Updates From The Build

We have been refining our protobot.  We have been placing the electrical components to the protobot  like the jags and the C-Rio so our robot can work efficiently and so our programmers can program.

On our feild element front we have worked on our rail grinders.

We have tested our autonomous.

Week two and ready to go work…well harder now.We have started prototyping our robot doing our 3-D modeling. Our 3-D modeling is coming together nicely, our modelers are learning and quickly.Our prototyping is going as planed as well. Our field elements are coming along and looking good. We are working hard on our website and learning local servers.

Hello everyone!

With receiving an award for our website and making it to second place in regionals, we’ve just come from our most successful season yet. Last year was great, yet this year we have set our goals higher.

With a new year came new additions to the team. Two new mentors in the engineering field have joined us and newly joined members have shown interest in programming, mechanical and electrical fields of work. We had a meeting this wednesday in preparation for kickoff at Brophy this Saturday during which we introduced new members to the program and the purpose of FIRST. In addition to the new members, a new video card has been applied to the team’s PC. This will make the jobs of our 3D modelers faster and easier.

Just a quick post today. David Wells, one of our parents a columnist for the Arizona Republic, has written a piece about us with special emphasis on all our parent support, which I’ll include here. It’s true, that part of our success in regionals was our ability to pack the bleachers with parental supports and fans. More than that, however, they played an important part in the build season, providing food, mentorship, and sponsors from their places of work. It just goes to show how it takes more people outside of the students and mentors to pull off a season, especially one successful as ours. So, a quick thanks to all the parents and volunteers who helped feed us and expanded our knowledge bases, as well as our coffers. I’d say more on the subject, but I think Dave does a better job than me (and we thank David for writing it.) It’s a wonderful piece, so I hope you’ll read it (click on it to expand.)

Forgive us for the few hours delay, but we were all bone tired from the competition, and took a lazy Sunday off. Now, onto the highly anticipated news:

WE GOT TO FINALS! After seeding fifth, we got chosen by team 60 (The Bionic Bulldogs), who was third seed. Along with team 1165 (Team Paradise), we fiercely battled our way to the final match, beating team 1212 (the Sentinels), team 1011 (Team Crush), and team 3785 (The Gila Monsters), team 1492 (Team Caution), team 1726 (The N.E.R.D.S), and team 3577 (Saints Robotics.) Worthy opponents, one and all, and we are thankful we had the chance to compete. Then, we got to the final boss: team 330 (the Beach Bots, who had the most wins, seeding second), team 2662 (The Robot Krew, seeded 28th, but was a powerful scorer), and team 842 (Our old friends Falcon Robotics, whose lead the alliance seeded first.) In two difficult matches, we unfortunately didn’t make it, but it was good matches all around. That still left us in a commanding second. So, while we won’t be going to St. Louis, we have shattered our first year’s success to semi-finals. On top of that, we have medals and a trophy to prove it!

So, in review, this has been our best competition yet. Coming home with three awards, the most of any team from the regional, we had an astounding time. We achieved our ultimate goals of Engineering Innovation and the website award (which continues ahead of us, making it’s way to nationals.) This means, that at least that part of us will be at nationals. We proved ourselves to be strong competitors, and made our way to the very end. Our only pitfall was that our excellent minibot, which garnered high praise from the inspectors, never got deployed to make the race. Overall, however, it was an amazing time, filled with new friends and success.

Pictures to come, and more future plans to be announced soon. See ya then!