[Bob A]

Sanddrag,

If I didn't know better, I would think that someone was bribing you to say all those wonderful things about the robots we build! (Maybe that wasn't the best way to put it at this time, but I guess we’re all entitled to say a few ignorant and ridiculous things now and then!).

For several years you have been continually congratulating us on the quality and aesthetics of our robots and it has really meant a lot to us. Thank you!!!

You have been to our classroom and have seen the wiring that gets hours of attention to just make it look perfectly symmetrical: every connection with exactly the right length of shrink-wrap applied in correct position…only to be hidden under a panel. You’You've spent time online, on the phone and in person talking about the details of not how to make it just function, but how to make it work better and look cleaner than ever needs to be. You also know the countless hours that have gone into determining the best color scheme, graphics, and fonts just to make it look like a top-notch professionally built machine. And you know how MUCH this drives us all crazy!!! And you know who to blame for all this madness…Travis Covington!

Yes, we have a few others who are great fabricators, problem solvers, and whatever, but when it comes to quality…we got Travis! Not only does he do much of the initial design work, (based on the STUDENTS ideas – go team!), he also does most of the CAD work, he’s the main mentor to show the students HOW to engineer and build a robot, and of course he’s the “tyrant” that insists that it MUST be built well and look even better.

Every member of our team KNOWS that the Motorola Quality award is not really OUR award but Travis’. True, we ALL did the work, but just doing the job is not this award is about. It’s about going beyond…WAY beyond the average build. Yes, we do all try to live up to Travis’ expectations, (it’s the way he taught us!), but without his sometimes insane drive to make things perfect, we would just have another boring robot.

Bottom line – Thanks, David, for noticing (and for letting others know as well). We don’t do nearly enough to show off what our students have accomplished and we…I… appreciate your help! Also, it was great to see how your team, 696, has seemed to come alive this year! Keep up the GREAT work! You have developed into an awesome team!