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Hello, Robolions team members, mentors, friends, and community members! Welcome to "The Fourth Law of Robotics," home to University City High School's FIRST (For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Team. We hope to use this blog to inform you about what we're up to.
We compete in the FRC (First Robotics Competition), an annual competition where we have six weeks to build a robot from scratch. This year's game is Recycle Rush. We'll post updates here to let you all know what we're up to with building (and competing with) our robot!
We also are now competing in FTC (First Tech Challenge), the next level down from FRC. The game was called Ring It Up!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Somewhat Cool New Gadget and Chairman's Award

Dan and Henry are testing one particularly interesting little item we've acquired: an ultrasonic sensor that can measure distances using echolocation. However awesome that sounds, though, we've discovered it's only accurate up to 100 inches, roughly 8 feet. This causes me disappointment. :( Luckily, Henry and Dan are working on a solution.

We've decided we can't apply for the Chairman's Award, because we'd need video footage from FRC events, which we don't have. However, I still get to write the essay as practice. That's proving difficult to find material for. I know from National History Day that I can write a pretty spiffy 1500-word essay that is Regional Champion quality (okay, I'm gloating) -- but this can only come to be if I understand what I'm talking about. As a newbie member to the team, I don't know about our "role model behavior," "innovation in spreading the FIRST message," or even the "impact of FIRST on the team, school, and community"! (Frankly, half of our school doesn't even know we exist, so I don't think FIRST has an impact on our school or community.)

So... yeah. Come on, guys, we need praise for the Robolions so that I can write a good essay! Anybody who can think of achievements or actions we've taken that fall in line with the Chairman's Award criteria, please do comment below!

(The submission requirements for the Chairman's Award can be viewed here. http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default/files/uploadedFiles/Robotics_Programs/FRC/Game_and_Season__Info/2012_Assets/2012_chairman_award_criteria.pdf)

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