Wild Ride at FiT San Antonio District Event
Hopes were high going into this past weekend but reality easily exceeded expectations. FRC 1477 Texas Torque went undefeated over the two days of competition, finishing with a record of Continue Reading →
Texas Robotics Invitational
This past weekend, Texas Torque took part in the Texas Robotics Invitational, a new off-season event hosted by FRC 3847 (Spectrum). A total of 32 teams attended the competition, including several pre-rookie teams. The main objective of the event was to give local teams some play-time and practice. Texas Torque assisted in this goal by providing one of our one of our bots, Bravo, to the pre-rookie team FRC 9999.
The team performed well throughout the qualifying matches, finishing 3rd from from all of the teams participating in the event. Texas Torque was thrilled to invite teams FRC 57 (Leopards), FRC 5287 (Flare), and FRC 4639 (Spartan) to our alliance. Unfortunately, the team lost in the quarterfinals to the first seeded alliance, led by FRC 2468 (Appreciate). Torque is excited to congratulate FRC 624 (CRyptonite), the alliance captain of the winning team, and its partners FRC 3847, FRC 1429 (KAOS), and FRC 5070 (Gearnotics).
Texas Torque would like to thank FRC 3847 for planning, organizing, and hosting TRI this year. We also greatly appreciate the numerous volunteers and Lone Star Regional Committee for making the event possible. Torque also would like to thank our alliance partners for their much-valued efforts.
The event was essential to helping us learn and prepare for next season’s regional competitions, and enjoyed seeing our fellow Texas teams hard at work. Overall, this competition was a great experience and was important for fostering close relations with the other teams in our community. We look forward to seeing both our traditional friend teams and the new pre-rookie teams at next season’s competitions!
Comicpalooza Demonstration
Texas Torque had yet another very successful demo at Comicpalooza, held at the George R. Brown convention center this past weekend. Our team managed to handle the problems that arose well, including the breakdown of both our robots, Sonic and Rev1 by the third day.
Saturday, Rev1 was performing well for interested spectators, the team effortlessly awing the crowd. Some of Texas Torque and other teams members played a casual game of lasertag, demonstrating that robotics kids can have lots of fun while they work. Later R2D2 and other robotic celebrities came by to visit their competitive friends and posed for a few group photos. After a long day of running, Rev1 was having some mechanical problems so he stayed home for a repair party while Sonic stepped in and took his place on Sunday. In between speaking about FIRST, operating the robot and fetching frisbees, a few members from Texas Torque and the Robonauts had a game of Mech Corps, Torque ultimately coming out on top while the others easily kept the robot running smoothly. At the end of Day 2, Comicpalooza seemed to be too much excitement for old Sonic to handle and by Monday he refused to run. However, that didn’t stop us. We continued to shoot frisbees as a show and supported the other robotics teams present with batteries and tools. The owner of the batmobile stationed in the convention center came by and was one of the many spectators that Torque spoke to. Impressed with our team work and kindness he invited the teams over to his batmobile where he explained the inner workings of the movie prop and even allowed one of our members to climb inside.
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Throughout all three days of demonstration, Texas Torque didn’t just show off it’s impressive robot. Torque showed the amazing teamwork it takes to build such a robot, it’s passion in spreading FIRST to a broader community, and it’s ablity to create friendships with other team members outside of Torque, whether it’s through playing lasertag with the Disco Bots, Mech Corps with the Robonauts, or catching frisbees with Spectrum. Torque also advanced within itself where members who didn’t know how were able to learn to drive and operate the robot showing grand potential for the future drive team, ready to lead us to the champs again next season.
The teams lined up for a group photo with the robots.
Success at the FRC World Championships
This weekend, Texas Torque traveled up to St. Louis, Missouri for the final event of the FIRST Robotics Competition season — the FIRST World Championships. The team was excited to attend the championship event for the fourth year in a row, having triple-qualified for the championship this year via the previous World Championship, a Regional Chairman’s Award, and a “wild-card” at the Lone Star Regional.
After the fourteen hour bus ride, Texas Torque team members spent time in both work and play, taking time to enjoy the city in the midst of competition responsibilities. A group of our students and mentors took short walk over to the famed Gateway Arch for some pictures and relaxation before the first day of competition. We were glad to see FIRST take the city by storm; in every restaurant and attraction, another FIRST Robotics Competition team could be found leaving their mark. The Edwards Dome itself was bustling with over 400 FRC teams preparing their robotics for inspection, running practice matches, and generally enjoying the sights, sounds, and attractions of the FIRST World Championship.
The much-anticipated qualification rounds began with excitement, and Texas Torque won their first four qualification rounds handedly. Every member of the team was excited to play with and against some of the best teams in the world. While the first day of qualification matches ended with an astounding 4-1-0 record, communication issues with the robot plagued our performance in the second day, leading to a final qualification record of 6-4-0 and a final ranking of 31 out of 100.
