Team,
There is no word that properly describe how excited, proud and accomplished i am after this weekend.
It is official, we are not making it to States but, i will tell you, it was by a very slight margin. 451 teams were competing for 160 spots and we finish in 159th. There is a few teams ranked lower than us that earned the Chairman awards and that will get them qualify for States, thus explaining why the cutoff is now at 156…
To put this in perspective, we are the 3rd team on the list and as of this morning only a handful had not confirmed that they were going. Therefore, it is pretty safe to assume that we will not be competing at the States this year. Nevertheless, the work that has been done and the skills that we learned are just something that will prepare us for next season.
Here is the FRC District for MI where we stand.
Furthermore, we ranked well beyond the top half in the States, we perform and overranked many teams that have been doing this for years. That is a great accomplishment all in itself.
Here is some of the positive things that we improved/learned that make this year so worth it.
- WE switched to Java. This is a big deal as this will set us for years to come. It also will provide a continuity between FTC and FRC.
- WE learned how to use Smart dashboard. This allow us to start showing sensors and robot data and use it to our advantages.
- WE learned to use on board pneumatic system very effectively.
- WE learned how to design an electrical enclosure and our cable/wire management was just phenomenal.
- WE learned that a welded frame is the way to go. Thank you Mr. Privaloff and Oakland Welding!
- WE learned how to properly wired and connect sensors, encoders and gyroscope… Next year we will use these sensing device to our advantage.
- WE learned to apply to the Chairman’s awards and the interview process.
- WE learned to make videos and published them successfully.
- WE improve on our pit and how to use our tools and system.
- WE had dedicated Safety Captain at both events and started a safety program.
- WE started to make our own parts using our Smithy machine and tools.
- WE improve our scouting. This will take years to build but we are starting to be in the right direction early on.
- WE painted and made our robot look pretty darn good. I was very proud to display our machine out there…
Most importantly, i see friendship being build and it was a blast for me to be one of your coach. I don’t want to speak for the others, but seeing this team grow and perform like they did was a very rewarding experience and i certainly hope that everybody had some fun through the season so far. This is what this is all about and I am looking forward to whats coming.
We will slow our pace down quite a bit, we have a few things to focus on, recruiting, documenting our learning and start training for next year. There is also a few off season competitions that we can sign up for that i would like the team to go to and show what we are made of.
Our next meeting will be Wednesday at 6-9pm. Hope to see everybody there!
Coach Seb