The end of week 3
 

It's a few days until week 3 of our 6 week build season ends. How's your team doing? Are you ahead? Behind? On time? Do you have your robot all designed and being built, or are you still deciding on what kind of robot to build? Anything you want to share? ;)

There's only 3 weeks left. Will you make it? :cool:

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Due to a CAD error were a little behind...we should be back on route at the end of week 4 though...*knocks on wood*

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We're farther behind than we would like and farther behind than our collaboration teams. But I think we can still finish strong. Trying to perfect some CAD with only 2 people has been a struggle. Here's a sneak peak though.

http://www.atomicrobotics.com/2012/0...-cad-complete/

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We are really behind. So essentially, our design has many flaws on multiple levels. I have low expectations this year. We do not even have a proper design yet; neither do we have a drive built. Really bad position we are in right now.

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That's the spir.....wait...umm.....


Be more optimistic, be more focused, and try to bring some positive energy to your team during these last few weeks.

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:cool: I am a realist. The team has been ignoring my warnings. My hope is that we get something that moves to competition.

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We're behind, but hey, that's the fun of build season right? Assembling that robot during that last caffeine powered weekend...

We have not started building the actual robot yet, due to machine problems and finals. We are expecting some parts in a few days and we will be working our butts off to catch up! :D

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We also have not started actually building. Our CAD team is small also, and so we are very behind, but I am confident we will be able to get at least everything up to a perfect shooter, in the bag.

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We're behind, but we're all behind where we'd like to be starting on day 1.

If only we could have Week 6 urgency every week.

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Found ourselves in a bit of a crisis earlier thesis week when our chassis was milled wrong due to some miscommunication. We no longer had access to manual mills to complete the long job but found a clever solution to our problem by rearranging some structural elements. A one person CAD team with continual input from members is a good way to keep motivated and possible (although having two people or more prevents miscommunication errors). All in all I think we are on time and the team continues to bond and endure with the resources we have.

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256 is in the middle. We're on good form for week 3, although we've been spending way too long on our drive train (chain :|), we will start constructing our shooter/ball elevator thingy either this Saturday or next Tuesday, depending in how much we get done Saturday (We're gonna drive the robot! [We've said that 8 times, BTW...]) But we will drive for sure Saturday.

I may even post a video of us collecting balls. It won't give too much information on our robot, but it'll be interesting to see, at least.

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Boy can I relate to the noncompetitiveness of a team...our team is usually good, and we're going to get a decent 'bot out there at KC, but at the same time, I wish that the team would strive to compete up there alongside Bomb Squad and Team Titanium and Winnovation.
It made me really sad when I told someone on our team about something 1717 does, only to recieve back "Are we Team 1717? No, we're 2410." I know that we're not d'Penguineers, but that still doesn't mean we can't emulate what an award winning team does. (The reference in question was how d'Penguineers tweak their practice bot, and fabricate their competition bot only when they're absolutely sure about what works and what doesnt. -Reference from The New Cool- because our team rushed through prototyping and straight to metal fabrication. This arised because I asked our shooter team if they had tested everything and they said "No, but our metal shooter will be modular so we can continue testing.)

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The Byting Bulldogs are doing pretty well considering it's the first year on our own without an awesome veteran team (1718 Fighting Pi) helping us through! Our drivetrain is complete and exceding expectations, and lifter thingy CAD is done, machining will be done on that this weekend. Shooter thingy CAD almost done as well. Can't wait to get practice bot done so we can focus on making stuff look pretty on comp. bot!!! Swiss cheese anyone?:D Still a long way to go though, waiting for the yearly "wall" to hit us on something.... *knock, knock.

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According to a recent study, 63% of teams admit they are behind. The other 37% are lying.

I think we're really far behind. As of yet, we haven't even decided on a drive train. I feel like this is the farthest behind we've ever been. But I've got confidence that the extra time we're spending on the design will pay off in the end and hopefully the actual building of the robot won't take much time at all.

Still, though, I feel bad for our programmers. They've had nothing to write code for except a little test bed we put together early in the year.

