Week one of the build season is over. Now, some may be asking, "What happens during a normal week one of the build season? And specifically, during UAC's first week?" Well, this article will cover those topics.
Week one of the build season was a hectic one. Again, the team was, as in the last 3 years, flabbergasted by the game. The goal of this year's game is to place large exercise balls known as "Track Balls" over what is called "The Overpass". By doing this one gains points. However, one can also score points by simply passing the finish line over and over, racking up the points. Here is a video of the game (the video explains it much better than I can): Link

After the kickoff the members of the team who went to the kickoff had lunch with team 2083, Team Blitz (http://teamblitz.net/index.html). There we networked and discussed designs for the game.
The rest of the team went to the CDC to discuss possible designs for the game and new rules. This went on until 4 pm at which we dispersed until Monday. Monday was mainly a brainstorming night in which we were divided in small teams to refine concepts. After which we presented our ides to the rest of the team and discussed them to a short degree. Overnight teams refined their ideas and on Tuesday we presented again. A final design was decided upon and the design process commenced.

On Wednesday the Software Sub-Team started work on the prototype chassis from 2007 to work on new software ideas. The Mechanical Sub-Team was further divided into smaller teams which consists of; Drive-Base team, Arm team, and Gripper team. The main chassis started to get assembled and Electrical started studying this year's electronics. Thursday was just like Wednesday except more of the main chassis was assembled.
Five more weeks to go!