​March has felt good, truly, at least in my eyes. While not perfect, the guts of Hal are completed, his upgrades are falling in line, and testing has finally become the focus.
But with that being said testing can bring anxiety and stress. But following the hedonic treadmill of life, testing also brings joy and excitement. (Did I use hedonic treadmill right, maybe not but you saw what I was going for right?)
Anyway, the flow of March has been such...
Test -> change -> test -> break -> revert -> fail -> change ->SUCCESS!
“Alright, heck yeah guys, let's call it a night. See everyone tomorrow!”
12 hours later...
Test -> smoke ensues (well not literally but... I mean you get it) -> FAIL!
Alright this is the frustrating part, but honestly, it’s also the fun part. How can the same code and the same hardware produce wildly different results. Well, it’s because the results aren’t wildly different, the margins are just beautifully exact. And the main culprit of this need for near perfect precision is the ultrasonic sensor and the Escape Route challenge. Who would have guessed obtaining a near 90-degree turn would have so much variation.
 So, the challenge requires eliminating as many variables as possible. Such as, ensuring start position is the same, that battery power is at 100 percent of 100 percent, and that the floor is level enough to prevent the ultrasonic from picking up changes in elevation. Reaching consistency takes trial and error. And after enough testing, we have achieved 3 flawless escapes, back-to-back-to-back. Now we just need to ensure that will also happen day-to-day-to-day.
In regards to the line following, *cough *cough, Lava Palava, my apologies... It feels like an overachieving child when compared to the Escape Route. Honestly the only thing was making sure we find the ideal angle to point the camera, and we even found a way to make it beautifully faster with an adjusted camera mount. The only snag we hit was when we added a makeshift bump out of cardboard to see how it would perform, and now that I bring it up... I worked hard on that bump!! I had to destroy my cat's favorite box just to gather up enough scraps! I mean I get it wasn’t ideal... and maybe the craftsmanship wasn’t great, but a little appreciation would be nice!!! Anyway, some Walmart card stock and one amazon package acting as a cardboard supply drop and...
Voilà, a beautiful bump that Hal can mosey over all on his own. (See bump down below) 

A HUGE thank you to our incredible sponsors who have made PiWars 2024 possible!

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Finally hitting an imaginary zombie is cause for a small robot celebration.

44 seconds!! Yet, still not our fastest time!

Have you ever heard 7 people collectively GASP at something they all KNEW was going to happen? If not, then please enjoy! Zombie Apocalypse: Take 1.

Check out the link at the top of our page! "Hackerspace goes to PiWars"! www.cnm.edu/news/cnm-hackerspace-club-wins-prestigious-spot-as-only-american-team-to-compete-in-upcoming-international-robotics-competition

President Jason felt we all needed a little piece of Hal with us at all times.. Don't worry we'll have plenty to hand out at #PiWars2024 !!!