Entries by Student Blogger

Wednesday afternoon the drive team and pit crew drove down for the regional in Boston. They worked all day long to help finish FIRST set up the arena, which still had not been completed. Thursday morning they set up the pit and they continued to work on our robot, PHS Thunderprise, to get it ready for the qualification matches on Friday. Before they began to work, our robot could only shoot 1 in 10, and barely climb to first. By the time they finished late Thursday night, we could shoot in autonomous and climb to the third level. I am still amazed at what we managed to accomplish in such a short time.

Thursday after school the rest of the team, me included, went down to Boston by bus. Seven long and tiring hours later, we arrived at the hotel. First we had to get lost, but what’s a trip without a bit of sightseeing? Once we arrived, the team had a meeting, rooms were assigned, and we all gratefully went to bed. The next day, Friday, was when the challenges would begin.

Friday came much too early at six in the morning. By six-forty we were back on the bus and heading toward the Agganis Arena. When we got there we were the first to arrive and we got into a line that had yet to exist. At eight o’clock they let us go upstairs to the arena and we got front row seats right behind the judges. That meant our best behavior had to be exemplatory. For a while we all milled around in the pits and the stands, finding old friends and meeting new ones. Then our announcer, Angry Eric, came onto the field.

We started the day just like any other competition, with the standard rules and the national anthems. This time we had three to sing. The United States, Canada, and even Brazil were present. The anthems ended and the day began. Some robots were doing better than others, a typical day in the FIRST arenas. Then, tragedy crashed down on team 88. Their robot fell from the third level of the pyramid and nearly sent them out of the competition for good. Yet, this is FIRST. We don’t let anyone go without a fight. Other teams pooled supplies and resources and before you knew it, they were back only four matches later, ready to try again.

The day ended and we all clambered back onto the bus, some of us ready for strategy and some of us ready for Quincy Market. But, as fate would decide it, our bus got both lost and trapped in the difficult Boston city streets. Though our trip to the market was nonexistent, I got to see a lot more of Boston life than I expected. Including a really awesome bridge that lit up blue. That was probably my favorite.

We all split up into smaller groups and went our separate ways to find ways to feed ourselves. The first two places my group went were either closed or too full, so we ended up getting Mexican. I’d never had a burrito. They’re strange. Good, but strange.

When we reached the hotel once again we had a short team meeting, and then everyone was sent to bed to sleep. We had one long day ahead of us. Though we didn’t know it at the time, it would be filled with grief, success and a vicious pride.

The next morning started a bit later, and we arrived at the arena a bit later too. This time there was a line to wait in. Again, they let us in at eight o’clock and we bolted down to the front rows of the stands. The qualification matches ended just in time for the Elimination ones to start. But before that could happen, alliance selections had to be made.

The top eight teams stood side by side and back to back, picking out the robots that they believed would complement their strategies the best. The eight teams picked their first alliance partner, and then it went back around to one. At this point, our team had all but given up at being picked. There was no way—no way in the world—that the number one alliance would look at our robot once, let alone twice to pick us. I suppose the world works in mysterious ways.

“Team 125 and 126 would like to request team 1511.”

I don’t know about the rest of the team, but I was stunned to near silence before remembering to cheer like a madman. And that’s what we did. We screamed ourselves hoarse. I don’t think Mo even had to say that we accepted at all, we kinda did that for him. Then, the elimination rounds began.

We were up first. We won once, then twice without even a blink of the eye. With our robot able to climb to third, and theirs able to shoot over 120 points, we were set for the semifinals. When we went up again in semifinals, we won once, then twice. A bit of worry, but we pulled through. Before I knew it, we were in the finals. The finals. Everything we had worked on for six weeks was about to either crash and burn, or fly so high.

And high we did fly.

Our robot was one of two robots in the competition that could successfully block the monster of a shooter that team 3173, another Rochester team, had without falling over or crashing. Though team 846 was determined to deter us, we plowed on through. We won the first match with a higher score that I had felt possible. The second round started and we all held our breaths and screamed ‘til our throats were raw.

That’s when we got the two technical fouls against team 3173. That’s when we were sure we had finally lost.

Then the scores came up.

We had won.
We had won.

Some of us started crying, some of us started laughing, and all of us screamed until we could scream no more. We had won. We were going to championships. We had won.

On a side note, we also got the Gracious Professionalism Award and the Safety Award. Our safety captain, Shayna, got the safety star award. But after winning the regional, our minds were other places.

