Competition Highlights

Hey, guys! So it's been a while since we last updated, and as you know, the competition happened in the time between then and now. Of course, I'm sure you're wondering how we did, so here's what happened.

On the morning of the competition, we drove to Maxwell, where the competition was being held, and set up shop in our own booth. We had inspection and setup done quickly so that we would have time to look at the robot and make any repairs that would be needed in the future. Before we could start the robot matches, we would have to go into a room for judging. There we would tell the judges all about our season, what we did, and how we did it. We made sure to include as much detail as possible without going over the time limit. They like to see a lot of outreach and creative innovation for ideas on the robot.

We left the judging room feeling pretty okay, and went to start the robot matches. Our first match was a bit difficult because our motor control malfunctioned and stopped working right before it was our turn. We had to work fast if we were going to compete in that match, and we managed to get it working just in time, which was quite serendipitous. We have videos of some of the matches that you can watch.

In our first match, we learned that the debris on the ground was going to be a real pain to drive over. We kept getting stuck on it and it would clog our wheels to the point of being unable to move. Thankfully, we never managed to stay that way, and we managed to finish the match.

As the matches progressed, we realized that the amount of time that it took for is to hang was far too much  for us to do it in the two minutes and thirty seconds that was there. But every single match brought us closer and closer to hanging, and in the very last match we were so close that we would have only needed about three more seconds and we would have hung.

The extremely cool part about all of that was that everyone there began to watch us, in hopes that we would hang. They began cheering us on, and even the judges wanted us to hang so badly. I'm being serious when I say that we were the only team there to come as close as we did to hanging. And that fact really encouraged us to keep going and to not give up.

Finally, the matches ended and it was time for the final alliances to unite. Unfortunately, we weren't chosen, and we didn't participate in the final rounds. However, during the awards ceremony, we were met by a surprise. We won the Motivate award, and we were third place for the Inspire award! We were so happy, because this allowed us to advance to the state competition in February! Normally, our team doesn't advance from the first qualifier, but this year we did, and it was awesome.

After the awards, everybody cleared out and we followed the yearlong tradition of going to dinner with everybody after competition. We went to a Mexican place down the road and had dinner there, and I think it's safe to say that we were so tired that we didn't need desert that night. We had a great time, and everyone went home.

The perfect finish to an awesome competition!

Now we're back at the garage, trying to figure out ways to make our hanging faster, finish our scoring mechanism, and also hopefully find an easier way to shoo debris out of the way so that we won't get stuck on it. The real competition has only begun.

Here are some pictures and videos of the competition from the 12th.

Crash coding - am I right?!!!

Rehearsing judging lines

Our banner. :)

Outside the judging room!

During the judging period.

Done with all the presentational speaking, WOO HOO. :D

It's robot time.

So far, so good.

Inspection time.

On the practice field.

Trying to fix our motor controller right before the first match.

WE'RE ADVANCING!!!

WE ALMOST HUNG!! AAAH!!!!

Winning the Motivate award. :)

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Building a Bot

We are making progress on building the drive train. Soon we will be ready to test drive it and see if it will climb the mountain.

Drive Train v. 1

Drive Train v. 2

We Are Raising Funds!

We are taking the advice of our fundraising mentor to heart and creating a crowdfunding page. We are a little nervous about it because we have never asked our friends and family for money before. But we trust Kimber when she says that the biggest reason people don't give is because they aren't asked. And we think we are a good investment!

We choose Piggybackr as our crowdfunding site. It allows each team member to create his or her own page, the team will get it's money even if the goal isn't reached, and it transfers money to our team bank account as it is given.

Check out our team page: https://www.piggybackr.com/diane_grant/ctrl-alt-del-ftc-team-7361-help-us-build-our-robot-fundraiser

We hope you will consider supporting our team!

Kickoff!

On September 12th, the team traveled to the FTC 2015-2016 kickoff! There we learned about the robot game, which we were told was called "Res-Q." The game this year is crazy! There are so many ways to score points, it seems endless. If you want to see what we will be doing, here is the link: Res-Q

The team also split up to go and attend some of the "workshops" at the kickoff, where they would learn about specific things such as java, how to use social media to spread awareness of the team, and other topics that would be needed later in the year.

After the kickoff ended, we all went to Chick-fil-A to brainstorm ideas on how to score the most points in the shortest time possible. We came up with lots of drawings and ideas on how the chassis should look and work, and I think it's safe to say that we're off to a great start.

We still have an enormous amount of work to do, and we are nowhere near being done with anything, that's for sure. We're keeping our heads up, and looking towards the future with open minds, and creative fingers.

Second Official Meeting!

Although it's really early in the season for us, we're hoping to get off to a great start so that we can finish even better. We're all working hard to overcome the struggle to learn Java, but it's pretty difficult to learn a new language in a few weeks. Our spirit is big and hopeful right now, and can only get bigger.

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Helping Hands

Our mentor, Tom, invited the team to his house to help him with a service project. He and his wife have friends with a 22 month old daughter who is has severe visual impairment. She was born prematurely and that is one of the effects. Her name is Sanjanna.

We built  something called a Perkins Play Space. It is basically a box with plexiglass sides and toys hanging from the top that she will be able to lay in. It is supposed to encourage her to reach out and be able to explore by touch. Tom had all the parts and our job was to build it.

First, we reviewed the plans and decided who would work on what. David, Jack, and Mr. Kerns began cutting the pieces. Jackson and Mr. Grant worked on cutting the holes in the plexiglass for the top. This is what the toys will hang from. Quintin and Tom planned for assembling.

When had been working for while, Sanjanna’s family came by to meet the team. We met her mom, dad, and brother Thomas. We learned about Sanjanna and the problems she faces and how the play space will help her. 

After a quick dinner with everyone, we said goodbye to the family and got back to work. By this time, we were assembling the frames for the sides. We also used Tom’s CNC machine to write a bible verse on one of the frame pieces.

We had to leave before it was finished, but Tom doesn’t have much left to do before he delivers it to the family. Not only did we learn a lot, but it also felt really good to do something for a special little girl.

Potato Cannons and Lawn Mowers

Our mentor, Tom Pappagallo, invited to his house for a day of fun. It was awesome! Keith Grant was also there.

First, Tom helped us build a potato cannon out of PVC pipe. We decided how long each piece needed to be and then cut the PVC. We made an firing mechanism using a starter from a gas grill. We inserted screws in the pipe at an angle. Then we attached the wires from the firing mechanism to the screw. When the firing mechanism was pushed, an arc was created between the screw tips inside the pipe...success! We then taped the firing mechanism to the pipe.

Next we assembled the pvc pieces to create the cannon. We cleaned the pipe where it would be joined and used PVC glue to connect the pieces. Then we left it to dry.

After a great pizza lunch with Tom’s wife and little daughter, we moved on to the next thing.

 

Tom had gotten three used lawn mower motors so we each had one to take apart. Piece by piece, Tom had us disassemble the motor as he explained how it all worked. We learned a ton. It was very fun!

 

Last, but not least, we moved back to the potato cannon. We had to try it out! We cut the potato and put it in the barrel. Then we put the butane into the combustion chamber. Quintin did the honors and fired. It worked!!!

But the success was short lived. We couldn’t get it to fire again. We think it had to do with the fuel we used. But it was time to leave so we were unable to finish troubleshooting it. Jackson took the cannon home, and we’ll work on it at a later date.

It was a great day!