FIX IT is publishing our FTC engineering notebook as it was submitted to the Judges when we were nominated for THINK and we won INSPIRE at the Houston FIRST Championship in April 2017.
We’ve created a Google Drive folder containing PDFs for each section of our engineering notebook.
We’ve added a Engineering Notebook Tips resources page to our web site. There are tips and a checklist teams can go through in order to improve your notebook.
‘Twas the night before Interleague, when all through the shop
Not a tool was stirring, all came to a stop;
The robots were set by the front door with care,
In hopes that the teams soon would be there;
The teammates were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of ciphers danced in their heads;
Programmers in their cave, and I in my chair,
Had just settled down for a coding nightmare,
When from down the hall there arose such a cry,
I sprang from my seat to see what was a wry.
Fleeing from the room, and threw open the door,
A pile of pieces, the bot was no more.
With eyes wide and fear on their faces
the teens were frozen, in their last place ,
Minutes passed by, in painstaking fear,
Then finally, with tools, the builders were here,
An urgent nature, not time for the past,
They needed a robot, and they neeeded it fast.
More rapid than eagles its parts they all came,
And it whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
“Now, MOTOR! now, SENSORS! now, SERVO and CORDS
On, SWITCHES! on POWER! on, CHANNEL, REV BOARDS!
To the top of the lifter! to the wheels on the base!
Now build, fast as you can, put it all into place!”
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the field the builders they flew,
With their arms full of tools, and metal parts too.
And then, in a miracle, I saw such a view
The bolting and fastening of each little screw.
As I drew back my chair, and was turning around,
Down the hallway, our robot, came with a bound.
It was covered in Sharpie, from its head to its wheel,
And the base all covered in bits of steel;
A bundle of wires they had flung on its board,
And it looked like a mess, just there in discord .
It’s lights, how they twinkled, it’s patterns, a delight!
To think that this happened in less than a night!
Its flicker was drawn up, stored in tow,
Until the jewels so near were set up in a row.
The grabber was sitting at the back of the bot
It wasn’t as easy to build as they thought
He had a broad frame and a little round tube
But when they tried it fit in the sizing cube.
Since September they dreamed of the perfect first cup;
The cipher all scored and the relic standing up
But twas not to be at least not right now,
But this lesson they learned, such was their vow
They spoke not a word, but went straight to tests,
And checked all the boxes; even threw in a jest,
And laying their finger atop the control,
The drivers content the bot was a-roll;
they sprang to their feet, the bot stored away,
the team mates were weary but excited for the day
But I heard them exclaim, as they drove out of sight,
HAPPY INTERLEAUGUE TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!
Thanks to Slater Kovac-Szabo for inspiring us to complete the poem!
Link to a PDF of the poem.
https://fixit3491.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Twas the night before interleauge.pdf
FIX IT competed at the Washington State Pasteur Interleague event on December 16. It was a great event with some matches having high scores over 400 points. It was fun watching all the different robots and we had fun meeting the other teams. Continue reading “Washington State Pasteur Interleague Event”
Today was League One in Washington State. We’re in the Knuth League with about 12 other teams. Our new team members found it really exciting, and a bit nerve racking. Ines and Emily got to learn about how a league competition works, and how to go through inspections, as well as what a competition is like. Continue reading “Washington State League One Event”
FIX IT set up a FIRST exhibit at the British Columbia Teachers Conference in Vancouver. In partnership with FIRST Canada FIRST Robotics Competition representatives, we pulled off a pretty exciting display. Teachers were encouraged to drive small driver bots made with FTC technology, and talk about how their students could participate in a FIRST program. Many of the 6,000 teachers came through the exhibit during the 15 hours of the event. Continue reading “British Columbia Teachers Conference, Oct 20-21”
On the way to the Washington State Kick Off, we were given the exceptional opportunity to tour the largest building in the world– the Everett Boeing Manufacturing Plant. One of our alumni was able to join us for the tour, and it was also a chance to hear about his first year in engineering at University. Continue reading “Boeing Tour – Sept. 8th”
Hello FIRST teams!
At the end of August, many areas in Texas were affected by Hurricane Harvey. FIRST in Texas has asked for the support of other teams, to help teams in areas hit by the hurricane. We could all make sure that they don’t have to do any fund raising this season, when the money in their community should be going to things like food and shelter.
FIX IT would like to issue a challenge to all FIRST teams. We’ve donated our team number ($34.91) to the FIRST in Texas Harvey Fund, and we’re challenging you to do the same.
Donate here: Help Texas!
We need your help to spread the word. Please post it on social media channels. Ask the organizers if you can make an announcement at your local Kick-off. If another team has already signed up for your Kick-off, get creative and find another way you can get the word out.
Please fill in the form, to show how you can help: Sheet
Thank you and please share this link!
FIX IT 3491
Hi!
We need your help to spread the word about the effects of Hurricane Harvey on the FIRST teams in Texas. Donate to help these teams fund their 2017-18 season.
FIX IT 3491
In the afternoon, all the teams were invited to Dean Kamen’s house for dinner. Even though we had been warned about the grandeur of Dean’s house, we were amazed by the sheer number of gadgets that are displayed throughout the house. It was practically a museum! Apparently, his library has a secret passage to DEKA. Unfortunately, we couldn’t spot it. Dinner was in the hangar where Dean’s Helicopter normally is (it was sitting outside today).
Every year, the DEKA engineers create a cool and sophisticated gift for Dean Kamen. It’s called “DEKA Christmas”! Our favourite gift was a floating light bulb that could still turn on while floating. There was also the “World’s Most Inefficient Orchestra” which super-heated plasma to make sounds, the doorbell rung by electromagnetic cannons, and much more.
After the dinner, we went to Mel’s Funway with Combustible Lemons (the St. Louis Inspire Award Winners). We ended up spending four hours there and had an amazing time. Go-Kart racing was our favourite activity and, due to some excessively aggressive driving, we had some exciting crashes. Laser Tag was a free-for-all blur of fluorescent lighting and fun shootouts. Thankfully, in between the intense activities, we played a few rounds of Mini-Golf.
Tonight was a great way to end the Festival of Champions.
Today we attended the first annual FIRST Festival of Champions in Manchester NH. It was an awesome event.
The winning alliances from both Houston and St Louis were preparing together to perform as well as possible. The FTC Alliance from Houston captained by team 724 Redneck Robotics, team 4216 Rise of Hephaestus, and team 8651 Wait For It worked together to hone their strategy, especially in autonomous. Redneck and Rise of Hephaestus worked out their autonomouses to feed particles to score again. The St Louis Alliance captained by 8686 Height Differential, 6929 Data Force, and 5916 BoBots had cool robots. All three teams had a colour of Orange and so they called themselves the Orange alliance, they even had special shirts made up.
The matches were very exciting. Ultimately the Houston Alliance won it in four matches.
FRC was also happening at the same time. There were some very exciting games. Houston won the first two matches but then St Louis returned to win three in a row ultimately taking it with world record score of 588.
We also got a chance to meet the Combustible Lemons the team that won the Inspire Award in St Louis.
