OK, here we go on the 2013 build season — Frisbees!
We had a great Kickoff day on Saturday, January 5. It started, very, very early (6:00 am in the RHS parking lot) with a field trip to the official event at Mountlake Terrace HS. The students, coaches Ruff & Miller, and a coterie of parents and volunteers went to the video simulcast event where this year’s competition was unveiled and they picked up the kit of parts. Here’s the animation of the Ultimate Ascent challenge:
Following that, the caravan made its way to the UW campus, where they joined coach Davidson and other late sleepers (students, mentors, and volunteers). In a long work session, the team analyzed the game challenge, pored over the rules, and brainstormed a number of strategies for robot design. This session focused on WHAT kind of robot we will build and (painfully) deferred discussion of HOW the robot will work until later sessions.
By the end of the day, we had digested an enormous quantity of ideas, analyzing all of them for potential value, associated risks and costs (not just financial), and talked about the qualitative pros and cons of each possible function (shooting. climbing, scavenging, blocking).
Next week we will decide exactly what the robot will do and move on to the design phase.
Huge, enormous thanks to all of the parents and volunteers who organized and provided the transportation, and most especially fed us all so well!