Today I implemented a 4 motor drive base onto my robot. It wasn't veyr great, but at least I could control it... because one side accelerates faster than the other! But, I have an idea to solve this. Instead of writing my drivetrain code on 2 forever loops, I could run mine on 3, so there is the driving, the variables for the left side and variables for the right side. Also, I want to finish this robot BEFORE THE END OF THIS WEEK!! I have been saying that "I am finally finished my robot!" but I don't actually finish the robot.
Also, I tried to troubleshoot with online videos, but the one I watched was trash. That team's robot uses a 1:1 gear ratio, so I'm not going to trust them, and in rapid relay, their robot was a conveyer belt with no catapult. Like, Bro. So many other people could do better.
Today I found out that 4 motor drivebase is trash, so I spent a whole hour just building the 2 motor drivetrain back. Maybe after our team makes this robot, I can get a head start on whatever's the new meta. For example, I really want to have a high capacity robot that can have more than 3 stacked pins at a time. So, yeah. But, I'm excited about what Shen Lao Shi and He Lao Shi have in store, because last year we based our whole design off of their starting robot. I'm sure that they will have some ideas.
In our first match, I hope we will be with a 180 mech. I'm sure that we will have 2-stacks and they will just stack our stacks onto more beams to make stacks. The only reason that I didn't have a 180 mech is because 180 mechs are really slow at scoring. You have to align, clamp, align again, clamp, rotate, clamp, and then unclamp, taking some time. But, with a conveyer you can just intake and drive to the pins, then just drive where you want them to go, and undo the pneumatics.
Today is the last day of local hoops summer camp. The coaches had us do fun things like king of the hill, drills like 1v1s, 2v2s, and shooting exercises. And, I got a compliment from not A coach but 3 coaches of being creative. So, there was one drill where you were stuck in a corner and had to dribble out, pass to a coach, then shoot a layup, and it was my turn. Gulp. But, I thought of a stratagy that I always do on Kyle. When Kyle is running towards me, I throw the ball over him and catch it after it bounces. So, I thought "why not.". And it worked! I cooked one guy and the other defender was trying to catch up, and I scored an easy layup.
And I can't even wait for tomorrow! Me and my friends might sell popsicles like we did last year, and we made around 75 - 100 dollars, and I got 20, I think. This year, whatever I get, I will split with Kyle, and we will combine our money and divide it between each other. The only bad think about going to the park is that the fireworks are pretty late. Yeah, you have to wait until it's really dark, but you don't have to wait until the sky is PITCH BLACK!!! (it starts at 10:00 PM!)
Today is the 4th of July, but we will not be watching the fireworks because tomorrow I have to catch a flight to Nevada pretty early. So, we didn't go. But, I still had a ton of fun playing with Vincent. Since he had a bunch of Nerf Guns, we had a nerf war, and I shot him a bunch, but I dodged and blocked with a squishmallow banana. Sorry! I feel so bad now.
But, I also played a chinese card game I liked. Even though I didn't understand a lot, I still had lots of fun being a spy and killing the rebels and king. It was really realistic, too! In 三国演义, There were 3 kings, and 3 warlords, but there were also a bunch of rebelious people, and there were betreyals every now and then, and so on. But it was really exciting (save for the mass killings)!
Today me and my mom went to Carson City (the capital of Nevada. You can look it up.) to see a museum. But, it turns out that there was a car show happening just then!! They were all really old fashioned, but I liked them a lot. I especially liked the minis, and so did my mom (she likes small cars), but I also saw a hot rod with a really giant engine that you have on real drag race cars. It had little flaps and all of that stuff. It was a really low pickup truck that was purple.
In the museum, there was a really cool underground gold mine, which showcased how people used to mine. They didn't just use a gigantic drill and just go "bzzzzzzzzzzz", they had to use a method where they used wooden structures to hold everything upwards.
Yesterday I got home at around 10:30, so I was really tired. Though I was really tired, I still had to go to soccer training with coach sam. Not that I hate it, but it is always very intense, so I had a headache the entire time of training, but the training was still pretty fun (I megged a certain Derek Chen). I'll tell you about Davidson now.
There were 2 main buildings at the summer camp: One had the cafeteria and the dormitories, and the other one was for studies. On the first full day, the study was coding with javascript. Everyone coded a rocketship flying upwards, but I think my rocket was the best because I had real coding experience. I'll tell you about the second day yesterday.
Also, me and Henrik (my roommate) exchanged emails, so we can talk to each other. Yay!
Yesterday I went to the Electrify Expo for electric cars, bikes, scooters, unicycles, weird combination of a skateboard and an electric bike, and more. I really wanted to ride an electric bike really fast, but the line was too long and I didn't get to ride it because I was "under age". I could have sworn that there was at least 1 person younger than me, but whatever. There were actually 2 bike places; a bike called a Jackrabbit, and a motorcycle - looking one that was really cool. I didn't get to do either because I was too small (as I explained).
