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January 28th

 Apologies for the very long time gap between posts. I'll try as much as possible to capture all the progress since the 17th in this post.

Design was able to continue working on the various sub-systems throughout all of last week and, since Sunday night, are now done with the design of the robot. A few small tweaks are being made but other than that, most of the robot parts have been ordered and many have already been received. Another thing to mention is that the color wheel mechanism still hasn't been implemented but that should be an easy addition. As for sticking to the timeline, design was not able to adhere to the various milestones for sub-system completion despite being able to finish the whole robot on schedule. This should set back the individual subsystems but not the entire robot. Essentially, we should be able to stay on track, but things will be done more in bulk than by subsystems.

Pictures of the finished robot CAD as of now. Color wheel and climb adjustment mechanisms will be added soon.

Build started working on pieces for the robot on Monday (January 27th) and will be able to, with increased member attendance, start churning out parts at a quick pace so that assembly may start mid-next week. Currently about 36% of the pieces needed for the robot are in progress and being built using either the mill, CNC, other tools, or our waterjet sponsor. Three pieces so far have been finished and many more will soon follow. Unfortunately due to some sponsor setbacks we do not have a drivetrain assembled and are just now starting on some of the pieces for the drivetrain. Ideally those pieces will be completed shortly and the drivetrain assembled in no time, but it is possible that the sponsor delay sets us back a few days. Overall, with some increased effort and dedication in the next two weeks, a full robot assembly date of 2/9 still seems doable but considerably more difficult.

Pictures of the build team hard at work on their parts.

Software has been able to write some code for the drivetrain and are beginning to write code for other subsystems as well as explore some various autonomous options. Software is quite behind on the autonomous but, as with build, a "comeback" does not seem out of the question. It is now a matter of the dedication and time that the team will put in the next three weeks as they finalize the code and test it (hopefully) starting 2/10.

Electrical components for the robot were ordered today and as soon as those arrive the team should start assembling the electrical board and pneumatic systems.

From a marketing standpoint, we should see first drafts for all our awards (Dean's List, Woodie Flowers, and Chairman's) tomorrow at the meeting and shirts will be ordered then as well.

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