The Legend of Blitzhoven

     When the sun goes out, so does the mind.
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     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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Hallelujah

It's raining, man! A little shower can't slow down the Blitz train, though. Then again, we really did nothing, except for some buying and scavenging here and there.

To accommodate for our severely underfunded ventures, we decided to pool what remains of our hard-earned money, giving us enough to buy a total of 40 blind rivets and a few 2-inch screws. Fortunately, a kind soul gave us some cash for welding and fixing the wiper motors.

(Note: This was the first time one of the Sciborgs felt the punishing heat of a freshly-welded wiper motor. It still hurts even now. )

With the wiper motors welded and ready for rolling, we shunted them onto Baby Blitz's frame, with some effort. Later, the wheels were attached, and BAM! Blitzkrieg is ready for action...

Or not. 

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Stressed Out

    Stress (n.) - a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.

   When people get overworked, they tend to go haywire. When people are thrust into a sudden, serious situation, they tend to go catatonic. When steel is placed on a long piece of wood, it tends to break.  All of these things are collectively known in a single word – stress.

   It's been 12 hours since we started this charade. For some reason, we can't seem to fix the wiper motor. And it broke down. We tried to fix the magnets inside back in their place, but alas, we were unsuccessful. Then we bought a new one.

   Another problem had come forth when we tested out the pneumatic system. Contrary to our high and prideful hopes, the pneumatics, even with the aid of an illustration board to have a bigger impact area, was useless. The ball couldn't even go out of the makeshift cannon. The clock's still ticking. We're screwed.

   This all happened in the midst of the periodic exams. With mind, body, and soul crushed as the tremors of examination burrowed deep, our stressful escapades have just begun.

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He Lives!

     This is a momentous day for the Sciborgs. After weeks of planning, building, and frustrations, finally – FINALLY – we have achieved our penultimate goal: the test drive.

     Still reeling in from the devastation brought upon by periodic exams, the team was unsurprisingly haggard. Most of us just want to go home relax. Alas, the show must go on, and the robot’s waiting for us. Before the test, some adjustments were made to Blitz (Has riveting ever been this fun?), and the wiper motors were fixed. After a not-so-terrible time of learning how to use tools, we successfully put the wheels, motor, and boards in place, if ‘successfully’ means ‘the wheels are slanted and can’t even move normally.’ And so, Blitzkrieg’s first test drive began. During the test, we discovered a lot of aspects that may hinder our efforts: one wheel was slower than the other, and the concentrated mass on the back was slowing down, or even stopping, the robot. In short, it was not going well. So much for Blitzkrieg’s first-ever test drive.

     This day had both success and failure written on it. Nevertheless, all those technicalities mean that we can still go the full mile, and a few adjustments actually gave us hope that Blitz can rise upon any adversity center stage. Our ancestors did not give up on Fuego back then, and neither will us.

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A Gamer's Paradise

E-gizmo - the one-stop shop for anything Robotics. It has chipsets, gizduinos, and wires galore.

What really reeled us in is the gaming area near it. For just P100, two people can play just about any multiplayer game in their arsenal. As the Sciborgs are all about gaming, the place truly is a gamer's paradise.

Four lucky Sciborgs got the chance to shop at e-Gizmo, where they bought a new stepper motor, multimeter, and Arduino/Gizduino shields. After all that shopping, they moved on to the gaming zone, where gamers' souls are sucked in and can never get out - which almost became true for the Prez.

For the Sciborgs, this day was fun and productive. Thanks for the help, e-Gizmo (and that gaming place)!

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Behind the Wall

    The blog seeps out every piece of information we have. 

     It represents our remaining time in the world. Our overworked minds struggling to maintain their grip on sanity.

     Our gurus of programming strive to procure sacrifices to appease the blog lord. Every word, every letter counts.

     The wall of text is up. The next sacrifice has come. Time to Blitz!

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One Busy Saturday

     Saturday - the one day of the week that we always wait for. It's a (supposedly) fun time where many students can have fun and relax without the burden of schoolwork looming over them. Not for us, though.

     Kicking things off are the barangay meeting and journalism training. The barangay meeting was a double whammy, triple even,as not only did it give us an opportunity to meet up, it also allowed us to find some threads for the robots, which was, of course, an unfruitful effort; the food, on the other hand, was great.

     Anyway, we scoured the entire northern half of the city for the wheels, which were ultimately provided by one of our own (so much for exploring the neighborhood). The wheels were from an old peewee bike. Unsurprisingly, we had a really fun time (read: hellish) in taking out the wheels from the ancient, rusting artifact, but after some tool-working (and hand-breaking), we finally got wheels.

     The team is well-known for crashing parties (Hey, free food!), and this time, we're crashing a journalist party. With their venue being the only suitable place to go, we set out to the school to show off the new threads and have fun with the pneumatic system (a very joyful tradition).

     Our bellies were filled and Blitz was one step closer to completion. We'd say that needs a thumbs up!

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No Tools Allowed!

     With all our plans set straight for Blitzkrieg, we didn’t know what we were supposed to do with our beloved yet run-down piece of machinery named Fuego. Although it had served us well since the beginning of time, we just had to say goodbye to the much-loved robot. And what better way to offer a heartfelt farewell than to crush the robot into bits. Yeah, it was awesome. 

     But that “heartfelt farewell” turned into something brutal. Going by the phrase “no tools allowed,” we went from geeky technophiles to primordial cavemen. With our bare hands, we tried to knock the nuts off from the still-robust structure to no avail. Then, a sudden gust of enlightenment provoked us to use a huge rock to dismantle the robot and we ended up with a seemingly-useless pile of crap. 

     We set aside Fuego’s remains and laid him to rest. And with this, all our eyes are now on Project Blitzkrieg!

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Sketch Up

    Everything seems according to plan. A bunch of ideas came into our mind and let our creativity do the rest. It was another day for us to get a chance to complete the sketch of the robot. After we brainstormed, it was a piece of cake.

                      

     Fuego, the name of our former bot,with an outdated system, must undergo a complete repair - if we are to still use it. The burning beast has been used for 3 years now and it would be a big challenge for us because for those past years, we were very unlucky in taking home the bacon, but now this is the time to write the name of TagScie in the history of Robotics.

     To begin with the 'reconstruction' of Fuego, the first thing to fix is the frame. It is very important because it will serve as the base for the rest of the bot. Scrap metals, wires, hardware tools, mechanical parts, and other useful things that we could think are the essential necessities in reconstructing the robot.

     The day ended with a smile. Two days have passed but there are still more days to come. Here's hoping we'll end up with an amazing robot that will bring the name of TagScie to glory.

     Glory to God, Hail to TagScie!

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Day 0: Project Blitzkrieg

    Genesis, this day was the beginning of our plans. Together, we’ll probably find the marked path of victory. With the help of our adviser, Ms. Lea Rowena Cabugon, our thoughts and plans have been validated. Her presence seems to motivate us to start the work and stop lagging.

     This day, the river of knowledge that flows within us conveyed to mold the bot’s function and all of its entity. We critically assumed all the possible hindrances, as well as the schools who excelled the last time. Cirglen Mamaril, our team leader, told us about how the mechanics of other school’s robots were so coooool. The codes have been reassessed and compiled by TagScie’s Spiderman, Paul Jerick Lara. The newly introduced pneumatic system was taught by Ma’am Lea,together with the honchos, and was easily understood by us. YAY ^_^

     Assumptions? Too many. We are positively looking forward to the things that’ll come. Hope it won’t attract the negative pole. To sum it up, the first day was successful in bringing us new information and brought us a huge dose of fun and excitement.

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