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Speaking of which, I'm not entirely sure our team has decided upon a drivetrain...I know the frame is designed for 4 wheel skid, wide based, but I'm still apprehensive about going over the barrier. We did make a barrier, but they have difficulty going over it with the skid plates they added, not to mention the air we get when they do hit it full speed...

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I would not recommend going over the barrier at full speed, regardless of how successful it may seem. Do this enough and something might come loose or even break. The last thing you want is to jostle something on the cRio loose and not be able to use it for the duration of the match. Not to mention the time it would take to diagnose the problem.

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FIRST 1296 is building a a mecanum driven robot that can pull balls in from all four sides, uses a rotating double-wheeled shooter, can lower the ramp and go over the bump (carefully). Everything is prototyped and we think it will work.

We are a few days behind - had to wait longer than normal for some fabricated parts from our sponsor. But the robot will be driving this weekend. The ball gatherer and feeder will get built early next week and the shooter the next week. So we are on target to get a full week of practice and tuning the performance of the robot.

Now if all the parts will come in on time...

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I think we are generally on schedule. . . I say generally only. We are currently building the practice-bot frame, have our practice-bot shooter built, and are finishing up our flux-capacitor. The programmers are having a hard time finding out how to get the robot to 88 mph before the barrier though.

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I say the same thing to my team, and get the same response. As the CADder, I try to integrate some their ideas into our design process, but I believe that the best team to emulate is 254. They always have an effective simple(r) design, that I believe should be all team's way of thinking when they're designing, unless they have the resources of teams like 1717.

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We're generally on shedule, but the real problem we're dealing with is the availability of gearboxes and gearbox parts. We've had a drive base for several days now, but we're headed for a spot between a rock and a hard place because we have no real way to use F-P or RS-550 motors at this point. We're having to cannabalize old robots, not because we can't afford new gearboxes but simply because nobody has what we need in stock.

I predict 2012 will be remembered as "the year of lots of motors and no gearboxes".

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Our team also has a small design team. Our major put back right now is continuous prototyping. As soon as we decide on something, we think of a problem that can happen and have to fix it in a prototype before we can finalize that design. Our drive train is set, pieces cut ready to be welded, design is close to being done (yet still behind schedule). We planned out our weeks to have about a week of practice time with our bot until bag day, so any progress we get behind on will only take away practice time (still vital to the team, not as vital as a working bot is to the team)

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All of our concepts have been proven, now we just need to stick it all together. And we've got a snow day today. I hope we'll be mostly together and driving by the end of week 4. *crosses fingers*

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1279 is having its most efficient year ever. All thanks to a new sponsor...

Still not near finished though. Good luck everyone.

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2410 is always on our preseason watch list of excellent teams in the KC area. :cool:

While I'd love to say we designed it in the first 3 days and have been moving towards the polished product ever since... We've had our set backs with rule reinterpretations, misalligned parts, enginneering break throughs that require major redesigns, and inoportune illnesses from key members. One subsystems hasn't made it to CAD yet, and a second one is still looking for the right design concept. These things are not totally unexpected, so no panic just the constant pressure to fail faster. We'll be fine. ;) :D

The drive base is built, finished wiring it last night, and should be driving it around today after school. Parts are mostly in house for the ball intake and delivery system. Prototypes all appear to function within our design perameters.

Software team found last year's robot to have a lot of similar functionality to this year's requirements and have turned it into a test bed for working out the kinks in code. We'll see how it translates to the smaller (faster) CRIO.

We're on schedule, but we wanted to be ahead, so it feels like we are behind.

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[quote=CalTran;1114520]Boy can I relate to the noncompetitiveness of a team...our team is usually good, and we're going to get a decent 'bot out there at KC, but at the same time, I wish that the team would strive to compete up there alongside Bomb Squad and Team Titanium and Winnovation.

I know what you mean. Team 2345 has been striving for the same competitiveness. Usually our team creates a simple, yet effective, robot. This year we have upped the complexity. Overall, the team is on schedule. The build team is a little behind (we just finished our full frame). Programmers have several "pilot" codes for every function on the robot, and we are currently working towards target tracking.