Upon alliance selection, Texas Torque was chosen as part of the 5th seeded alliance, playing with FRC 2590 (Nemesis), FRC 1625 (Winnovation), and FRC 3467 (Windham Windup). The elimination matches were easily the most intense matches that we played during the 2014 season, and in a riveting final match with the 3rd seeded alliance, Texas Torque came out on top of the Archimedes Division, making this the team’s 2nd year in a row advancing to Einstein Field. On Einstein Field, the Archimedes Champions faced off against a powerful alliance led by FRC 254, The Cheesy Poofs, losing against the eventual 2014 World Champions.
Overall, the team is ecstatic with their performance at the World Championship. We would like to congratulate FRC 254, FRC 469, and FRC 2848 for their inspiring play on the field and their new status as the FIRST Robotics Competition World Champions. We would also like to congratulate FRC 27, RUSH, for their induction into the FIRST Hall of Fame and their sustained influence on the FIRST community. Many thanks to our alliance partners for a fantastic run, and to all of the hardworking individuals and organizations that made this Championship possible.
FRC World Championship Approaches Quickly
It’s that time of year again — the 2014 FIRST Robotics Competition World Championship event (CMP) is almost upon us! Despite having already qualified for the World Championships by winning the event in 2013, Texas Torque made an effort to “triple-qualify,” winning the Chairman’s Award in Dallas and advancing to the finals at the Lone Star Regional.
Throughout this season, the team has run through many trials that have overall increased our potential for success. Following a rocky start to the season in the Dallas Regional, the team made thorough improvements in both subsystem elements and driver control. Apart from Torque’s second regional, the team has traveled to the Johnson Space Center on multiple occasions for drive practice with other teams, simulating matches to build priceless experience on the field.
After the past seven weeks of competition, we can confidently say that we have made all of our preparations for the World Championships, from preparing our Chairman’s presentation to making necessary adjustments to the robot and strategy. We hope to have a grand showing in St. Louis, and can’t wait to see our fellow teams at competition!
A general schedule of the FIRST Championship event can be found at: http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default/files/uploadedFiles/Robotics_Programs/FIRST_Championship/FIRST-CMP14-Spectator_Schedule.pdf
Texas Torque at the Lone Star Regional
This past weekend, Texas Torque took part in one of the last FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Regionals in the 2014 season: the Lone Star Regional. Of the 15 years that the Lone Star Regional has been active, Texas Torque was proud to make this their 11th appearance — and a solid one at that. Sixty-seven teams were present, including two teams from China and three teams from Mexico.
The team quickly reaped the benefits of the two weeks of fixes and practice between the Dallas Regional and this event, winning the first match 231 to 16 with longtime partners, FRC 624, CRyptonite. Throughout the first day of competition, Texas Torque only lost one match.
The second day brought even more successes, as Texas Torque won every qualification match in the morning. By the end of the day, Texas Torque was ranked 2nd of the 67 teams at the regional, falling beneath FRC 148, Robowranglers, by only 20 Assist Points. In the alliance selection, we were elated to welcome CRyptonite, our historic partners, as our first pick on our alliance. The pair decided to pick FRC 3997, The Screaming Chickens, to complete the alliance.
In the elimination rounds, Texas Torque, CRyptonite, and The Screaming Chickens won the quarterfinal and the semifinal rounds handily. Semifinal 2-2 was especially intense, as the 2nd seeded alliance set the high score of the regional without fouls (275). In the blink of an eye, the finals were upon us, and our 2nd seeded alliance was up against the 1st seeded alliance of FRC 118, FRC 148, and FRC 2585. Both alliances played at their best, but in the end, the first seeded alliance came out on top.
Torque fights past FRC 148, the Robowranglers, for the ball.
Texas Torque was glad to bring home the Industrial Design Award and a Finalist trophy. In addition, Texas Torque congratulates FRC 3103, Iron Plaid for their Engineering Inspiration Award, and FRC 3847, Spectrum, for winning the Chairman’s Award at the Lone Star Regional.
All in all, the team is happy with their performance at the 15th Annual Lone Star Regional. We would like to thank all of the Lone Star Region administration and volunteers for all of their hard work in making this such an amazing, well-organized event. Of course, we congratulate the 1st seeded alliance for their well-fought victory and thank our own alliance partners for all of their effort. We can’t wait to see many of these teams again at the World Championship!
Lone Star Regional — This Weekend!
Texas Torque is proud to announce that it will be attending the Lone Star Regional this upcoming weekend!
The event will take held from Friday, April 4 to Sunday, April 6 in traditional FRC fashion; while the first day will be mostly practice matches and robot maintenance, Saturday and Sunday will include scheduled matches and awards, with the highly intense eliminations matches held on Sunday afternoon.
In addition to high-powered teams in the state of Texas, the regional will include three teams from Mexico and two teams from China.
We highly encourage everyone to come to support Texas Torque and the other teams, as this one one of the last events in the FRC season before the World Championship. And, of course, who doesn’t want to see robots?
For more information, visit the webpage for the Lone Star Regional on the Texas FIRST website.