Last weekend we moved out of the Granite Run Mall into our new space in Marple. We are very excited to renovate the space! There is a lot of work to be done in the coming months, but we can’t wait until it is ready for our teams!
Author: Tin Mints
World Championship in St. Louis
After winning the Queen City Regional with Team Titanium and the Pink Team, we qualified for the World Championship. Most of the team flew, while some took the thirteen-hour drive. On Wednesday, we went to the Innovation Fair, where we talked with a lot of FIRST sponsors, received giveaways and saw demonstrations. We then had to set up the pit (Shoutout to MOE for transporting some of our stuff). On Thursday, the qualification matches began (Newton Division!), and our rank fluctuated throughout the day, though our robot performed consistently. During our lunch break, some went back to the Innovation Fair and others went to Scholarship Row and tried liquid nitrogen graham crackers. That night was opening ceremonies, and several inspirational speakers announced the Dean’s List winners – congrats to those who won! Roboprom was also that night and thanks to Team 399 for a great first Roboprom!
On Friday, we played more qualification matches and our final rank was 60th. We met a lot of people from other teams, “sealed” some pits, and just overall had a great time. Saturday morning was the awards ceremony and alliance selection, and though we were not picked, we had fun the playoff matches. After the playoffs, Einstein was played on two separate playing fields, and Teams 118, 1678, 1671, and 5012 from Newton won! Closing Ceremonies consisted of Chairman’s being awarded to Team 597, and Dean Kamen speaking (Note: Dean’s Homework is to spread FIRST faster). The night went out with a bang with DJ Andy Caldwell, Christina Grimmie, and Boys Like Girls who were all fantastic. We had the best time and hope that we will come back next year!
Finally, thank you to everyone who made it possible to go to Worlds. Without your help, we would not have been able to experience something that for some people may be a once in a lifetime experience. Thank you!
World Championship
We were invited to compete at Worlds in St. Louis and we need all the help we can get! We need to raise $5000 by tomorrow morning for the registration fee. Please give whatever you can and together, we can do it!
http://www.gofundme.com/brm70c?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=email&utm_content=cta_button&utm_campaign=upd_n
District Competitions March 2015
Two weeks ago, we competed at the MAR Springside-Chestnut Hill Event with 35 other teams. Our robot performed decently, and we were ranked 18th. However, we were not picked during the alliance selection, but Jordan did win the hula-hooping contest in celebration of Pi Day. We took full advantage of the opportunity to work on the robot and decided what needed to be added and taken away. Between this event and the Upper Darby District Event, we added a ramp that would allow totes to slide easily into our robot from the human player station, downsized our chain (from size 60 to 45), and added supports.
This past weekend, we competed at Upper Darby. We performed much better here than our previous event. We made several stacks of 4, 5, and 6 totes in our matches. At the end of the Qualification Matches, we ranked nineteenth and were selected to be on the 7th alliance, headed by Team 5404, the Gearaffes, and accompanied by Team 1168, Malvern Robotics. We were knocked out in the quarterfinals, but we fought valiantly. We additionally received the Imagery Award (we were a little bit surprised when they called our team number) and Erin got Dean’s List. Overall, it was a pretty awesome day.
Congratulations to the winners 225, 2607, and 4460, runners-up 316, 272, and 5420, Chairman’s winners 321, and all the other teams at this event!
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| Dawgma’s “Sealed” Pit |
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| Hula-Hooping Champion of Pi Day |
Week 1: Hatboro-Horsham 2015
We are not competing at Hatboro-Horsham, though we are scouting, volunteering, and cheering on the other teams. There are some really impressive teams competing! We know we’ll have some serious competition at Sprinside-Chestnut Hill, our first district event. Good luck to all the veteran and rookie teams competing this weekend!
Here’s info on the Hatboro-Horsham District Event
http://www.usfirst.org/whats-going-on/event/13429?ProgramCode=FRC
Kickoff 2015
All teams around the world, both rookie and veteran, were anticipating the new season as they watched the countdown until the livestream began. After numerous delays and movie previews (Slingshot and Spare Parts), we were all finally able to view the new challenge! It is called “Recycle Rush.” Robots must stack totes and recycling bins and place pool noodles in the recycling bins. Watch the video:
Pre-Kickoff
The Tin Mints are currently sitting in the auditorium of Upper Darby High School waiting for Kickoff. In about half an hour, Kickoff will start. Head here for the livestream:
Lego Fury 2014
On Saturday, November 22, we hosted our second annual Lego Fury at E.T. Richardson Middle School. Ten teams came to our competition, which included Ridley’s FLL team, mentored by Erin. The Jr. FLL, FLL, and FRC girls volunteered at the event and helped it run smoothly. The 501st Legion came and people took their pictures with them! We had a 50/50 raffle, a best lego cake competition, which we auctioned off, and good food and music. After the matches, we had a dance party on the stage and everyone had a good time! Many awards were given out, and three teams are advancing to the Penn Championship in February. We had a great day, and special thanks to all the volunteers!
STEM Night at Swarthmore-Rutledge School
On Thursday night, a few girls on the FLL and FRC teams visited Swartmore-Rutledge School for their STEM Night. The FLL girls explained this year’s challenge and showed students and parents alike several missions on the NXT robot. The FRC girls demo-ed Rosie (from Ultimate Ascent) and talked to adults and kids about our program. Our old classmate was giving us some trouble at first, but after a while it turned on and we were able to shoot frisbees. Rosie is getting pretty skilled at making baskets past the half-court line. A lot of kids were very excited about joining a robotics team!
Comcast Seminars
On Saturday, November 15, we made our way down to the Comcast Building in Philly to listen to seminars about programming our robot and marketing our team. In the morning half the girls went to the Intro to LabVIEW seminar and the remaining girls went to the Business and Marketing seminar. After lunch, we listened to Women in Technology, which was very inspiring and insightful, and the Chairman’s Award seminar, which was very helpful! After the last seminar, our team walked down the street to Love Park and got our picture taken in front of the Love Statue. We had an awesome day and thank you, Team 272, for putting this day together!