T-Minus 5 Days Until FTC Detroit World Championships!

This season has been one to remember! So far this season we have accomplished a lot, and we made it to the World Championship for the second year in a row! As a late blog post about State, long-story-short, we were a part of the winning alliance. We want to thank team 11316 Weapons of Mass Construction for picking us for their winning alliance, and team 5143 Xavier Robotics for being a great partner. At State we also won the Control Award, an award given to team's whose control feature enhance robot performance with the use of sensors and other algorithms both in Tele-Op and the Autonomous Period. 

For State, the most minerals we put in the lander during a match was 31. But since then we have made many changes to speed everything up. We replace Core HEX Motors with REV HD HEX Motors, changed our box so it has a lid, and implemented a quad-intake with spindles every 90 degrees) Last week we were able to put in 41 with 4 miss-drops! Once we clean up those miss-drops and get used to the new parts, we should be in the 44-48 mineral range for Worlds. (The link for that practice run: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp3Qc6Fuccw) 

We can't wait to see all the amazing teams there at Detroit!!!   

Our Presentation at the Science Center of Iowa!

On the 27th of December we were able to present to both campers and the general public at the Science Center. The campers, who were in grades two through four, got to go through three stations. One was learning how to program through the Hour of Code platform. The next station was learning how to build with Tetrix parts, bolts, and nuts.  It was really cool to see the creative structures they made. Lastly we let the kids drive our robot on a mini field that we set up.

Then on to our public demonstration. We had tables set up with awards, match replays, and general robotics information. We also set up a field so people of all ages could drive the robot while we walked around the area and answered any questions about FIRST, FTC, and anything robotics.

World Record at First Meet!

We had an amazing first meet. Our autonomous always hit the goal mineral at the start and we were able to deploy and latch most of the time. Also, we got a high score of 221 with team 5340 Waukee Taukees which according to team 11115 Gluten Free is the best score in the world.

First Meeting of the Year (In a New Area!)

Like the other 7 robotics teams in our school, we will all be meeting in the Waukee Innovation and Learning Center, the building that houses APEX, one of our districts unique programs to encourage more applied and higher end learning. The wide space will allow us to actually interact with the other teams in our district. This will allow us to help younger teams without having to go to their school or plan times ahead! The space includes meeting rooms, machinery to produce custom parts, and well... space! In the first meeting of the year we discussed our major goals for the year and brainstormed how to achieve them. We can't wait for the game reveal in a week!

We Won the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award at Worlds!!!

Whoa, what a week. The FTC World Championship was a four day event of awesome robotics. After three days of qualification matches, we finished fourteenth out of 64 teams in the Edison division. Unfortunately we were not selected by any of the alliance captains to play in the divisional semi-finals. Then came the awards ceremony. The awards for the Worlds Championship are contested for by the amazing 128 teams at the event. Therefore, winning an award is very prestigious. The Rockwell Collins award is given to the team whose robot/robot component displays 'out of the box' thinking in solving the challenges associated with the game. We were overjoyed for just getting nominated of this award at such a high level of competition. But that's nothing compared to the feelings we got when we were announced the winners of the award. Winning that award was a big deal for us, and ended the season with a high note. Thank you to all of the judges and volunteers who made this possible, as well as our mentors and sponsors for giving us this opportunity.

1st match at World Championships - Cipher in 1 min 8 secs, 3 Glyph Auto, 2 Relics

Presenting to Our Teachers

We were able to get 10 minutes before a teachers meeting to present to all of our school's teachers. The presentation was about FIRST and how robotics isn't just for builders. Above: Us presenting to the teachers. Right: Us practicing before the presentation.