The above competition was held in Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NAP) on the 2nd of June. Had to do most of our preparations in NAP itself: sawing thin metal sheets and folding them into shape in the metalwork workshop to create our micromouse, and programming it in the computer laboratory to help it navigate through the maze.
After a week we shifted base from the laboratory to the lecture hall, which was the actual competition site. Felt sickly around this time, but dismissed it as fatigue. We were working harsh hours --- Haoxin even fell sound asleep in the toilet once --- so I thought nothing much of it. Turned out after the competition that I'd contracted chicken pox, and unwittingly transmitted it to my secondary four seniors with the O'levels only six months away. Oops.
The actual day of the competition was a rather grand affair, methoughts. Two extra stands (those used in S-League stadiums) were wheeled in and joined with the original seats in the lecture hall to form an arena. And right in the center of it all was the micromouse maze.
Our mouse did well to win the race, but our teacher-in-charge thought we'd finished second behind RGS and demanded a re-run on the grounds of dubious time keeping. So a re-run between the top five mice was ordered. And we really did finish second behind RGS this time around. Sigh... the narrow margin of victory. Anyway we were handed the Most Creative Mouse award, as a consolation, I'd imagine. Most creative protest, more like.