So after last year, I knew it was time to do a challenge that I have yet to do. I decided to do Open Lego, where you can build anything you want, and the judges will pick the best robot. At first I thought of re-creating my Lego Wall.E that I built few years ago that can move on it's own. But then the thought of re-creating the original Star Tours ride at Disneyland came to mind, and I thought, "Ya. That's one idea. But lets keep thinking." But the more I thought about making Star Tours, the more I liked it. I started running though how I was going to build it, then decided to go with that plan! But it didn't turn out easy. I ended up building lots of prototypes that didn't hold up the ride. Until I got it figured out one day. I improved the design, built a smaller Lego Star Speeder that would sit on top, then got on with programming! (Timing the part of the ride for where you are in a comet took forever.......) The rules were simple. You build a robot out of nothing but Legos, you can't have anything that doesn't have the Lego logo on it be connected to the robot, and after you show case your robot, the judges will take a look at your robot, and figure out which place it's in. What I had for my display, was the robot, a poster board, and my bigger Star Speeder, which is the first prototype that I made. Behind my robot, was a computer showing the ride moving in time with my robot. This is allowed, because the computer was not hooked up in anyway to my robot. Under the table was a charger with batteries in it. This was because when the power got low on my robot, I could just switch the batteries, and I didn't have to tell people, "Sorry. Low on battery. You'll have to wait."
I actually really liked this challenge. Because I got to do nothing but play with my robot! Some times, there would be a mass of people, and other times, it was quiet. Open Lego was right by another challenge just like this one, except with advanced robots. So at one point, I noticed that a large group of people were looking at the advanced robots. I figured that if I had my robot going when they moved along, I would be the one of the first stops due to where my robot was set up. Which it turned out that I was right! There were also quite a bit of people that lit up when they saw it. One teen was so interested in my robot, he would came back to see it whenever he got the chance. There was one man who wanted to know more about Lego robots. So I showed him the program, what it has, where he can get a Lego robot, and even told him what club I'm in. However, just like in the book of "Mouse Tales," there were some weird comments. I guess now that I look back, they were pretty funny. I remember one question, where after someone watched my robot for a little bit, asked if the bigger version of the Star Speeder was the new ride. Even though the bigger version looks the same, and there is a poster of the new ride, which does look completely different, and even has a card that says, "in the new ride." Actually, I think that was the most asked question. Some people said, "So this one here must be the new ride!" There was one guy who saw it, walked away, came back with little kids, and said, "Look! It's a walking robot! No.... Wait.... What is this?" I think the most "head-scratching" comment was when one guy said, "That's Star Tours! Ya. That's in Disney Universal." How he combined the two, I don't know. So I just said after his short speech about the ride, "It's not in Universal. But it is in all of the Disney parks."
When the time came for the robots to be judged, I started thinking that I would need to explain why I had tires on the side of my robot. But when they came over, few questions in, and one of them says, "Are those tires there to keep it stable?" I was so happy, because he got it right! I didn't have to explain it! They asked questions like, what was the hardest part? How long did it take you to build it? And how does it work? Now I don't know about anyone else, but the judges were the best. I didn't stay in the building too long after the judges. Reno Robot Club built a battle bot, and I had to be there because I'm part of the team. Long story short about battle bots, we made the other robot smoke during the second round, and made it though the full three minutes, which we did lose. (but we made it to the second round!) Then I went back to Open Lego, to find out that I ended up in third place! All in all, this was a really good day. And guess what? You've just read a really long story! Give yourself a hand!
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