"Telecommuting" Build Meetings
 

So there's been a lot of snow here in Washington. I haven't been to school since Friday since I can't get out of the house. Depths range from 6" to 16" for members on my team. Having lived in Michigan for 5 years, this actually isn't that bad, but there's a lot more hills here so schools cancel with as little as 3" of snow and driving is a lot more hazardous.

This thread isn't meant to complain about our build season being cut short. Yeah, we're falling behind, but we're trying to make the most of it. Are there any build season tasks that would be valuable for a team of bored robotics kids at home with nothing to do?

So far, our members are doing some of these:
-Messing around with code and sensors
-CAD
-Strategy discussions
-Sitting around doing nothing!

Any other ideas? Getting to school where our stuff is is pretty much an impossibility (not just improbable...). Facilities are locked anyway.

Thanks! :)

Re: "Telecommuting" Build Meetings
 

I know how you feel....

gonna have alot of make up meetings when we can but this will really mess up shipping for parts we dont know we need yet :(

I am trying to get people to prototype at home for whenever we get back into school we will be ready to test the prototypes right away and start building.

Re: "Telecommuting" Build Meetings
 

Get someone to work on scouting (part of strategy)--ideally, you shouldn't be doing that yet, but if you have nothing better to do...

Also, don't forget about Chairman's Award, Dean's List, and Woodie Flowers Award submissions. With all this free time, you can write a really good essay!

Re: "Telecommuting" Build Meetings
 

You can get kids working on funding, finding potential sponsors and grants. Draft up some emails to inquire with sponsors or fill out grant paperwork.

Re: "Telecommuting" Build Meetings
 

Design your robot.

There are lots of questions that prototyping things in the real world can help answer, but there are also a ton of practical concerns that can be solved with a little thought and by using CAD to visualize design. The big-picture ideas are easy -- it's the little things like mounting schemes, power transmission packaging, and design for maintenance that eat up most of my time. Those things benefit greatly from time, but they're boring and so they don't get a lot of attention at meetings. Now is the perfect time to work on that stuff.