The final stretch

Robotics members worked on their skits, programming more mission models, building their base robot, and gearing up for competition today!

Competition member announcements:

• For homework, the competition crew needs to review their portion of the skit.
• If you didn't bring a shirt to Ms. Potral, please bring a plain white shirt by Monday and Ms. Potral will make our team shirts.
• Programmers - review this site: 
• Information on Schedules: http://www.nxtprograms.com/index1.html
• Teams should check-in at their Qualifiers at 7:30 AM. TEAMS SHOULD NOT ARRIVE BEFORE 7:30 AM. Tournaments are expected to last until between 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM depending on tournament size, with judging ending before lunch break from 12:00 – 1:00 PM. The breakdown of tournament schedules have been included below. (Note: The information provided here will be constantly updating, so regularly check this schedule for any updates regarding the event you have registered for)
• SAMPLE SCHEDULE - Individual Tournament Experience may vary
• 7:00 AM | Volunteer Check-In
• 7:30 AM | Team Check-In
• 7:45 AM | Judges Meeting
• 8:15 AM | Coaches’ Meeting
• 8:40 AM | Opening Ceremonies on Tournament Floor
• 9:00 AM | Matches and Judging begin
• 12:00 PM | Lunch
• 1:00 PM | Matches Resume on Tournament Floor
• 3:00 PM | Matches End
• 3:30 PM | Closing Ceremony on Tournament Floor

Practices left:

• December 3 - All members
• December 6 - Competition members
• December 7 - Competition at Westwood
• December 10 - Party!

We will start the spring semester in January with everyone building robots and a fresh start! Thank you all and have a great break!

Mission Status

Today, our teams were focused on naming our missions for our competition, getting our skits ready, finding answers to judge questions, programming our base robot, and building our base robot. Everyone had a job and everyone was hard at work. We are excited to see it all come together.

A few announcements as we reach the end of our first semester:
We have just a few practices left -

• Friday, November 22 from 2:45-3:45 (FOR COMPETITION ONLY)
• Tuesday, November 26 - ALL
• Tuesday, December 3 - ALL
• Friday, December 6 from 3-5PM (FOR COMPETITION ONLY)
• COMPETITION DAY - Saturday, December 7 from 7:30AM to 4PM at Westwood HS. More info will be shared next week in terms of what time to get there, what supplies we need transported, etc.
• OPTIONAL DAY - Tuesday, December 10 at normal time - PARTY TIME

We will continue robotics in the spring, but dates will be announced when we return from winter break. Spring robotics will be building for everyone and should be a great time for all.

Thank you, all, for your support during our first year of competition robotics! 

3 more official practices left this season!

This season has flown by! Thank you to all who have worked hard to make our first competition season happen.

Right now, the competition team is figuring which of the 12 missions they want to focus on to conquer. They are also building a robot to conquer those missions and a program to help control the robot. Our researches are nearly done researching wildfires - our project. And, our presentation crew is nearly done writing a script to share with the judges for why our solution is the most innovative.

Both teams have been hard at work and have been completing all tasks!

We only have two practices left before Thanksgiving and one after it. We will have a robotics party on 12/10 at our normal class time to celebrate our season. Then, we will break until after the new year so stay tuned for more information on our spring season.

For those in the competition crew, we will also have practices on 11/22 and 12/6. Our competition is on 12/7. Location is still waiting to be announced. All competition members must be in attendance. Those in the non-competition team are encouraged to come, support their team mates, and learn more about the game as they will be in it next year!

Thank you all for your help!

Committees coming along

Today, committees created plans for the presentation - the props, characters, and story line - drew out plans for their robot, created a list of research questions and persons of interest, and began programming the robot.

We now have four meetings until the competition! For those in the competition, we will hold two extra practices on 11/22 and 12/6 after school. Please check your email for calendar invites. Students in the competition team also need to be sure to complete both forms out online in order to participate.

There was no homework this week. However, next time, students will:

• begin building the robot for the game and for the wildfire solution
• find answers to research questions (and talk to professionals)
• begin programming bricks for robot
• review requirements for competition
• write out script and begin making props and practicing

At any time, if parents would like to join us, you are more than welcome! Stay tuned for more updates and thank you all for your support!