Road trip in the 57 one ton...robots too!

[milner351]

It went 320 miles on 26.xx or so gallons

That's 12.3mpg.

Considering how much your saving on registration insurance, etc, compared to a new truck, that starts looking like a bargain, I know guys with new trucks not doing much better than that in the 5500GVW range!

[squirrel]

my wife's late model half ton has a decent GVW, it won't haul what my old one will, but it will haul a robot and toolbox..and it gets 20 mpg.

But it doesn't have a long bed or a camper shell. I bought a $100 aluminum topper for this trip, it is nice to be able to secure stuff back there and keep the weather off it.

Robot did well today, it was inspection/practice day. We were able to get our robot on the field for about 15 matches, because they let you in if another team does not show up for their scheduled match...and half the teams were still finishing building their robots!

I'm working on a highlight video to show what we did today.

[Cyclone03]

Squirrel ,you with the BBC and me with my BBF running around SoCal we had to make a noticable increase in Premium Fuel useage this week.

Good luck with the kids.

[squirrel]

thanks! I'm running regular....and I haven't filled up yet here, last stop was in AZ at $3.85

It's almost like California has a 50 cent/gal tax on fuel above and beyond what we get in the rest of the country?

[Beagle]

Oddly, gas is frequently higher in Houston than here, and you're buying it right next door to the refinery!!

Does this robot have to find the target by itself? I didn't quite pick up on that. It's nice to have one done instead of the ( AHEM...Freiburger method) fly by the seat of your pants last second scramble. When I was helping the kid with his projects the best years were the ones where we sat and watched the madness and walked up calm and prepared. It was rare, I never do it myself but was trying to teach him to do it. Hope you guys take names!

[TheSilverBuick]

thanks! I'm running regular....and I haven't filled up yet here, last stop was in AZ at $3.85

It's almost like California has a 50 cent/gal tax on fuel above and beyond what we get in the rest of the country?

No kidding. I can't believe with all the gas refineries there how much fuel is. The crazy part is a ton of fuel is piped to Las Vegas from California and the fuel in Vegas is a lot cheaper!

[squirrel]

30 cents more tax than AZ....

http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/26079.html

[Scott Liggett]

thanks! I'm running regular....and I haven't filled up yet here, last stop was in AZ at $3.85

It's almost like California has a 50 cent/gal tax on fuel above and beyond what we get in the rest of the country?

It's our "special" gas and the taxes. Higher than any other state. Thanks Cal Air Resource Board.

[TheSilverBuick]

Any chance of your robot being elected to the local school board?

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/hacked-school-board-election-names-drunken-robot-winner-222831053.html

[oldsman71]

my wife works for pitsco, they sell schools robot parts and kits to build c02 cars and rockets, they have a funny little robot that runs around the warehouse my wife works in, robots are kinda neat

[squirrel]

The qualifying matches Saturday were fun, we ended the day ranked 3rd of 56 teams. We have two more qualifying matches to play this morning, hopefully everything will go ok. We had to make some minor design changes to part of the robot, the arm thing that lets us knock the bridge down so we can climb on it. Fortunately we have several very clever students, so we worked together and figured out a neat Rube Goldberg way to make it work better.

Here's a video of our last match of Saturday, we are team 1726, with the tall blue robot.

The webcast should be going on most of the day, starting at 9am PST. Our first match today is Match 83, which is scheduled for around 10:50 AM, but sometimes things get delayed.

http://www.sandiegoregional.com/?p=webcast

I figured out the funny noise in my truck, the front bellhousing cover was touching the crank flange when I pushed in the clutch, so I bent it back a little bit. All quiet now.

[Beagle]

mystery noises that go away with use. Better to know for sure than have it go away and have to go "Huh" until you take it apart again...

Awesome results!

[Darren N.]

GREAT stuff! I would have killed to participate in something like this in high school.

Hell, even now at university you should see the garbage that rolls out of here for capstone engineering projects. Your boys would put a lot of people to shame. On top of it all, hauling it in a '57 pickup is totally bitchin' (probably would blow a few Prius owners' minds).

Very cool to see you guys kick ass. Good luck!

[squirrel]

Thanks again! We ended up qualified 5th, and we picked two teams to play on our alliance with us...we lost in the semifinals, against the team the ended up winning the finals. Not bad at all! We will go to the regional in Phoenix, one of three teams there with another regional under our belt. We hopefully will do even better.

We are not allowed to work on the robot at all between now and then. It's sealed in a big bag.