Defenses and Design
With the strategies for storming the robotics castle completed, it was time to get started building the robot. The robot is the piece that can’t be replaced, without it nothing else is usable. The team divided into several smaller teams to accomplish more at once. Each team had a particular task to complete. One team’s project was building the shooter that would be attached to the robot to launch the boulders at the tower. This group took the prototype wheeled launcher from last week and refined it by moving the wheels a little closer to the edge. They also worked out the space the launcher would need in the robot to function properly. Another group kept busy building the defenses so the robot can be tested before it is taken to competition. Yet another team laid out the space claims, so the robot wouldn’t end up bigger than it was supposed to be. Finalizing the drive train design was the task of the final group. Five wheels per side, the three center ones powered, is the basic design for the drive train. Treads were tossed out after the design for building them didn’t work. It was also decided to use chains instead of belts.