In an uncharacteristic moment of wackiness, the reserved turtle joked, "Here I am, Baby, served on the half shell."

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Not from an egg, but maybe from an egghead (just teasing, Catalina),

this turtle was born in January 2001. 

Phase One Design:

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This was the very first model Catalina had of Mr. Turtle. Catalina soon realized that the device to move his head in and out was very limited and awkward; eventually she used a gear track instead.

New design for the Neck.
This new gear rack was so much more reliable than the prior system of mobilization. It also allowed Mr. Turtle to stick his head in and out for a longer and more noticeable period of time.

Rough version of Mr. Turtle
Because the gear rack was so long, a platform had to be created on top of it so that the Handy Board would have some place to sit on. The small wheels were chosen because they were close to the ground just like a turtle!

Mr. Turtle has a new head.

After the head and neck were made, Catalina realized that Mr. Turtle was moving too fast to be competing against Mr.Rabbit. She had to re-gear him and re-position the wheels so that he would have more support in the back. Even with that he resulted being too quick so someone suggested that a weight be used in order to slow him down. That did the trick.

Mr. Turtle with his new shell. Not naked anymore!

 Crossing the finish line!
That sensor that is taped with the duct tape is a reflectance sensor that we used in order for it to sense when it got to the finish line. All we had to do was set a threshold in the code and it worked every time.