The new location for Chuck's playing field.
 

That's right. We got an Ames store :) I don't know of how many people know of Ames...but for the people that don't: it is (was) a store like K-Mart or Walmart but a bit more crafty. Due to money (and the lack thereof)...they closed all their stores including the one in our local town. Somehow, one of our engineers said we would be able to use the empty store for our purposes. This means building a playing field. As of right now, we're building a cheap-o ramp and the lines are put down with duct-tape. Our players station are 6' clothes racks with some sort of shelf. It's a five minute drive from the school were we build the bot and the majority of people on our team drive (or own) trucks so transportation is no problem.

can i start hating you now? :)

Yes you can...

Yeah...sure...whatever. I'm too busy thinking about how we're going to fill the 42,000 sq. ft. we got for free. :D

So...are you renting the place or what?

Nope. We aren't paying anything. We're just...there. We may get kicked out if it's sold, though :P But who would want to open up a store there? It's in a really bad location.

So you are just using an abandoned store as your teams "squat?"


as for the 42,000 square feet, i can only thing of one thing



Episode of the simpsons:

Bart buys a facotry for one dollar at an auction he walks into.


Once inside his factory, he finds a rolling chair and a fire extinguisher



You do the math

hey- you've got motors, why not build motorized scooters or something and build some kind of racetrack.. that'd be lots of fun!

I remember that one. Although inside our Ames, we found a whole bunch of stuff. It smelled like moldy carpet (possibly due to the mold...on the carpet...no maintainence since September and it's been wet.) There are boxes and boxes of hangers (which we have been using for weights to hold down our mock-ups :)) There are also shelves and racks. And, well, a security system that works (sorta...it beeps, but it doesn't call the cops).

_42_,000 feet. Is that a geeky coincidence or what?

I was thinking 'LAN party' :D Industrial power and lots of empty space. Wee!

If your ceilings were high enough, you could actually host a mini-competition there- that'd be the ideal place for one..

Hook up last years bot to one of the big goals, teather it, and ride around on goal with the robot pulling you.

we worked in an old grocery store just like your place last year, and had our robot stolen 2 weeks before ship. make sure you know every single stinking way in and out of the building, we thought we did...

asher

It is way cool place.... except for the bad part of town thing.... we shouldn't have to worry about the bot since we will not leave this years there.. only go there for testing and such....

I would really like to have an open house for teams that would want to come up and 'match up' before the ship day.. tis would be fun.

We put anything that we left there that was worth anything out of view unless they enter the store. And if they enter it, the alarms goes off. It sounds like it calls the cops :) The only thing seen from the windows are old beat up racks. The most valueable thing left there was probably a caster wheel or maybe the ramp. :D