USST, for those who haven’t been following the games (and haven’t watched the trailer clip) are the consistent top performer in the games. True to form, USST is fielding a very impressive system this year, based on the TRUMPF laser platform.
USST carries their pet optical lab in a shipping container known as “The Sea Can”, or simply as “Betsy”. Betsy is full of surprises, having been fully tricked-out on the inside to include a full mission control room and an optical systems clean room.
USST had a pretty rough time getting to the test week, however, and almost didn’t make it all – after numerous delays, their 30-hour drive turned into more of a 60 hour drive, and by the time they were set up on the lakebed it was Friday, 1:30 pm – 90 minutes before we had to pack it all up.
Pretty frustrating to drive down all this distance only to briefly toggle your system and not even complete a single test.
We’ll be working with USST on another testing opportunity (Schedule coming up soon) and will get them a fair shot at qualifying. The games are about “let the best team win”, and we’ll do what we can to let each system reach its potential.
Left to Right on this picture:
- Doug Grant
- Nathan Windels (Electrical Team Lead)
- Mark Boots (VP Engineering)
- Andrew Williams (Mechanical Team Lead)
Team Captain is Patrick Allen






For the obvious reasons, I invariably get too busy to blog exactly when things get interesting...
