving, functioning chassis. Then we're going to decide if a ball shooting is feasible, and more importantly if we even want it. For now our strategy is going to be flip and place all the colored caps and then finish on the golden platform. We figure most teams will go for the flashy aspect of shooting balls. We're going to capitalize on this and simply do the other stuff. In theory, this means the other team in our alliance will be a ball shooter and our opponents will be ball shooters. If we carry out our plan as is, the ideal match-up is where the other three robots are weak torque, ball shooting bots. If not, we'll just have to fight for our points.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Until Friday,
Diego.

8.23 - A Metal Masterpiece

Today we've decided on a specific strategy, which for the purpose of being secretive we're not going to reveal yet. We're going to begin building our chassis. It's fairly impressive how annoying screwing things is. It is also noteworthy that none of my team mates enjoy writing like I do, so for the future it appears as if I will be doing most, if not all, of the blogs.
There is no due date currently on when the chassis must be done, but an inside source indicates it's in the next week. My guess would be Thursday next week. This means, in theory, we have plenty of time to get the metal together, add the cortex, and get the motors running.

Our current confidence level: 6/10

Until Monday,
Diego

8.21 - A Bright Beginning

     We've started out new. We have 2 members of the Cool Bois, one member of Big Brother Brand, and one member of The AutoDADS. Although it's sad to be in engineering without Rom and not on the same team as Gunther, it's a new, competitive, and overall better environment.
     As for today, we're going to be starting a new build. Hunter and I are doing research. Samuel and Brandon are working on our chassis, since there is no unique chassis design for each competitive purpose, at least from what we know.
     For the week, we want an idea of where we're taking our robot. We want to know the points we're going for and the ones we're sacrificing to go for the ones we want. The idea is we want a coherent strategy. When I do debate on Saturday's it's the same. You want to walk in knowing what you're going to go for and which points of offense you want to collapse on. We have noticed a unique niche in the game. Most of our classmates' bots and nearly all of the competition bots don't interact with the balls. So in theory, if we can build a bot that takes advantage of the flags, we ave free, uncontested points.

Our current confidence level: 5/10

Until Thursday,
Diego.

Samuel Santos

My name is Samuel Santos and I like engineering and that's why mi in this class. I also play soccer and listen to classic rock. I got so into rock that I started to play guitar.

Brandon Horn

My name is Brandon. I have an interesting middle name: Xsaiver. I enjoy math and being funny. I tell great jokes.

Diego Formoso

My name is Juan, but I go by Diego. I'm in my junior year of high school, and my third year of engineering. In the weekends I go to debate tournaments, and after school I do my AP homework. I hope to come back for my last year of engineering next year, and in the future major in civil engineering at the University of Florida.

Hunter Bresler

My name is Hunter. I play and referee soccer, do math, and enjoy engineering. I my free time I enjoy hanging with the boys. I hope to return for engineering for my final year.