End of Year, Senior Stuff and Summer Happenings

Hello! Just a quick update here from Captain Grace. We're in the middle of transitioning leadership right now so that means you'll get a new blog writer too (as I'm off to college in the fall and no longer on the team.) But it's never too late for an update.

In recent news:

In April, the World Championships were held here in St. Louis. Being a local team, we once again had the opportunity to travel down to the Edward Jones Dome for a field trip one day to just hang out and check out the happenings. We met lots of awesome people, saw lots of cool robots, and watched some intense matches. One of our members, Walter, even got to hang out with a team from Canada that would eventually go on to be on of the champions. So yeah, we've got friends in high places, no biggie.

Three members; Walter, Michael, and myself; also attended RoboProm that week, where we danced the night away with other geeks dressed to the nines and the ones and everything in between. Here we are below, with Shrapnel Sergeants member Nisha Rao, next to Walter (on the right end.) We look a little disgruntled, this picture was taken after we'd already been dancing and flailing around for a few hours. (And yes, that is a dress made out of old robotics shirts I'm wearing.)

In May, we celebrated the end of our season by hosting our annual end-of-season party at Frank and Helen's, a local pizza joint. It was bittersweet for us captains and seniors, as it was the last time we'll be there (as team members, at least!)

Also in May was the Academic Awards banquet, held at our school. All participating FRC team members received varsity letters, and those who have been on the team for more than one year also received FIRST pins.

Back row, from left: Jonah Zukosky, Henry Braekse, Coach Dave Sarber

Front row, from left: Joshua Stueck, Christine Politte, Walter Deitzler, Carl Sechrist, Lafayette Gatewood IV, Marquise Williams, Grace Deitzler, Michael Sarber, Dan Politte

Now, before I move on to summer happenings, I wanted to both thank all of the graduating seniors for their contributions to the team and also share a little bit about where they're headed off to next year.

Mike Sarber will be attending Saint Louis University to study Mechanical Engineering.

Daniel Politte will be attending Washington University in St. Louis, and he's not entirely sure (at least when I last talked to him) what he's going to study, but something in computer engineering maybe.

Paul Watkins will be attending Stanford University to study Mechanical Engineering.

Lafayette Gatewood IV will be attending the Missouri University of Science and Technology to study computer engineering.

Carl Sechrist will be attending University of Colorado at Boulder to study Physics.

And Grace Deitzler (me!) will be attending the Missouri University of Science and Technology to study Biological Sciences and Information Technology.

On to summer happenings! There will be meetings scheduled periodically throughout the summer as the team continues to work on various things, such as learning new technologies, organizing the room, fundraising and looking to gain sponsorship. Keep an eye out for emails/facebook posts about the next meeting, students!

Alright, that's about all I can think of. Until we get a new blog writer or I leave for college (whichever comes first) I'll try to keep you all updated throughout the summer as much as possible. 

Peace,

Grace Deitzler, Captain

Well.

To all of our adoring fans who read this blog regularly (I know you're out there somewhere), I sincerely apologize for not posting since the Friday of competition. Things have been busy, and I realize that's no excuse. So, to make it up, here's a pretty long post (I'm also doing this to procrastinate on a paper for school, so it's a win-win.)

To recap the competition:
On our final match, we FINALLY got the robot to do what it was built to do- release discs into another robot's chute. It worked beautifully :') Alas and alack though, we did not get chosen for eliminations. It was great fun though, watching the robots that did compete, and our former alliance partners LASER came out with another astonishing win. So, congrats to them!

And now here's the mushy gushy part. I'll try not to tear up as I write this, but it has to be said.
I love this team. Even though I may not always be the most dedicated captain, being a part of the RoboLions has been a huge deal to me and has actually changed my life. It sounds cheesy, I know. But it's true. Besides FIRST being an amazing program in and of itself, it's been my team, especially two particular members, that has amazed me the most.

When we started four years ago, we had no clue what we were doing. And yet somehow, we made it through that first crazy year, and the following four. My two co-captains, (and yes, I'm proud to call them that,) Mike and Dan, have been there since day 1, and though I joined a few weeks later, the three of us have had an incredible journey through these four years of high school. I think I speak for all of us when I say that FIRST has left an indelible mark on each of us.

To Mike and Dan, I truly appreciate everything you two have done for the team. So here's to you guys, to our days as freshman, to the starry nights where we escaped for "Captain's Meetings" (still some of my favorite memories), to sharing inside jokes, to getting through the days where we all just wanted to quit. To mustering the strength to coordinate an FTC team, to the competitions that we all loved so much, to Mike never even batting an eye at wearing that ridiculous (and hot!) lion costume to drive in. This is to you guys. You two are the best co-captains (and frankly, friends) a girl could ask for. So, thank you. I hope we can all still keep in touch and remain connected by the threads of FIRST as we move on with our lives. Best of luck to both of you. :)

Love and peace,
Captain Grace

Frantic Friday

Our day got off to an exciting start when we received our match schedules and realized we were up for the first match! Immediately, the crew got working on preparing Serenity for her first big game.

