[Kiwi]

Team 847 had some interesting debates immediately after kickoff because in lunacy, we're suddenly faced with a game where nobody actually knows what will and won't work. We have almost as many newbies as veterans on our team this year, which means that although they don't have bad habits about things (like jumping to conclusions regarding design), they have yet to learn some of the good habits (such as knowing when we need to stop arguing details of design and just choose a bot to build), either.

We were a little bit behind schedule on deciding what kind of a bot to build because of all the unknowns, such as how many fps we could expect to drive and whether the robot would be able to steer. As of yesterday, though, we're onto the second prototype of the manipulator and have the first prototype chassis completed, and Electrical is festooning SoftBot with sensors while the mechanical subteam attempts to retrofit it with rover wheels.

We also have a pretty clear timeline of everything that needs to get done before ship date, and even (in theory) time for driver training for once.
We've been able to to acquire a few orbit balls from local stores and with the help of friends in other states, and we're trying to make replicas of them so there'll be enough to use at scrimmage. A team parent built us a mockup of the goal, which is really helping with testing of all the prototype designs.

Good Luck!