The Pneubotic Mustangs are ready to compete!

Today, seniors from JFK High School's first Robotics Building team attended the opening day of competition in Trenton.  Because of the testing schedule it was impossible for any of the underclassmen to join the seniors today, but that's OK.  Today is for qualifying and practice, and the real competition starts tomorrow.  Parent and team advisor Will Jones led today's group, which included Sanket Chauhan, Patrick Daniels, Willy Jones, Nick Kemper, and Dhvanit Patel.  

Team spirit throughout the arena was amazing, and the spirit of cooperation, which is stressed as one of the most important parts of the competition, was heart warming.  All morning, we heard announcements over the loud speaker like "Team 145 needs to borrow a battery charger," and someone who had an extra would gladly bring them one.

The robot was built according to strict specifications, and it is quite a complicated machine.  It will be given a task to be done on the course above.  In the simplest terms possible, the robot will pick up different shaped inner tubes and then place them on the pegs for points, and when it is complete, a mini robot has to climb up a pole.  But it's much easier said than done. 

In the picture below, you can see the joystick controller which will be used to drive the robot to it's targets.

A lot of detail work was done today, making sure that the machine wasn't damaged in transport, that it worked the way it was supposed to, and that it passed inspection.

It's important to note that this activity was made possible thanks to generous donors including JC Penney's and BAE Systems.

Good luck to the Pneubotic Mustangs!