However, the first match was somewhat disappointing. The dustbin snapped off once again (although another team lost an entire bumper, so by comparison it wasn't that bad), and although we did some mediocre defending, by the end of the match Serenity somewhat spiraled out of control, incurring dozens of points of technical fouls. Furthermore, we forgot to unload some Frisbees from Serenity's chute. However, we were visited by three very friendly judges, and three scouts from Team 931 (Perpetual Chaos), and talked to each for a while about our robot. Captain Grace assigned Addy and Paul to watch from the stands and take notes on teams we were to be either paired with or against in the course of the competition.

Our next match was #15, around 10:40 in the morning. This one was a disaster. Someone forgot to remove the wooden plank lodging Serenity's arm in the upright position before the match. The drivers didn't realize this and kept trying to move the arm, which eventually broke the fasteners allowing it to move. Consequently, we didn't do much of anything. Henry made a valiant effort to score some human points, but it's awfully difficult to aim across the field. The wooden plank was removed and exiled to a corner of the pit, but there were still bugs to fix. The worst part was that we were scheduled for Match 18, meaning that any repairs had to be made in the queue line! 

In a few minutes, we competed again. Serenity still hadn't been completely patched up, but she did some decent defense agains Team 4331. However, we were allied with Teams 4330 (Rambunction, from Ladue) and 4154 (Perpetual Recursion), the latter of which was outstanding and carried our alliance to victory. We returned to the pit and leapt into action repairing Serenity, while Captain Grace talked with a scout. Our next match wasn't until after lunch, so we had ample time to repair those screws -- a task that might necessitate removing the entire arm!

While Walter, Christine, and Mike worked dutifully on the arm, the rest of us headed outside to enjoy glorious summer-like weather, eat Subway (provided by Mrs. Sechrist), and play an AWESOME game of Frisbee. The builders joined us for the last half of lunchtime, and then it came time to reenter the pit and prepare Serenity for a match in thirty minutes.

In our next match, we were allied with Team 1288 R.A.V.E.N. Robotics, one of the best shooters in the competition and at that time ranked #1. Victory was guaranteed. As for Serenity, she defended rather zealously, becoming locked up with Team 1706's robot for some time. Tension was high as everyone waited for 1706, perched at an awkward angle, to topple to the ground -- and the drivers stressed over losing connection to Serenity. However, after a few awkward moments, our opponent freed itself, bumping Serenity against our pyramid and incurring a technical foul. After that, noting that there was no way for our opposing alliance to make a comeback, Serenity retreated to a corner to let 1288 do their thing. Another win for 3397! We returned to the pit to inspect Serenity and make sure her close call with 1706 hadn't damaged anything.

The next match wasn't very exciting, since our two alliance partners built specialized climbing robots. Serenity ran about and blocked a few opponents. Our points were guaranteed by the climbers, but an opponent robot also bumped into the climbers twice, incurring 40 points of technical fouls that only cemented our third victory.

About an hour later, we returned to the field for another match. It's worth noting that our autonomous period had been faltering in every match until now. Dan and Josh anticipated trying out their new autonomous code on this match. However, she unfortunately turned in the wrong direction, so it seemed some changes still needed to be made. Furthermore, it seemed the new battery we'd put in was less than optimal: Serenity was sluggish and eventually stalled out about halfway through the match. Our opposing alliance included the 1985 Robohawks, our friends and rivals, who scored enough to wallop our team. Looked like our winning streak was broken.

Although autonomous goofed up again, in our next match we actually scored points, disgorging a few Frisbees into the 1-point goal. Unfortunately, we also bumped up against an opponent robot at its feeder station; and more worryingly, a corner of our arm shield broke off during a tussle with the Army Ants' robot. Also, our alliance was thoroughly trounced -- but the important thing is, we scored points! That's a victory in our book, even if Henry disagrees.

In our final match of the day, Serenity defended her best yet. The problem was that our alliance mates were not optimized for scoring, so all our awesome defending didn't mean much. Really, that was the problem with most of our bungled matches: simply not having any synergy with our alliance mates.

Well, with our matches for the day done, we migrated to the stands to watch the final few matches and the awards ceremony. Walter, Henry, and I danced with the Cavaliers before hanging out with the CyborgCats for a time.

