March 2nd: Robotics Meeting: The Butane Incident

Today was tiring but good.

We had a parent meeting today to decide the logistics of getting everyone to and from competition. Many parents stepped up, which was great, but we still need some more help driving people to and from competition.

When we checked on the 3D print for the battery holder, it was almost complete, just missing another 2 hours left, but the filament ran out. When we replaced the filament and resumed the print, it was printing off by a couple of centimeters, so we made the decision to just stop the print. The whole print was very rigid and it fit the battery perfectly. We are currently printing the support right now, and it should be ready by tomorrow morning when we walk in.

Our robot is looking very promising right now. The electrical team finished wiring up the the CAN bus and we were able to turn it on today. Awesome! They also moved some parts around to make it back in compliance.

Our new operator laptop also came in, and we set it up with all of the required software for competition.

We also set up the limelight with the google coral. It can detect notes close up now! However, when the distance of the note gets further away, it fails to detect it, so we'll need to figure out which AI model will work best for us.

For some reason, our Orange Pi for our photonvision setup isn't turning on. There might be a problem with powering it, but we'll have to debug tomorrow.

Anyways, now it's time to talk about The Butane Incident.

'Twas an unregular lunchtime in the LionBot Robotics 7245 workshop. We had run out of cups! I decided that I would run back home to get a bunch of red solo cups that I had bought a couple months earlier, along with the glue stuck that we needed for 3D printing, and the butane that the electrical team needed to use their soldering iron.

We had purchased a step down module so that we could power our ethernet switch. After some research and quick responses online, we concluded that we had to solder on the wires. Our regular soldering iron, which was electric, wasn't working well, but we had this soldering iron that was powered by butane that we had never used before.

Anyways, I ran home and collected everything that I needed to bring back to the robotics workshop. I gave Rico the cups, I sat the gluestick next to the 3D printer, and I gave the butane to the electrical team. I proceeded to get the print for the battery mount support started, then I got a drink.

When the electrical team was finished with lunch, we went outside to put butane into the soldering iron. I held the butane canister one one hand and the soldering iron in another, and I inserted the two together. Butane fluid spat out everywhere, and it quickly evaporated on the ground. It stunk like rotten eggs!

"Am I doing this right?" I asked out loud to myself. I tried inserting it again before giving up. Joana decided that she wanted to try, so I stepped inside and washed my hands. I decided that I should finish configuring and installing all of the necessary software for our new operator laptop.

While I was waiting for something to finish installing, I peered back outside. Matthew had pulled up a tutorial for the soldering iron while Austin sat on a stool carrying his umbrella, "supervising," while playing Retro Bowl on his phone. After Joana tried to turn it on, she wrapped the tip with a paper to prevent burning herself.

"Oh my god." I exclaimed out loud. "Are you sure you're supposed to do that?" I questioned. Joana held the switch for a while but nothing happened. I decided to step back inside.

All of a sudden, Bryan, along with a couple of other electrical team members, stepped back inside. Bryan came up to me and said something along the lines of "Butane, upon contact with the skin, immerse affected part in warm water. Seek medical attention, Butane, upon contact with eyes, seek medical attention immediately."

"Bryan, did people get butane on their skin?" I immediately asked.

"Yeah, Joana, Mariana, Matthew and I got it on our hands." he replied.

"Oh my god. I'm telling Mr. K." I said while getting up. After arriving to his desk, I told Mr. K, "Mr. K, people got butane on their hands."

"Why do we have butane?" Mr. K asked with a concerned look on his face.

"Our soldering iron uses butane as fuel." I responded.

"Alright, I'm getting up." Mr. K said while shifting his legs. I went back and out of the corner of my eye, Bryan was washing his hands in the workshop sink, while Joana and Matthew were heading to the office for more sinks. I went back to my seat to do more operator laptop setting up. Matthew came up to me when he came back and said "Issac, weren't you the first one who touched the butane?"

"Oh my god, and I touched my neck and face dammit!!!" I exclaimed. I rushed to the office to wash my hands as well. When I got out of the bathroom, Mariana was just stepping into the office, moving hair away from her eyes

"Did you get butane on your hands too?" I asked with concern.

"Yeah." she replied.

"You just touched your hair!!!" I pointed out.

"I know!!!" she acknowledged as she made her way to the bathroom.

Anyways, that was just my perspective of the crazy occurance today. I just wanted to tell it in a different, dramatic light. Hopefully we get the robot up and running tomorrow!

Thanks for reading,
Issac