On Saturday, February 13, Panther Robotics received a visit from government officials following the legislative breakfast. Team members gave tours of the shop and explained this year's robot. The delegates learned about the many benefits of the robotics program and the students' personal learning experiences.

The Chairman's Award essay was submitted last weekend. This 10,000 character essay summarizes what the team does to benefit the community and spread the values of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). This is the most prestigious award and the team hopes to earn their sixth regional chairman's award this year.

The website committee spent the week finalizing the website. The final website must be submitted by Thursday, February 18. The committee added a page for pictures and added pictures of the new members. The website can be found at www.pantherrobotics.com.

Team members voted on the final designs for the fun shirts this year. The shirts will show "the original Kansas robot", the Tin Man. The shirts will be worn on the first day of competition and at various community events. The graphic designs for the trailer were also completed this week. The decals were donated by Kansas Sign Works.

During the fifth week of the six-week build season, the build committee was very productive. The kicking mechanism was completed and mounted to the robot. The "ball magnet", which will make it easier for the robot to control the ball, is almost complete. Controlling the ball will make it easier to shoot accurately.

The programming committee designed a way to determine how far the robot moved during the autonomous period at the beginning of the match. This will help the drivers determine how far they are from the goals. The programming committee also completed an automatic shooting control.