Today:

Now or never.

As Memphis begins to show its first signs of the Spring season, the Robotics Team is beginning to wrap up its finishing touches to “Hank’s Tank” version 1.0, pictured below:

The name “Hank’s Tank” was conceived after the unfortunate news that our programming mentor’s son (Hank) was admitted to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital for ongoing treatment. Hank's Tank serves as a statement of appreciation to the fastidious dedication of doctors, scientists, and researchers, as well as the courage, bravery, and fortitude of the patients whom they serve.

And now the time of reckoning is nearly upon us. FIRST policy requires our robot to be “Bagged and tagged” for shipping by midnight of February 18^th, 2014 (i.e. tonight). After midnight tonight, we will be unable to apply any physical modifications or alterations to our robot until our arrival in Knoxville the week of the competition (March 26-30). The period of time between now and the competition will be spent modifying the programming script used to control our robot, as well as practicing some “quick” modifications on our wooden prototype that we will need to perform the Thursday after we arrive in Knoxville.

The tentative schedule for our trip to Knoxville consists of:
-depart from Memphis Wednesday morning (March 26^th)
-arrive Wednesday afternoon – orientation and welcoming Wednesday evening
-Thursday we will be allowed to perform any "last-minute" modifications to our robot before the competition begins
-Friday/Saturday – Competitions!
-Sunday – Return to Memphis late afternoon (March 30th)

One of the modifications that we will need to perform once we arrive in Knoxville is attaching a “collector” to our catapult apparatus. This will consist of wheel(s) and axle powered by a rotary motor and a pneumatic device that allows us to “scoop up” the game ball into our catapult cradle. The following video illustrates this mechanism (NOTE: this is not our specific robot, but instead one found in the grand archives of Youtube) :

Our divisions of labor are finally beginning to come together. Our frame (developed by the build/design team) now houses the entirety of pneumatic and electronic components (scripted by the programming team) needed to move our robot and shoot the 2.5lb game ball into the 7+ft goal. Many long afternoons and evenings have been spent in our host’s basement (Everest) following the guidance and tutelage of the most essential member of our team: the veteran design mentor Mr. Dennis Taylor. Despite our youthful energy juxtaposed with childlike behavior, despite our lack of mechanical organization skills, despite our de-calibration of $150 micrometers, Mr. Taylor has led us through fire and ice with never-ending patience to produce this apparatus we call our robot: Hank’s Tank. 

A month's worth of preparation, mechanical practice, and gaming strategy awaits the WSHS Robotics Team; but not before we celebrate today's deadline with a few games of FIFA and some of Wendy's Crispy Chicken sandwiches!