Mystery Solved!

Time of Writing: 11:59 P.M.
Head Count: 5
State of Mind: OVERDRIVE

This is it: one day before the real thing. At this point, most of the teams should be putting the finishing touches and designs of their robot. Blitzkrieg, however, is another story.

The Sciborgs are not unfamiliar with rushes. The feelings of anxiety and hurry coalesce to form a heavy burden that weighs down on us, reducing high quality to who-cares-as-long-as-it's-finished quality.

Starting at 8 in the morning, we took the graveyard shift, and, man, did we discover some interesting stuff. One thing is that electricity still flows when the wires of the vehicle board touches the steel frame. This'll be important later on.

Now onto the mystery of the wiper motor. Remember how one wheel wouldn't even budge an inch when Blitz moves forward or backward? After dissecting Blitz's wiper motor, we discovered a neat little thing: whenever the wiper motor's back plating hits the steel frame, sparks fly.

What does that mean? The board test earlier proved that the frame was conductive. It could be that a defect within the wiper motor itself caused electricity to flow freely (suspect: loose plating). On the other hand, the other wiper motor was running smoothly. Here's a theory: let's say that the forward motion of the motor is caused by positive charges, while the backward motion is caused by negative charges. The reason why the spinning motion is so fast compared to linear motion is that one wheel moves forward (positive) while the other moves backward (negative), while going forward has both positive, and going backward has both negative, creating a sort of repelling action and preventing one wheel to go the distance. Fixing this conduction problem may help. If this hypothesis is true, then we have just solved the mystery of the wiper motor!

We're not out of the woods yet, though. There's still the trial of the DC motor and the conveyor belt, not to mention the actual art of Blitzkrieg. Doing them all in one night? The Sciborgs have had worse.

And that's it for the longest blog in Sciborgs history to date. Here's hoping you learned something, guys!

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The Legend of Blitzhoven

     When the sun goes out, so does the mind.
`
     Rollers: check. Glass: check. Pneumatics: check. Sanity: Unknown.

     When these things combine, they form something. Just something.   

     The rollers are ready, the cannon is fixed, and the wheels are reaching its maximum performance. All in one night.

     The music starts, and the curtain opens.

     Now for the biggest hit of the 21st Century. Time to meet...

     Blitzhoven!

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New Threads

     The Robotics team has dwindled down to three. The chaos brought upon by scheduling conflicts has finally reached us.

     In an effort to not waste any time, we worked on the robot's conveyor system and overall offensive stats. Sadly, Blitz is ironically slow as hell, but for some reason, the 'bot can spin really fast (shoulda named it Tornado, huh?). Not all were misses though - this day saw the grand unveiling of the complete, revolutionary pneumatic cannon system, a.k.a. the Pneumacannon. 

     With the main techies absent, we instead focused on the blog and t-shirt design. 

     New threads and new weapons. We proclaim that The War has Just Begun.

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10-24-14: The Longest Day

Time of Writing: 11:60 PM/AM
Head Count: 7
Conscious Minds: 0

Depravity. Exhaustion. Anxiety. Tiredness. Hunger.
No one escapes. No one lives.

     As of this writing, not a single soul was sane. We have fallen into the abyss of depravity. Two people were playing with the stepper motor. Another two were fixing the robot with 0% presence of mind. One was watching videos about pranks. Two were using a steel bar and one of Fuego's wheels to play baseball. That's it for the status report of the members. Number of Casualties: 7.

     This was the last day of the periodic exams, where our productivity should be nearing its maximum level, and at first, it was going well. The Prez went out for a while to buy cola, while the rest were busy building the robot. The frame was fixed and the preparations for the cannon were finished. Unfortunately, our premier all-rounder had caught some glass powder in the eyes, and so he was sent to the ER, where he made his last will and testament (not really, but still). Ouch. Number of Casualties: 1

     In the afternoon, journalism training was up. With half of the Robotics team involved, our numbers gradually dwindled until only 3 were left. The good thing is that we managed to test the pneumatics system with a makeshift cannon. It was good, but it could be even better. Now onto Side B: the wheels. Even now, we still haven't figured out a solution to the slow and sometimes unresponsive movement of the wheels when moving forward or backward. The godforsaken things even need to be readjusted every time. We needed tools, so we went out to get some from the faculty room. This was where the long road began: one slipped, and one got sprinkled by Terminator powder. Such a fun day. Number of Casualties: 3

     The dogs began to howl - it's night. Under the new moon, hunger and exhaustion claimed our minds and souls. We did crazy stuff no one else can ever relate to. In the midst of the insanity, the smell of smoke and fried dreams filled the air. The hybrid motor has fallen. Number of Casualties: 8 

     To whoever set their eyes upon this, this is a warning. NEVER WORK OVERNIGHT.

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