Vex+building+process

When we first arrived at Spring Grove High School, we were briefed in the gym about our tasks for the day. The instructors there told us that we would have three challenges that our bot would have to complete throughout the day. We were given four hours to construct our robot, and the catch was that nothing new could be added to the bot between competitions. Items may be moved around on the bot, but nothing cold be added or removed. From the gym, our team was moved into a class room with the other team from Red Lion. Once all of our pieces were taken out of the box and accounted for, we got right to work. Zane had the most experience with the bot and how to build with the materials so he began with the body. We decided to go with the square model with four wheels. Each of us agreed that this would give us not only a decent amount of speed and power, but the best possible turning motion as well. As Zane worked on the body, the other three of us were left to determine how to move or lift the balls or the rings. At first we had various ideas of how to pick up these items, but then we finally came to an agreement on a claw type mechanism that would clamp the objects and then lift. While building we quickly realized that one of the arms of the claw would have to be stationary, because of the number on motors we were given. We chose to have the right hand part of the claw be the stationary piece while the left opened and closed. The next part of the arm required not only opening and closing, but lifting the claw and the objects it was holding as well. Once we started build the second part, it was seen that the the motor used for the raising and lowering would not be able to support the weight of the arm. This was a serious problem because we were running out of time, and didn't have a fully functional bot. However, the solution to the problem was quickly found. We simply needed to gear up the motor so that it would be able to support the weight of the arm. We finished putting on the gears and arm with about one minute left in the building time. From here we were ready to compete and take home the gold.