But, I got to ride on an electric scooter. I didn't really enjoy it much because I rode around on grass, which was pretty bumpy, so I was like "u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-uu-u-u-u-u-uu-u" the whole time, and I didn't go very fast because I didn't want to kill myself on a bump, so I went slower. But, I feel like that scooter is worth it, because for the time that I rode on the cement, it felt like I was on a hoverboard.
here is a picture of me on a drift thingy...
Today was the second day of Barca Camp. We did a lot of ball handling and passing drills. It was really difficult, but I survived. For lunch, I had a sandwich with turkey, lettuce, and cheese. It uses a special bread called "sourdough", which is a bit sour, but that is the best part! It is sour enough to taste good, but not sour to the point that it tasted rotten.
Also, the end of the day we had scrimmages. Yesterday we had friendly matches, but now we play for real. We lost the first game, but we won the second.
Today Kyle had a soccer game against crossfire RCL 5. Since his team beat RCL 4, I thought this game would be a little bit easier, but it ended in a 3 - 0 loss. Because Kyle's team lost to Rangers (11 - 2; they got whupped so bad!) and only won 1 game against RCL 4, they will not be in the finals against the rangers. I really have no idea how Rangers beat them 11 - 2, because I feel like RCL 4 is better than Rangers, but you never know about it. I mean, we lost to RCL 4, too, but only 3 - 2 (lucky free kick). Partially because we are the A team, so we did twice as good as them, I guess.
I also am pumped for Coach Sam's practices. Even though they are really intense (I have something that hurts in my foot), I feel like it really is helping me get better at dribbling. Now, I am not scared of dribbling forward more in midfield.
Today I was at soccer practice with coach sam, but thankfully my blister didn't so much as scratch me when I was running. I even got 1st place in a friendly running competition between the players. Since the day was about shooting, I was really excitied, but I got more excited when there was a goalkeeper trying to stop us. It was really fun to score in the side netting when you shoot, but you also go like "Aaaaugh!" if you miss a shot, especially if you miss with your strong foot. Why? You have to alternate feet when you shoot, so the next time you shoot with your strong foot, you have to suffer by your weak foot.
Also, I plan on doing some robotics today. I need to make sure everything is working before I show Eric and the team about it. I already showed it to Eric, but that was when it didn't work that well. Now that I made some changes, I think it should be better.
I really wanted to fix my robot today, but I never remembered to do it. Also, I have a habit of looking up random phonk songs to listen to, and that also wastes my time. When I was playing a chess game, I also was reading, so I didn't do my absolute best, but I think I still tried. Tomorrow, I swear, I will at least finish the code for the drivetrain and get the robot up and running.
I am also thinking of my next robot. I really need to include a beam, because just using a beam with 1 pin is 11 points! Every hole covered on one beam is 10 additional points including the stacked pin, which is not very fair, because that just means that 180 mechs are just overpowered, getting a bunch of points. I think maybe that's what I will make next.
Today I remembered to fix up my robot... by breaking it! I really wanted to make a robot that could get the pins upside down so I could stack the 3 stacks in the beam for extra points. It's around 150. But, according to Capped Pins, the max score with a conveyer belt robot is 369, way more than I counted. I counted around 200, but yeah. I have no idea how they got to 300, but whatever. Maybe with a bunch of 2-colored stacks I could retain 300 points.
I encountered a problem along the way: My conveyer was really weak, so I couldn't figure out how to make it stand upright since it was so flimsy, but I thought about my old conveyer. It used beams on the outside to support the conveyor part, so that's what I'm going to do tommorow.
Today I tried to mount my conveyer to my robot, but there were a bunch of problems with it, so I will try to solve all of them. My biggest problem is that my conveyer isn't close enough to the ground to get a pin, so I have been trying to lower the conveyer, but that didn't work, so I will have to use a wheel to pull the pin inwards. My robot will look very ugly, so don't mind.
Also, I need to definatly ask dad for help.
Today I am saying sorry for not writing my diary for several days. But, in my defense, I was at Surf Cup in San Diego, and all I did was play chess with Elijah (I lost again to him, last time I played I lost in a pizza bar), and even scored a goal at surf cup! I think I did my best, but I think that my teammates maybe could do a bit better in defending, but otherwise I have nothing to say.
I think that I have improved a ton at soccer, and I can comfortably carry the ball without a doubt that I will lose it, but I still sometimes lose the ball. I also think that I should dribble more and don't be afraid to take people on because I am a great player, nevertheless! All great players make mistakes sometimes, but while amutuers have their head down after a mistake, great players keep their head up because they know that they are truly great.
Tomorrow is the first day of surf cup, and we play against Dragons FC. Dragons FC last year relied on one star player on their team, and the score was 5 - 4, a crazy game (Theo scored a bicycle kick!!), but I didn't play well, so yeah. I need to step up on defense, but I feel like playing in San Diego helped me develop my skills, so playing in Washington will be a bit easier, not like I should stop trying. I still need to play my "A" game, and I can't let them score quickly. I need to step to every loose ball!
But, I'm also excited. If we win this tournament, I think we will move up the rankings quite a lot, but I don't know. Last time we lost to Crossfire RCL 4, and they didn't even get the opportunity to go to San Diego to showcase their skill.