thursday

Hello everybody,
Today was a sad day for everyone in Gatorbotics. But we know we have to finish our robot. It's why Doug did everything he did for us. That, and how much he loved us.

I didn't know Doug too well, but I remember when he taught me how to solder. I'm an excellent solderer now--I learned from the best. Doug was always extremely precise in everything, from the twisting of the wires together, being careful not to break them, to the application of the super-hot solder, without burning the wire. And of course you have to wear your safety glasses. Doug always made sure of that.

I think it's appropriate that I spent today soldering, and even better, teaching other people how to solder. We all wore our safety glasses, and our soldering was wonderful. We fixed a battery charger, which is happy because...now our batteries can charge. And we fixed up encoders and PWMs. And now two more people on the team know how to solder exactly the way Doug taught me.

In other areas of the team--some of us are working on the cart! It's going great, I think we just have to add a couple corners so the robot doesn't fall off.
Pneumatics-wise, we're trying to test if Free Willy will hold 150 pounds safely.
Caroline worked on code. The wireless is having a temper tantrum. Hopefully it'll calm down soon.

We miss you, Doug.