Add that to the fact that it is the low-electric-load-season (FALL) where everyone is giving their air conditioners a rest....this power plant engineer spends all of his time overseeing repairs to our panting and exhausted generator units. The fall season and the spring seasons are always filled with special repair projects for us.....unfortunately they happen at the same time that TEAM RESISTANCE is training.

Some of the things we accomplished in the past few weeks......

1.) We have just about completed building the new steering motor mounts for the steeroid bot. Soon we'll be using the retired Steeroid Bot for a driver training device.

2.) We have been teaching a lot of folks a whole lot of new tricks....we have a lot of newbie students that will be helping build a BAD TO THE BONE robot in just a few short weeks. Lathe work, Milling Machine work, welding, design weenies, HEY.... I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel......we're gonna have another CRACK TEAM for building a bot!

3.) The All Knowing Dave has nurtured a a new crop of weldos.....team members that specialize in joining frame components using the TIG and MIG welding processes.

4.) As usual, we have used a lot of "elder" students (in several cases....10th graders, some with two years of fabrication already under their belts!!) to help teach the newbs. I'm very proud of the students that take on teaching the other students.....y'all are proving the adage that if you want to really prove that you know what you're are doing....teach someone else how to do it.".

5.) We've (yeah, that includes ME!) learned how to successfully cut screw threads on the engine lathe. That opens a whole lot of new avenues for building robotic drives and actuators and making custom parts in general.

6.) We're well on the way to designing and building a prototype of a durable, reliable and powerful telescoping arm.

7.) We are just about finished with fabricating a Howe truss to destructively test to get a good correlation between design numbers and realistic force needed to deform a beam. This correlates to a better understanding of how much material (weight) we can cut out of a peart before it becomes too fragile to use in a burly bot like we always build. LIGHT, STRONG, and RELIABLE!

8.) We've learned how to use the new vertical and horizontal rotary tables on the milling machine....this lets us cut precise angles and precisely space holes around a base circle. Translated....we can accurately cut sprockets and even spur gears if we have a need.

9.) We've got a group of folks that are going to be ready to draw parts for our 2008 robot and enter a super submission for the Autodesk competition.

10.) We have a group of folks ready to program a robot that's going to rule at the Regional and National Competitions.

11.) Y'all have been building a bunch of little parts, each of which in itself may not seem significant, but in actuality have been pieces that comprise a technical community service project. As we've discussed, the pieces are fast becoming an "stealth" antenna for a handicapped Ham Radio operator living in an apartment building. This handicapped ham provides humanitarian communications for military personnel where telephone service is not available...say from the Middle East back to the family in the USA.

As of Monday night, I assembled this antenna for a test. My first contact using this antenna was to a gentleman in the far reaches of South Africa.....my second contact was to a gentleman in Worcester, England. Not bad for a maiden voyage on a device that hasn't yet been tweaked!

All in all, we're closing in on the Holiday Season, which marks not only the end of the 2008 Training Season but also the beginning of the 2008 Robot Build Session. So get ready for a real blast....let's finish our training activities with a flourish, and get Psyched Up for the Build Season!

See ya soon, TL CG