Mentor Note:  It's really more than a side note that we got the GP Award and Safety Award, and that Shayna got the Star of the Day for Thursday.  Our students and mentors in the pits worked very hard on Thursday and Friday helping teams get ready and stay ready for the competition.  We logged over 80 individual times of providing team assistance. We also provided several volunteers to help the event run smoothly. And although we didn't come home with the Chairman's award as we had hoped, we know that our Chairman's Presenters represented us well, the students in the pits talking to judges represented us well and the students in the stands
cheering and scouting represented us well. As a mentor, I am very very proud to be associated with this team.

Thursday, February 28, gave way to the start of the Finger Lake Regionals. Also better known around here as FLR. These competitions continued through Friday and most of Saturday. They started out on Thursday with only essential team members and of course, the robots! Friday saw the dawn of the qualification matches. The whole team got up bright and early to catch a bus to go over to RIT. Like always, we arrived a bit early and had to wait. That’s okay though, because we were able to practice our cheering for the judges.

They finally opened the doors at eight o’clock and we all rushed in. Though we had to be a little civilized for the judges. We quickly found seats in the top few rows and started laying out all our scouting equipment. We were fortunate enough this year to have prototypes of Harris tablets. We waited around and got to meet other teams before the opening ceremonies began. I don’t know about anyone else, but I got a lot of buttons!

Angry Eric came to the field and the ceremonies began. And after that was all over . . . . Let the games begin! Each team was randomly paired with two other robots in an alliance. The whole goal of the game was to get more points than the other alliance. Whether it be through shooting Frisbees, defending, or climbing the pyramids.

Unfortunately our robot decided it didn’t like competing, though our drive team was excellent under pressure. We couldn’t have asked for anyone better.
While they were all driving or scouting, the rest of us got to cheer on our friends and our teammates. Not to mention go down to the pits and get more buttons. Most of the team members went wild with the help of Tess with face paint, hair spray and hair chalk. Bright red hair and camo faces helped to pick us out from a crowd. Not to mention our normal uniform.

Friday ended with an award ceremony. Larry got the Woodie Flowers award and Cianna was named a Dean's List finalist. I don't think I've ever cheered louder in my life! They definately both diserved it.

Saturday came with an even earlier awakening and off we went to repeat yesterday’s process. Waiting, talking, cheering, Angry Eric, and opening ceremony. We finished off the qualification rounds and began the eliminations rounds with the alliance picking. The top eight teams got to pick two others that they thought would help them the best. Though Rolling Thunder was not chosen, being a spectator was more fun that I had anticipated.

Cheering on our friend and teams, screaming support until we couldn’t talk or breathe. It was so much fun, and so tiring! Saturday ended and we got the Gracious Professionalism award! Running and high fiving the judges was awesome! Then, sadly, Saturday ended and we all had to go home. But we’ll be ready for Boston, you can count on that!

The team is still behind schedule due to a mid-day blizzard that caused us to miss a day (Said day was when I intended to write this update). The storm was dissapointing since the entire team was spending time getting seriously important stuff done up until that point.

The students and mentors are lavishing attention on the robot right now, and while we're not going as fast as we wanted to we should have the robot finished close to on time. The Drive Train and Bumpers are operational and the climber has been added on. Currently we just need to finish and attach the shooter, get motors on the climber, and wire the whole thing up. Then we will have a completed robot!

The control team has all of their needed parts and only needs to assemble and paint their namesake peripheral now.

Programming has finished everything that they can do without a completed robot.

When I went to ask, the students working on Chairman's said that they are making slow but steady progress. I did not bother to get extra details.

The team is, tragically, behind schedule, but we're catching up!

The people in G4 are numerous and hard at work at CAD designs.

The first pyramid has been finished by the field subteam. I can personally attest that it will support the weight of 3 robots on it!

People in the G3 shop have began to sculpt parts for the robot.

Marketing has finalized the design of the 2013 team shirt! Now we can wear team shirts at our competition! They also did buttons. Yay buttons.

 It's Friday and the first parts for the robot have arrived! We are painting and assembling more of the robot now.

First, another congratulations to the Drive Train subteam for finishing the first Drive Train!

In order to work at an accelerated pace, the CAD-related subteams have moved to G4. As such, I am no longer going to ask them about their progress because it's distracting. The Wiki should contain plenty of information on Mechanical's status. Good luck to Mechanical!

Electrical has finished sensor selection and qualified sources have assured me it was very fun.

Programming is working on the code for our new drive train right now.

The 2013 Game Test and 2013 Tools Test are now open! Everyone should start studying! The Tools Test is exactly the same as last year but if it isn't broken you don't fix it.

The control subteam is waiting on their parts to arrive but once they're here they should be able to assemble the controls very at lightning speed.

Marketing is working very hard on seriously important things, such as the business plan and our new team shirts design.


Working on the drive train of Arrbeetoo