I cannot wait to meet you guys (Metal Mustangs and Titanium) at KC.

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We're further ahead than we've ever been in 7 seasons, but still not ahead of schedule. We're on target to deliver to the programmers at the start of Week 5 though. We will probably be able to do a launch party and video too (woohoo!) with the basic stuff running.

- CAD -- done (mostly)
- Full frame is 95% welded, done in-house last night.
- Special parts are cut, just need them delivered.
- Final part orders are on their way (except BB-550's, need to order extras)
- Just need to cut the rollers for the conveyor, and make sure we have enough gator clips for the belting.
- Oh yea -- bridge lowering device -- maybe finally designed? Need to talk to the student in charge tomorrow. Have a concept, a spot, and a plan for it, just need the details done.
- Assembly starts at dawn tomorrow, disassembly for powder coating starts at dusk. (I'm going for some black accents this year, Woo!)
- Reassembly Thursday, Electronics Saturday
- Final assembly & delivery to programmers Saturday.
- Then we work on bumpers, paneling, shrouds, labels, and other 'prettifying' effects.

Oh yea, and the hardest part: we have to name the durn thing. Want to see a group of engineers' moment of greatest indecision? Get them to agree on a name.

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Or worse, redesigning during that last weekend.

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The TechnoKats have been really really productive this year. We have had four robots driving on the practice field this week, and a fifth is mechanically complete and mostly wired. Even though our wooden bridge is way too light with a balance "sweet spot" that's much too small, one student driver has shown a real talent for driving and balancing. A couple of competent and dedicated student programmers are working with the practice drive base from 2007 and the prototype swerve system, and we have successfully implemented vision processing on the Classmate and bidirectional data communication between the robot and the Dashboard.

This year's intended competition robot, however, is mostly pixels so far. I will be very surprised if enough parts are fabricated and assembled to drive it by the end of the month.

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Team 166 is doing better time wise then last year but we are still slightly behind schedule.

We've had the frame constructed since last Saturday but haven't really touched it since, but we got several parts made last night ready to go on.
The frame for the shooter is done and waiting for axels and wheels.

We have most of the parts to put together the drive train (waiting on 2 CIMple transmissions). And last night we got our order of CIMulators and rs 550's.
We are currently working out some issues with our bridge manipulator but they should be solved by tonight or tomorrow.

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We are pretty far behind: Our frame is being water jetted and will arrive next Wednesday. Our new extra-sticky awesome treads should be coming in a few days later. The hope is, once the pieces get here and are put together, we can slap on our shooter, electronics, and acquisition system and get to the empirical programming testing. I could see us having a driving robot a week from now.

Oh yeah, we're waiting on Banebots RS550's for our shooter. We're putting 4 on there with 2 double doozys. I don't understand how BB takes 6 days to put motors into a box.

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Swampthing is waiting on waterjet and welding. Half the parts are in and a "few" are still waiting in the "balance". The design is "over the top" but if everything works as planned it will be quite "uplifting". The Madam Larue pinball machine lights work. Hopefully there won't be too many "hangups" "blocking" us from here on out. We're "shooting" for the next "3" weeks to go smoothly, but we'll have to wait and "see". :)

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My team found that out a few nights ago when they managed to jump the battery over everything and off the robot. That was not a fun night because I spent the next hour replacing bits and pieces of the electronics...

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Considering every year we set the goal of having a functioning prototype (aka Practice Bot) by the end of week two we are behind but we usually have the prototype by week four. We're probably a little behind but not concerned.

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It's good to hear some teams are having slight setbacks and some seem a little ahead of schedule, I mean what would FIRST be without some good fun in discovering new things right?

As for team 1710, I'm a little skeptical on our bot design. But it is coming together much faster than had last year. The whole thing is kinda going up while being drawn in CAD so it's a little interesting seeing how things are put together as a programmer on the team, but none the less, I'm only worried that it functions to the team's expectations and hopefully get a good week's worth of practice.

