Cincinnati had the huge amount of hectic, exciting fun that always comes with FRC. Our first day was spent travelling and settling into our homey hotel, and loading in the robot.
Waking up at 6:15AM on Thursday, we ate breakfast and drove to competition. Our first practice matches went smoothly, scoring 2 high goals and almost scaling the tower. We quickly realized safety was practiced very differently in Cincinnati. Non-flowing skirts and shorts were allowed, and we had to reprimand a couple of people for having long untied hair while working on their robot. There were no safety chips to exchange with other teams, however there were "Star of the Day" forms to fill out. Lots of networking happened, as we introduced ourselves as the sole Canadian team. At the end of the day, our team marched home with our heads held high, and worked together to make our own dinners at the hotel. We also welcomed back our grade tens(or sophomores, whichever you'd like to call them), who had just finished their OSSLTs. Friday was busy with matches, bot repairs, and scouting. We started our day with a... imperfect version of the Canadian anthem (the sound coordinators did apologize for that), the elegant Japanese anthem, and patriotic American anthem. By the end of the day, our vision system had been jostled around during matches, which hindered our accuracy. Our safety captain was surprised with the "Star of the Day" award. We ended our day by eating hamburgers made by our mentors. On the final day, we packed up our bags first thing in the morning, and left for the competition. There, we competed with our fullest ability, only to receive 46th place and not be chosen for a final alliance. So, we ended our day early, and drove 6 hours home, through a little rain, hale, and finally snow. We finally arrived back home around 8, and went home proudly as a team, knowing we played the game the best way possible: with lots of gracious professionalism. Now we just have the Greater Lakes Regional to look forward to. Anyone who wishes to see us compete in our home territory should visit University of Windsor - St. Denis Centre next Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, between 8AM and 6PM!
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With Cincinnati fast approaching, our team has been busy with prep. Before competition scouting has been completed, new buttons have been pressed, forms to cross the boarder have all been completed, and our tools and bags are being packed as you read. We leave early tomorrow morning, with a 5 hour drive ahead of us. Crossing the border will be a nice change, and our team is excited. Sadly, a part of our team has to be left behind for a time, so they can complete the OSSLT. They will join us later into the competition.
Wish us luck in competition! To watch us compete, go to: https://www.thebluealliance.com/events Under "Week 5" is "Queen City Regional ," and a link to the webcast. Toronto was one hectic, exciting trip.
The first thing our team saw was the hotel. It was comfortable, with a playpen of bunnies and a pool. Though the Chelsie Delta hotel accommodated our team well, we, like most robotics teams, had hardly any time to relax. Every morning, we left the hotel around 7:00-8:00 for a quick breakfast on the way to the pits. The Ryerson University's rink is big, but not quite big enough for 41 pit areas and a playing field. We found this out as we adjusted to the two feet pit area reduction. Another thing was found out during our time at the Mattamy Athletic Center is that swerve drive wheels can be difficult to program. (Everything was functional... with the exception of the fourth wheel, which spun out of control every time we put electricity into it.) Despite some excellent assistance from Team 4001, we ended up having to reprogram our code to run a tank-style drive. Our drive team did some practice with the new system, and found that it worked well when you know how to control it right. We became able to shoot, climb, and cross defenses, the way our design was made for. That is, until our last qualifying match, when a bearing in one wheel snapped off. All we could do at that point was watch over our immobile robot until it came off the field, where we replaced the snapped bearing, and bagged it for the next competition -- Queen City, Ohio. In the end, we placed 39 of 41. While that may not be very high, we did learn from this experience. We were able to further understand our robot's workings, so that we can become a stronger competitor, and part of an alliance, later. We also made sure to keep our scouters informed, in preparation for any future alliance picking opportunities. Our PR department made sure to construct strong new connections with other teams. Our safety department graciously learned of other ways to keep our team safe as we work. By doing this, we continue to improve all the time. Please keep cheering us on in Cincinnati and Windsor! Best Quote "Team 4920 is looking for a used Mountain Dew bottle" -Speaker (It was for our vision system to see in green. Two teams were actually really kind in helping us with this!) Robot is packed up at 119lbs. Congrats on working through the season successfully as a team!
- Savo (head of design) #StopBuildDay So that's the end of our Stronghold build season! 6 more days until we leave for the Toronto regional competition. Until then, we'll be trying to make up for lost sleep and building our test robot. Thank you to everyone who supported us during these last six weeks, it's been so crazy and fun!
One day til build season! We will be watching the streamed release of the challenge, as a team, on Saturday, at 10:30 AM (ET). If you wish to watch the release too, click here.
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The Media TeamWe will keep updates coming as build season progresses and our robot comes to creation. Archives
April 2018
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