[118 Tech]

What makes the Robonauts Team 118 unique? I have a lot to say, I’m in college now and miss being on our team. We are one of the first FIRST teams in Houston. NASA/JSC means something a little different to us than other teams because not only do they sponsor us, we work on-site at Johnson Space Center. Up till 2001 we have worked in JSC’s building 9. Building 9 is the building that houses full sized shuttle mockups that the astronauts train in. Parts of our robot have been machined in the same machine shop as flight parts for space shuttle missions. Now we work at NASA’s Sonny Carter Training Facility. It is home to NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab or NBL, one of the largest swimming pools (there have been many late nights where a dip in the pool didn’t sound too bad). We work next to a giant baked potato looking thing. Actually it is a backup space station truss module that is covered with some protective wrapping. Some of our NASA engineers, Rob, Bill and Fred, have been on the Discovery Channel’s “Inside the Space Station” talking about their Robonaut arm project. This robot will replace astronauts in some space walks for the space station and has very dexterous human-like hands. Lucien and Scott, two of our other engineers, have started many FIRST teams and some even in other states. Not to mention the other great engineers on our team, hey there veredyw. At nationals every year we hold an engineer vs. student water fight. From the time we get into Florida the war is on. In 2000 the war encompassed most of All Star Music. People were getting thrown in to the pools. People were staked out waiting for engineers with waterguns. Us students even used radios to talk to each other. In 2001 we had a set time and held it in this field just outside the FIRST complex. We even had people form other teams join in. Finally at nationals last year our cart had a lightbar and siren from a real cop car and is made from the front end frame of two Chevy Malibu s. That’s all I can think of for now. Im just glad I had the privilege to be on a team with the great resources and people we did.