GRITS

But we're not talking about the breakfast food.

GRITS is the Georgia Robotics Invitational Tournament and Showcase and it was recently held at the World Congress Center. The robotics competition is for the more advanced FRC teams, but FTC teams are invited to participate in a showcase. Quintin and his dad went to represent Team Ctrl-Alt-Del.

They took our robot, even though it was still in the very early stages of building. They got to see other robots, which was very helpful. And they got some pointers from more experienced teams.

It was a good day!

Let the Building Begin

Finally...we are starting to build! Unfortunately, we are also "un-building." There is a lot of trial and error going on right now. But we are discovering what will work and what won't work.

And of course, SAFETY FIRST!

Brainstorming, Ideas, and More Brainstoming

We are so ready to begin building. But we realize that we need to have a plan. So the brainstorming begins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FTC Block Party!

Saturday, September 7 . . . a day everyone has been looking forward to. Why? It's FTC season kick-off. This is the day when all FTC teams learn what the Robot Game is for the season.

We went to the kick-off meeting at Southern Polytechnic in Marietta. (Morgen couldn't be there.)

And we found out it's a Block Party! We have to build and program our robot to put blocks in the goals to score points. Here is the video that announced the game:

After we got all the details, we started brainstorming. It's going to be a great season.

Announcing . . .

While we are itching to get busy building a robot, we know we have to take care of a few details first. Like a name for our team.

We listed everybody's suggestions on the flip chart. Then we started discussing and eliminating. There were a bunch we thought were fun, but we didn't think we'd want to be stuck with them for years or we couldn't imagine still liking them if we were doing this as high school seniors.

We narrowed it down to the final few, then we started voting. The last one on the list, and our team name, is

Ctrl-Alt-Del

We really like it!

Other details to cover are our team roles, team rules, and season timeline.

After finishing all of it, we presented the information to our parents.

 

Thanks Team Twisted Axle

Since we are a rookie team, we are really grateful that an experienced team helped us kick off our season.

Team Twisted Axle, FTC team 6047, is from Praise Academy in Powder Springs, Georgia, They drove all the way to Johns Creek to be at our first team meeting.

The team brought their robot from last year and demonstrated things like the drive train and the scoring mechanism. It was great to see an actual robot. It gives a really good idea of what we we will be doing this year. We also spent some time learning about programming. And the coach spent some time with our coaches and parents, giving them some tips.

It was a very helpful and inspiring day!

Welcome to our blog!

Team Ctrl-Alt-Del is a community-based FIRST^® Tech Challenge youth robotics team based in Johns Creek, Georgia. Team members live in Johns Creek, Duluth, and Dunwoody, Georgia.

We are

• Morgen Feldhahn, 1^st year in FIRST^®, 13 years old, in 8^th grade at Cornerstone Christian Academy

• Jackson Grant, 2^nd year in FIRST^®, 13 years old, in 8^th grade at Cornerstone Christian Academy

• Quintin Kerns, 7^th year in FIRST^®, 13 years old, in 8^th grade as a Home School student

• David Knight, 1^st year in FIRST^®, 13 years old, in 8^th grade at Cornerstone Christian Academy

• Jean Carlo Paez, 1^st year in FIRST^®, 13 years old, in 8^th grade at Duluth Middle School

• Mandy Kerns, Coach, 7^th year in FIRST^®

• Diane Grant, Coach, 2^nd year in FIRST^®

Over the course of the season, we will design, build, and program our robot to accomplish tasks that will score points when we compete in the Robot Game at FTC competitions. We will compete against other teams at the local, regional, and national level, and have the opportunity to win awards for success in the robot game as for well as for community outreach, robot design, and other real-world accomplishments.
 

Quintin Kerns and Jackson Grant, two members of Team Ctrl-Alt-Del, were a part of the previous year’s FIRST^® LEGO League Team #4805, the Determinators. The Determinators won the First Place Champions award at the Georgia State Championship, which was held at the Georgia Tech Student Center on January 26, 2013. Forty-nine teams participated in the state Championship, representing the best of the 506 registered teams in Georgia for the season.

Kerns, Grant, and the Determinators represented Georgia at the FLL World Championship in St. Louis in April 2013. They also hold a provisional patent on the Determinators’ invention and won numerous other awards during 2012-2013 season.

THANKS FOR FOLLOWING OUR ADVENTURES!