I've also kinda worried how this year was going to work out considering our best mechanical team members were last year's, but it has progressed a much faster rate than last year, and I'll be able to implement many more sensors and testing devices to use on the bot if we wish. All said and done, we're easily twice as far as we were compared last year on the bot. (Last year I had about four days to test my programs and autonomous and figuring it all out making sure there were no faults. And only about a day and half of practice.)

Being the programmer on my team that was the first to successfully do autonomous has also put a great strain on me because they are asking now if we can do all these new sensors and ideas that they believe software can solve. And no doubt I'm sure we could get them all working in time, right now they are wanting cameras, ultrasonic, line sensors as a rpms reading device, gyros, and accelerometers. All of which I've never used or coded before, so its coming a burden to me. I've gotten some things to work, but not in the sense that they would want it. (Auto-targeting turret? Sure that would be nice. But it's kinda hard to do without some time with the bot.)

All said and done though. Hopefully our bot does atleast to the performance of our 2011 bot... I miss that thing :( (scrapped for parts for our new one).

May every team and member have a fun and good rest of the build season!

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Week three is ending with the team trying to touch base again with communication. Everyone has been really excited about building and designing, but no one has been talking to each other. This has caused problems, incorrectly fabricated pieces, and stalled progress.

So this afternoon the team is pulling ourselves back together (instead of continuing to pull ourselves apart), and talking things through. We've got a chassis 2" shorter than we designed it sitting on a cart as we work through putting the drive train together, and two subsystems mostly designed in CAD. Our AndyMark and BaneBot's orders both came in yesterday. All in all, it's going to be OK as long as people stop panicking.

It's a solid, simple design and I have absolute faith in my teams abilities, so long as we work together. With five more hours tonight, and eight hours tomorrow, we can get some serious progress done.

Then week four begins, and we'll see what happens next!

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Our 1st robot is structurally build and we have a mule robot that we been testing sensors on. We test and gotten to work the accelerometer, wheel encoders, and working on camera tracking this weekend. We have a long ways to go but should have one robot up and running by the end of this weekend and start to work on robot number two to have a practice robot.

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We have a the entire robot built except the intake (almost completed, just needs to be mounted), shooter (again, mounted), and finish turret turning. Electrical is almost done wiring board and will start wiring motors on Monday. We hope to have it driving and shooting by Thursday.

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2980 is sort of on track...I think!? We are in a bit of a holding pattern...In part because the frame isn't done being welded...we ordered some parts and had the wrong ones delivered, and they are now out of stock...We are waiting for a sponsor to get us some other parts...

While we really wanted to be ahead of schedule, we are sort of on schedule...but we still feel behind and are carrying a lot of stress because of it.

As for non-competitiveness...I think we will produce a pretty decent robot. Some of the other mentors and I feel that the team is a bit too laid back and hands off about it though. We struggle with things like fund raisers and essays...

The good news is that we do have a very friendly team that plays well with others though.

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3467 is doing good, but no matter what team, what size, and what week we will always be behind in my mind! :p

On a more serious note, I believe we will deliver a very solid and competitive robot to GSR and CT. Our shooter should be shooting by tomorrow and our drive base is cut and ready for welding the beginning of next week. Ball mechanisms are prototyped but we are working on the fine details to get the parts ordered.

All in all, The Scorpion is coming along nicely and I'm very excited to see what our regionals bring! :)

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Vets know this (at least i hope they do) and rookie's best piece of advice i can give you,

K.I.S.S

have fun as crunch time approaches

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we almost have a working drivetrain, but part errors have put us behind, notably on the CNC'd bearing blocks. also, we were sent the wrong gears, so we don't have our drive gearboxes finished quite yet, although we will still be able to drive in high gear. we've started to CNC our tower members, and we're almost done with our aluminum parts, though we still need to make all the tower pieces.

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My team is stilling working on drive train but programming is coming along great. Hope to have a rolling chassis built in a couple of days.

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Our team is a little behind schedule mechanically, but things are shaping up, and the turret is already built. We should have a functional robot by the end of the build season. Programming is on schedule, and we should have a good computer vision system by the end of the build season.

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Make sure you leave enough time to test your programming code nearing the end of build season to make sure it all is in check, I mean as a whole robot that is :D.

