Dynamic Signals (FTC Team 7351)

From Edison to Einstein Follow the journey of FIRST Tech Challenge Team 7351, Dynamic Signals, from Gurnee, IL. Contact us at [email protected]

[7351ftc]

The team always enjoys speaking with judges about FIRST, our robot, and our season of outreach.  Here the judges stopped by to talk during our dinner break between matches.

[7351ftc]

Thanks to Robotheosis and FIRST Updates Now (FUN) for letting us be part of their Twitch Livestream Build a Robot in 2 days. We had a great time and wish the best to all FIRST Illinois teams in Rover Rukus!

[7351ftc]

RoverRukus_QuickReferenceSheet_2018.2019.pdf

HAPPY KICKOFF DAY!!!!

To help teams out as they take off for the 2018-2019 season check out this quick reference guide.  We found it useful every season to laminate a quick reference sheet like this to facilitate discussions during scouting and to talk Alliance strategy.  This sheet laminated and a dry erase marker are magic in the pits as well as in queue.

Good luck to all.  Make sure to cause a rukus.

[7351ftc]

POP is as ready for action.  Check out what to expect of our robot at FIRST Championships in Detroit this week.

[7351ftc]

Follow us as we compete at the grandest world stage FIRST has to offer; FIRST Championship.  The competition will take place in Detroit from April 25th - 28th:

Live Stream (Edison Division) Scoreboard (Match Lists / Results and Rankings)

Match Schedule: WED (4-5:30); THR (8:00 - 11:00 & 1:00 - 5:00); FRI  (8:00 - 11:00 & 1:00 - 5:00); SAT (Selections 8:00 - 8:15 AM) (Elimination Rounds: Requires Alliance Selection) 

[7351ftc]

After an up and down yet exciting weekend at #nsr2018, we are proud to announce we are headed to FIRST Championships in Detroit!

Congratulations to all the teams that made #nsr2018 and to the hosts led by Rebecca Whitaker who did an outstanding job of running the BEST FIRST Tech Challenge event of the year 5 years running. We are so proud to have been part of 4 consecutive #nsr events and to have met and interacted with so many great teams and volunteers.

Now, its time to shift gears to #firstchampdetroit2018.

Special thanks to Walnut Hills Robotics Team 6133 for having the confidence in us as their first selection for the 4 Seed Tinker Alliance. What a great first match and if we had only a few more seconds ... Looking forward to hanging together in Detroit!

We are honored to join the following additional Illinois teams who have advanced to Detroit:

FTC team 6287 Vertigo Robo Raiders FTC 7129 Fruit Salad Robotics Team NYAN Robotics

[7351ftc]

Upcoming Activities

Upcoming Team Meetings (Edison Field):

Sundays (10AM - 1 PM), TUE (6:00P - 8:30P)

Next Competition:

2018-04-(25-28): FIRST Championship (Detroit, MI)

Upcoming Outreach:

2018-04-21: 4-H Robotics Showcase Lake / McHenry Counties (Hosting)

Please contact us with community outreach event and related opportunities ... ([email protected])

[7351ftc]

So proud of our FIRST Lego League JR team POP Whales Backflip who received the Marvelous Model Award today at their Wisconsin Expo. Awesome job!!!

[7351ftc]

It wouldn’t be the end of a state season without taking some time to enjoy company with our Elgin family. got robot? and the extended Elgin community with Blue Box Bots have been a big part of our team for years.  Thank you for letting us be part of this big supportive family.

Best was watching Coach McKellar watch our Compass video for the first time. Sorry to put you on the spot but you needed to know how big your contributions are and how they form more than a team; they formed a communiTEAM. We couldn’t be more honored to be a small part of this incredible group.

Thanks Coach Mike for all you do!

[7351ftc]

Thanks to Illinois FIRST Robotics for hosting a fantastic event.  While everything was top notch we have to give a shoutout to the announcers who were world class.  Great work!

We ended the day as Finalist Alliance Captain, Cooper Division Winning Alliance Captain, Cooper Division Number 1 Rank and Number 1 Seed Alliance, PTC Design Award Winner and Finalist for the Motivate Award.

With so many great teams in the state it is an honor to have competed with all these teams and we are humbled for all of the recognition.

[7351ftc]

As we moved into finals, we were happy to see our friends on the other side of the filed; NYAN, Vertigo and RoboRaiders.  They have all performed exceptionally during the season and deserved to be in the finals.  We have been either with or against these teams in recent State Championship Finals matches and looked forward to another shot on the field.

While hard fought, we just didn’t have enough to defeat all of the firepower of our opponents.  They have been just outside our reach this entire season and today was no different.  We were honored to compete against this alliance and our proud to have them represent the state of Illinois as your FIRST Tech Challenge State Champions.  Well done!  

Can’t wait to see all of you in Iowa.  We will do our best to narrow the gap on the field even further and hope we can cross paths (with or against) in matches on the end of Saturday again ....

[7351ftc]

In the Cooper Elimination rounds we were honored to be back together with WormGear Warriors and to make new friends with Cary-Grove Robotics.

Team spirit was high among all advancing teams in both divisions.  Wearing each other’s gear and cheering for everyone involved made this a fantastic elimination.  

Fortunately for us, it got even better with some outstanding performance all the way around as we swept the semi and finals to be the Winning Alliance of the Cooper Division and secure a spot at the North Super Regionals in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

In these four matches we filled the cryptobox three times and got the crypto key twice.The combination of our efforts with the matched skills of our alliance partners who we had focus on the relics made for a great combination of skills and a Division Championship!  Great work team!!!

On to the finals ....

[7351ftc]

What a day of competition! 

We went into the event with an match play untested glyph scoring system.  This goes against our design philosophy of having a robot lockdown date about one week before all events.  But in this case, the passion of the team was pushing the boundaries of good enough to compete versus changes that could make a difference that would raise our scoring capability significantly.

In Match 1 (how suiting) for the day, we found out just what the new system could do ... it filled the cryptobox with 30 seconds to go.  Enough time for us to finish a column for our partner and still park.  Success!!!

For the rest of the day, we got more practice with the new system and learned some tricks along the way.  A few pit tweaks to key parts and we remained highly competitive throughout the day.  In the end it led us to be the Rank 1 team in the Cooper Division (QP 8, RP 918, R1).  Our cryptobox key in Match 4 was a highlight.  

This put us in a position to be able to compete with the best of the best robots in Illinois as part of the elimination rounds.

[7351ftc]

It’s always a great time to show off the larger world of FIRST to a new FIRST Lego League team.  The future is bright ...

[7351ftc]

Lunch time at Illinois State Championships was a great time as we Co-Hosted a FIRST Ladies Meet Up with Vertigo.  Based on learning from past events, we focused this event on the collegiate and professional development considerations students have to consider in preparing for professional life.

The event went very well with engaged participants sharing stories along with our two guest speakers from UL, Carol Smith and Olha Zvarych.  With the discussion being lively we even got a few mentors from other teams that joined in the discussion.  

Overall this was a successful event and a model of the type of rich dialogue that FIRST Ladies can bring to the community.

[7351ftc]

Great to see everyone in the pits.  It’s been a long season and now we get to see everyone together under one roof for the Illinois State Championships!  We expect a high level of competition and a lot of jokes and fun with friends as we close out the Illinois FIRST Tech Challenge season.

[7351ftc]

Some team shots before the start of action at the Illinois State Championship along with got robot? and part of Blue BoxBots.  It’s great to see so many of our friends have made it back with us to this level of competition.  Intimidating ... and inspiring.