Assorted Robot Progress

Biggest robotics team ever.  Unusually we don't do any recruiting to speak of any more.  The kids just find us.  Some recent walk-ons:

"Hi, I'm ______ remember me?  I was in your robotics class six years ago."   Or....

"I'm Evan".  

"Ah, Evan _____."

"No, I'm a different Evan."

So we have many newbies, many of them named Evan, working and learning in the run up to another FIRST Robotics campaign.

Building an enclosure for the 3D printers that were assembled in previous sessions.  Powered rivet drivers must be listed among the supreme accomplishments of our species.

Final result.  Oh, not competition robot quality but more than sufficient as a learning tool.  They'll put the polycarbonate sides on next time.

Also a new video is out.  We basically found an abandoned CNC router and upgraded it for our use.  This will seriously help with prototyping and final fabrication.

Today we found out that we got a nice grant from 3M for the season ahead.  We already had a thank you video in the can and ready!

The biggest team we've had in prior years topped out at about 28, although a few were marginal members we did not see often.  This year for a recent and entirely optional pre-season session we had 35.   Amazing.