Hey everybody! Hope that you have had a good break so far. The robotics team has been working very hard for the last 3 weeks since stop build day to get the robot running and presentable.
  This week we had our very first visit to the machine shop in 2014! Very exciting for everyone. On Tuesday (March 4) Kayli and Harris went down to provo to the machine shop at 6 o'clock in the morning to work on the design for the shooter. The next day 8 people went to the shop and got the full tour of UIS's establishment and how they make the things they do. We learned amazing things about our sponsors and the shop that we have been working in for several years. We also got to hear a safety precaution from one the workers at the machine shop. Everyone is thankful for everyone of their fingers.
  This week has been a busy one what with the Utah competition inching closer and closer every day. Its but a lot of pressure on the team to get the robot ready and perfect for competition. The team has been up to the challenge though! We keep forging on.
  Update on the robot: The machine shop was ready and eager to help with the shooter and the structure should be on the robot and running by Sunday night. The intake is steadily chugging along and should be read about the same time as the shooter. Very exciting to those members of the team that remember taking off each bumper and replacing it with the right color one, this year we will have Velcro covers to our bumpers meaning that instead of taking off the entire bumper we just pull the velcro down to reveal the other color!
  Today three people went down to the machine shop to work on the shooter and other things, they are promising us that the engravings on the shooter will be fantastic. We also had another work session at school from 12 to 8 during which we started working on the flipper that will deliver the ball to the shooter and the mechanized intake both of which will have some pneumatics part to it. The Rookie bot had the upper part taken off because we need the base sense its very close the the actually system that we will us in the competition (shape wise). We made goal after goal in an attempt to understand the shooter better and shoot over the truss many times. The day ended with a productive feeling and full stomachs thanks to the Fishman's.
   The next week with be a very stressful one for the team but we will pull through and win Utah to go on to St Louis. Hope everyone will go to the Utah competition and cheer 3245 on!
 -Sage Moreland:D