"Everything’s going my way..."

Today, Amy and I have been working very hard on our competition robot.  When we left on vacation, we could successfully complete the Nano tube Strength mission, the Buckyball mission, the Dirt Trap, the Unstick Nanotip mission, and the Individual Atom Manipulation.  We had started on the Unstainable Fabric mission before we left, and we had been having a very hard time getting it to work.  Our robot was almost never turning in the right direction, and, when it finally did, it never did the same thing twice.  

This morning, we experienced the same problems, and we spent until late in the afternoon, troubleshooting and de-bugging the program.  Finally Amy and I removed all of the instructions that we had programmed after the problem spot and started from there.  Finally our robot started turning in the right direction!

We were able to solve a major problem with the turning by driving in a forward turn, then backing up in the reverse direction.  With this process our robot turned more precisely and we were able to get our robot to a general location.
Nine out of ten times our robot has been able to get to the right spot.  Just in case it didn't turn correctly during the competition, we added a backup instruction that would either make the appropriate adjustments for our robot, or it will simple leave the robot in an angle that would still accomplish what we wanted.

Our team has been able to successfully get at least sixty points for this mission, and sometimes we have even gotten the full seventy points!
We have trained Emily and Kelly to steer the robot, although they will probably just be copilots during the competition.  I am really impressed with their ability to aim.  Emily has shown a good eye for lining by sight, and Kelly has been able to quickly grasp the instructions that we have given her to aim.

Our research and technical presentations have been completed and we have been able to run over the technical presentation a few times.  Both boards will be finished tonight and we are so excited.

Things are finally looking up for the LEGO Mountaineers.  At last, "everything's going our way."

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