[GeeTwo]

It may not be the most ghetto thing I ever saw, but we definitely made a data point last night. After three weeks of completely rebuilding the air cannon (which we traditionally do every 18 months or so, but this one made it simpler rather than more complex, yeah!), something in the arduino code just did not work. This code was finally available and tested to a fail at about 1700 (5pm), and the game started at 1900 (7pm). I took to the streets to buy starter switches, horn switches, and wire. After visiting three different auto parts shops, we got down to a wonderful fast build - everyone was out of the comfort zone, myself included. While we did not make the 1900 start of game, the robot rolled out before halftime with a 12 foot (3.6m) tether consisting of 8 12 ga wires (4 red, 2 green, 2 blue) to switch the four motors on starter switches and a four-conductor set of trailer wires to switch the two solenoid valve launchers, all in a wire handler bundle, coming up into a too-small radio shack project box (the only one in the shop, can you believe it?) with the switches. We could only drive forward, with slight turns by pushing only on one side, but we helped keep the home crowd entertained as our football team lost 21-3 to Covington. Official tryouts start a week after next, but a handful of our new recruits made the cut in my mind last night.