Building Futures One Robot at a Time.
Today, members from Texas Torque delivered over thirty bedding sets to Angel Reach, a non-profit organization that provides support to young adults who have aged out of the foster care system. These bedding sets were donated by several generous FRC teams who attended the 2022 Remix we hosted alongside FRC 7492 CavBots on September 24, 2022.
Thank you for your gracious contributions, and we look forward to additional outreach projects going into the future!
After a two year hiatus, The Remix was hosted on Saturday, September 24, by FRC Teams 1477 Texas Torque and 7492 CavBots. Thirty-two teams from Texas and Louisiana replayed last season’s Rapid React with one notable difference; the top eight teams were not allowed to choose each other as alliance partners. This simple change makes it more difficult for a couple of good teams to team up and the alliances are more balanced.
The finalists in this year’s event were teams 118 Robonauts, 2848 Rangers, 7492 CavBots, and 7418 Channelview TechnoFalcons. The alliance struggled in the finals when 7492 had to replace a swerve module.
This year’s winners were the #1 Seeded Alliance of Teams 624 CRyptonite, 3847 Spectrum, 4587 Jersey Voltage, and 7691 TSA All-Stars.
The goal of The Remix is to provide teams with an opportunity to compete with their new drive teams. It also allows new team members to experience the excitement of a FRC event.
Several charities benefit from The Remix. The Montgomery County Women’s Center will be receiving a cash donation from the money left after expenses for the event are paid. Forty Lego sets were donated for Children in local hospitals along with a dozen bed sets for Angel Reach, a non-profit that supports former foster children.
Last week, Texas Torque competed at the FiT District Championships in Houston, Texas!
We ended the District Championships as the quarterfinalist in the Mercury Divison alongside Vector 8177 and Wildcards 7506!
Our team received the Innovation in Control and became the last team in Texas to qualify for the 2022 FRC Championships as a result.
We look forward to seeing all of the teams at the 2022 FRC Championships in Houston, Texas and expect a better performance at the 2022 FRC Championship with our improved subsystems.
Our team is also excited to promote our #HowDoYouGP campaign with our buttons, capes, and other merchandise. To learn more, visit the official #HowDoYouGP website here!
See Texas Torque’s FiT District Championships recap video here:
When we started back in March, I never imagined we would be where we are now. So many people have contributed to our PPE effort and made a real difference for nurses, doctors, teachers, and many others.
I just want to share some information to help everyone understand how far-reaching this project has been and continues to be. Texas Torque has sent over 5200 face shields to just shy of one hundred organizations. One group we have supplied to are all the nurses throughout Conroe ISD. In addition, we have supplied ear savers for face masks and several intubation chambers.
Our initial GoFundMe raised approximately $20,000. We have received another $7000 from donations directly to our PayPal account. All of our PPE has been provided free of charge though we do ask for donations. Shipping is our largest expense after material costs. We current have $8500 which should keep us producing for another three to four months. At some point, we may need to make an appeal for more funding.
Our newest project is an effort to create hands-free sanitizer pump stations for classrooms, starting with those frequented by members of Texas Torque. Each station costs under $20 for all the materials and includes a 3D printed part to support the pump bottle. The FTC teams at The Woodlands High School are using our design to create stations for any teacher that requests one for their classroom.
Thank you for everyone’s support. In the midst of so much bad news, be proud that you have had such an amazing positive impact in the lives of so many.
Our latest effort to combat COVID-19 is a box fan pulling air through a HEPA furnace filter with a 13 MERV rating. You can find the CAD and more on GrabCAD at https://grabcad.com/library/fa-20-hbf-1. Total cost is under $100. We estimate it will turn over the air in a standard classroom about six times per hour.
We used 1/8″-thick neoprene, adhesive-backed foam tape to create the seal around the openings. It might be helpful to have different thicknesses available to allow for variances introduced when cutting the plywood. The filter is held in place by suction. The fan can be turned to different orientations to get the best seal.
Future upgrades include a handle mounted to the plywood mid-section for carrying, elastic cord to hold the filter and fan in place, and 3D printed inserts to create a better seal for the fan. We recommend purchasing your fan then taking measurements to make sure you get the best seal. Our unit was designed to use a Lasko COOL Colors Box Fan (Model B20301, SKU 0 46013 45492 8) available at WalMart.
While many places are starting to reopen for business, COVID-19 is still a significant concern. With stay-at-home measures in place and most businesses only open for pick-up, the infection rate was very close to 1.0, meaning one person was infecting one additional person. To see a drop in the overall number of new cases, that rate needs to be lower. Some states are achieving this, but with recent changes we may see an increase in infection rate.
The need for Personal Protective Equipment remains and probably will for several months, possibly into the summer of 2021. That depends on advances made in COVID-19 treatments, the development of a vaccine, the response by individual states, and the build up of immunity in the population. Some states still have intensive care units operating above capacity. Fortunately, Texas has excess ICU capacity. I hope we do not need it.
Thus far, we have distributed at least 1889 face shields, but we currently have requests for nearly 1700 more. We have supplies to make an additional 600 of the ProShield (1477 design) and 1200 of the Manta Ray Protective Visor. VEX Robotics has enough plastic to make at least 10,000 RobotShields (148 design). They are marked out of stock on the VEX Robotics website because they are working to take care of all their donation requests, including those that we can place with them as a partner in the Texas Robotics PPE Project.
Financially, we have over $13,000 in our PPE account, with about $1000 of that encumbered toward recent purchases. So far, we have paid for purchases using our PayPal account and kept that money separate from the team funds in our account at Amegy Bank. We also have team money in the Activity Fund of the Academy of Science and Technology. When a purchaser requires a credit card instead of PayPal, we have used our Amegy debit card then reimbursed the team with a transfer from PayPal. That is the encumbrance mentioned above.
We had a CAD challenge to design an Intubation Chamber. While it has not cleared hospital trials yet, we have applied for a patent. Michael Menezes came up with the basic layout and I contributed additional features based on feedback from medical staff. Here is the most recent photo.
For now, there is not an urgent need for the team to raise more money for the Texas Robotics PPE Project.