All things considered, today was a pretty great day for the team. We fixed all the problems that came up, and marketed ourselves to higher-up teams. We didn't get a chance to do what Serenity was built for -- feeding teammates -- but there's always tomorrow. Regrettably, I won't be there on Saturday, due to a prior commitment; Captain Grace will take the reins of the blog then and keep you all posted!

Thursday Preparations

We arrived at the Chaifetz Arena at 8:30 this morning for a day of practice and preparation for the competition tomorrow and Saturday. Outside the doors, we were greeted by old friends from Team 4256, WCA's CyborgCats, and reminisced with them for a time. The day was eventful; I'll divide my recap into several simple portions.

Unloading: Once the doors had opened, we headed quickly to our designated pit area, where Carl, Henry, Addy, and I set up the tent while the others unloaded Serenity and our gear. Christine began removing the lead weights and covering them in radiation-blocking tape, for the safety of all involved.

Scouting: Walter filled out a survey from Team 2838 on Serenity's capabilities: once again, we have a finger in every pie, although her primary function is as a mobile feeding station. Jonah and I checked out some nearby teams: Team 3330, System of the Corn, built a robot specializing in climbing to the exclusion of all else; it doesn't even have a shooter. Team 2978, The Cavaliers, built the opposite: a shooting robot without a climbing function. And good old Team 3284, LASER, has built an enormous robot with a hefty shooter. A climbing robot like 3330's is somewhat disadvantaged, at least according to Walter; with the new rules update, robots can't shoot Frisbees from atop the pyramid, so a robot that can only climb can only score 30 points for its team at maximum. Grace and Addy prepared several sample questions to ask other teams while scouting; using a checklist culled from those questions, Grace, Jonah, and I wandered around the pit to interview various teams and hand out buttons.

Practice Matches: Our first practice match was a bit of a bust. Many things went wrong: the arm conveyor belt was too loose to function, the dustpan broke off, and autonomous mode hadn't been programmed for the lighting conditions in the arena. On the other hand, we weren't out there to try and carry our team; we were testing Serenity's capabilities in the field, such as our ability to block or push large robots (we discovered Serenity can do the first, but not the latter).

Our second match was much more satisfying. We were on an alliance with 4330 Rambunction from Ladue and the 4256 CyborgCats from WCA. The latter was especially impressive, scoring several 3-point shots and climbing to the first rung of the pyramid. Serenity, meanwhile, proved an adequate defender. Also of note is that a pole fell on Carl's head while he was entering the arena before the match. Despite this, he knew what he was doing when it came to driving. Additionally, our autonomous was still a bit wonky.

The third and final practice match went a bit astray when Serenity immediately backpedaled and angled herself against the wall in autonomous. After that, we tried and failed to pick up a few frisbees, before entering our defensive game as usual.

All in all, an eventful day for the team. Mike and Christine are staying an extra few hours to make some much-needed changes to Serenity, but the remainder of the team have headed home to rest up for the coming competition. Here's to another great showing for Team 3397!

Competition in Two Days

We compete at the St. Louis Regional in two days! We will be there on Thursday all day prepping and practicing, and then on Friday and Saturday we will be competing. The public is invited! Here are the details:

Where: Chaifetz Arena, SLU Campus

What: FIRST Robotics Challenge Saint Louis Regional

How Much: FREEEEEEEEEEE

When: March 15-16

Why: Because robots are awesome that's why

There you go! Come on down and watch the RoboLions compete in our fourth ever regional!

Saturday Report

So in the past two weeks, we've completed the robot (who has a name now- meet Serenity!), packed it up, and begun working on a practice bot to work on our driving, programming and other various skills. We're also working on a top-secret project with this backup robot that may or may not be applied to Serenity at competition! Shhh :)

Work is going well. Dan has been programming his heart out as he tries to fix bugs and get autonomous to work. Walter, Carl and Mike have been tirelessly working on the project. Other team members have been contributing as well. Marquise has drawn up awesome plans for the pit design at competition.

We're going to be selling shirts this year as well! They are pink and say I (heart symbol) ROBOTS on the front with 3397 and our sponsors on the back. They will be sold for $20 and hopefully will be in time for competition!

We'll continue to update on the progress we make. Competition is in two weeks now- get pumped!!!

Late Night Musings

As we approach the final moments of our build season, the robot is looking awesome and ready to go. She is still yet to be named, however- that decision will be made in the exact final moments.

She can now 'vomit' the frisbees onto the floor (or onto other robots!) but cannot yet pick them up. All that's needed for that to happen, however, is the attachment of a small piece of plastic. Other than that, all we need to do is tidy up the robot to get it inspection-ready, practice driving and fine-tune the coding. And naming the robot!

Here are some pictures of our progress today!

And that's all for today, folks!