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Our team (1002) is having great progress, much better than previous years! We're aiming to have our robot fully done a few days before the scrimmage at Kimberly Clark around February 20th.

We're just waiting for our waterjetted base panel parts, and we should be getting our base driving around by wednesday.

We have complete designs with drawings done now, we're CADing and ordering materials for the shooter and ball capture system so we can build those. I can't wait to get this robot driving around so I can practice and maybe invite a few teams over to our makeshift field (currently in progress) for a practice session.

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I think we're doing pretty good!
We have our first chassis done, currently welding the second. Design "is never really done".. We're supposedly handing the robot off to programming in 8 days, so we'll have to see how it works out.

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527 is doing beautifully right now:cool: our robot is coming along nicely and was being driven at the beginning of the 2nd week. our shooting mechanism is done, but we still have a few more things too add here and there. For once, I think we might just finish even before ship day.

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Week 4? ALREADY?? :eek:

Ugh, we haven't even started putting the chassis together yet.

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It really sucks that we haven't had our frame rail welded yet.

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No Chassis. Only thing done is the field. Also, we have a test bed electronics board. That's about it... Code as no progress since Kickoff.

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Have you at least prototyped and inventored your robot?

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No prototype... Actually we are going with an almost identical design as 2012, just with different wheels... So we are testing with the 2010 robot. Don't ask me how I feel about it. See you in 2 weeks.

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I'm not going to ask you how you feel about it, however I will say this, You can get a lot done in 2 weeks. A whole lot. I know a great team who had their robot built at the competition with the help of other teams their rookie year. Reach out to other teams, get their help.

If design is something you have no time for, we at 256 will be more than willing to share some of our designs and help you along the way these last 2 weeks (and 3 days).

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Well, we got a practice bot all wired up, ready to work. We got our construction specialists building the real deal as you are reading this. We put on a scrimmage for all teams on Hawaii to come and practice, and we got most of the field done. We just need to make two more bridges and the Inbounder stations. We're not behind, nor are we ahead.

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We took a lot of things we liked about the 2006 and 2009 robots and adjusted/improved them for this game. we've been able to hand off the old robot as a testbed for the programmers while they work on the code, vision tracking, and the world's most difficult cRIO imaging.

We have a chassis ready and a superstructure that needs to be welded together, but we're waiting for the tower's gearbox to be delivered so we can get that off of our plate. After that, we can put the pieces together and mount the electronics boards.

The shooter is very up-in-the-air right now, which has everyone in a bit of a tizzy.

Hopefully we can get all moving parts roaring by the end of the week, so I can figure out where we need smoked or clear polycarbonate, what lighting we want, and the label sizes I need. More importantly, that puts us closer to getting a good automated scoring system implemented and a solid drive to test drivers with. The plan was to build fast so we have time to iterate if needed, and I think that's still solid.

I consider us to be behind until the robot can be confidently bagged, so needless to say, we're always behind.

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A little advertising here.. Check out our progress this week!.

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Hmm. I guess my team is doing pretty good! We have a fully functional drive base that does what we want. I shooter that is fairly accurate and can be improved, a turret that gives us nice aiming, a targeting vision system that can track the targets from a bit less than half court (mind you that is with the camera resolution halfed!) . We also have a sound prototype of a way to pick the balls up off of the ground and also to transport them to the turret.

Well then. I you guys are still able to accomplish all you want!


Still true!

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We, as of today, have a driving robot and a ball elevator and guides to lead to ball too the elevator, but not even anything close to a good shooter. We also have quite a few mechanisms to attach, such as our ball sweeper, our ball elevator, our bridge lowerer, and our non-existant shooter.

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2009 and 2010. I'm looking at you. :mad:

But anyway... I present a bad poem describing our situation (to an extent, we're not THAT far behind) for no apparent reason.

We're behind, oh my!
No light is in sight.*
Lacking in prints,
CAD unfinished,
Ideas bouncing around
uncodified and
not thought through.
Not a drive train is done.
No light is in sight.
Can I just go home now?

*It didn't help that yesterday our shop lost power, so literally, no light was in sight! :ahh: