This is it: the final product, the fruit of our labors and toils, the result of much blood, sweat, LEGO-fu, and hours in lab (many hours in lab). We have braved and survived sub-zero temperatures, blizzards that dumped 30+ inches of snow on Cambridge/Boston, and the Mystery Hunt DeathFlu of Doom, all for this moment...

...

...

...

...as soon as Bertha gets the code the way she wants it, that is.

And Joyce decides to put an actual Katamari ball on the front of the 'bot. Complete with a Prince of the Cosmos and requisite random items to roll over and pick up.

Clearly, by this point, we're all rather punchy.

...

We're not addicted to that game. Honest.

Anyways, for the actual competition, the 'bot had some trouble with movement the first round, which resulted in a loss. Since there was only one round in the morning, though, we advanced to the second round, held at Kresge in the evening.

After a few problems with the RF resulting in our 'bot false starting, then the other 'bot false starting, the competition continued as planned.

Much to our, well, surprise, our 'bot went through two more rounds of competition, until losing to the highest seeded robot in the competition. Yes, we were shocked. All we were hoping for was that the code worked and nothing blew up.

Adding to our shock, we also won something: the "Most Interesting Robot Decoration" award. This also added to our amusement. Our fits of boredom turned out to be useful. Who knew?

And thus, tired, happy, and with something to show for it, our 6.270 experience came to an end (except for Ash, who had to make the webpage as penance for being too sick to be at the competition...).