#omg robots

[friendlycursedspaceotter]

I'm getting a long jacket for all my pins I'm getting at Worlds. No one can stop me. Not even my mentors.

[give-grian-rights]

my team’s on the way home from cmp (we live like two days away from houston driving) and it keep on hitting me that i’m a first alum now. saturday was the last time i’ll ever be in the pits as a student. what the fuck. frc’s been one of if not the most important thing in my life for what feels like forever, even though i know it’s only been like 3.5 years since i joined my team on kickoff 2019, but somehow i’m both completely ready and so so far from ready for it to be over. it’s so wild that in 2019 we made it to detroit cmp off of ei and now we’ve competed for chairman’s in houston! i’m so so proud of our chairman’s team for all of the crazy amounts of work they’ve put into this and i can’t even begin to describe how happy and proud i am of my team and every other team from my district that competed! i’m at least glad that i and the rest of the seniors (and one of our juniors who’s moving super far away next year) had the opportunity to go to cmp and see all the amazing teams (some of us+our robot even got a picture with the NUTRONs AND one of our stickers ended up on the Cheesy Poofs’ robot cart, which i mean holy shit)! it was also amazing to see how ubiquitous queer acceptance has gotten in FIRST, even from 2019/2020! i think i only saw a handful of people who didn’t have the little pronoun badge ribbons and i ended up with so many they/them pins and buttons from just wandering the pits! it’s truly amazing to see and i’m even more excited to see where things go in the coming years when i come back to volunteer! i just love robotics so much and it was exciting to see someone else on here that did it too!

amazing post, and congratulations on getting your sticker on the Cheesy Poofs cart omg!!! We sadly didn't make it to Champs, when it was still two, they were in Houston, weren't they?

I'm glad you had a great time. FRC is life changing. I've been involved with the team and had my family involved since 2009, when I was about 8. When I turned 9 i started my own FLL team.

Even with all that, it's still not enough. there is NOTHING in the entire world that compares to being a student in FRC. running around the pits meeting all sorts of people, handing out prizes and buttons and stickers. the jaw-dropping robot designs, the amazing and fun mascots. Meeting dozens of people while being surrounded with hundreds, if not thousands of kids with interests like yours.

i'm looking forward to volunteering, hosting events and trying to start new teams. It won't be the same but it's something that will carry on.

and I agree! In 2019 I only saw pronoun pins and ribbons at Worlds, this year I saw SEVERAL custom pronoun buttons being given out by teams, pride pins, etc. The worst part for me was not having the guts to put on a pronoun pin but I was running around with the rainbow pins I could find.

but fun fact I was in Detroit 2019! If you were a safety person there's a likely chance I talked to you.

[oocq]

Programming Lead: Ok we checked and [electronics lead] is definitely dead

Fabrication Lead: ....the battery?

[maythegodshelpusall]

Just got back from the Waterloo robotics competition. We did awful but it's okay because we had a lot of fun, learned a lot, and are going to do better at Windsor. A little sad that things aren't working out all that great my last year but what can you do.

I'm looking forward to the next composition and coming back next year to help mentor.

[firstdegreefangirl]

Me: Think I could use these [giant suction cups] to climb that glass building downtown?

Head Coach: No. They're not going to hold your weight.

Me: *mockingly upset* What? What're you saying? What's that mean?

Head Coach: That you weigh more than four pounds. See? I've been married. Twice. I know how to dodge bullets!

[frc-quotes]

team 868 after hours

[stevegutenbergfan1997]

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Recycle Rush. The strategy is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of noodle physics most of the points will go over a typical robot's head. There's also Chief Delphi's pessimistic outlook, which is deftly woven into its community - its personal philosophy draws heavily from Science Fiction literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these rules, to realize that they're not just fair- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Recycle Rush truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the strategy in CD's existencial catchphrase "Noodle Agreement," which itself is a cryptic reference to Asimov's American story Runaround I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Frank Merrick's genius unfolds itself on their pit screens. What fools... how I pity them. 😂 And yes by the way, I DO have a Recycle Rush tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- And even they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.

[artsy-mess]

FIRST Robotics Competition Team Help

I am a mentor for Team 6332: Bull City Botics, a high school robotics team, part of FIRST Robotics Competition. Over the past six months, I have had the privilege of assisting a highly talented group of students at Riverside High School begin their journey through FIRST Robotics. Our team needs your support to help us attend the state championship, which we have qualified for.

We truly could not do this without the help of the community. Because of your generous donations, we now have awesome tools (thank you Resnick family, American Underground, Adam Dickinson, and Kontek); we have quality robot parts because of a generous local manufacturer (Mertek, who you should hit up if you need high-quality custom machines); we have reliable materials with which to build (thanks to the Holtz, Lamar, Treeger, Fullenkamp, Zauscher, Aguilar, Quizley, and Blankenship families); and we have had more than enough food for every single meeting and competition.

You all make this possible. Our students have learned so much – bystander intervention, industrial design, optical recognition and control systems programming, networking, professional communication, web design, teamwork, and leadership – and they've received countless compliments on their positive attitude, sense of humor, generosity toward other teams (even as a first-year team), safety ethic, and professionalism. The growth of students goes far beyond their technical skills, they’ve also developed as leaders and thinkers. Your support has helped us create something very special.

In addition to just being a rad team, we're pretty darn competitive. We have a beefy drivetrain that pulls ~1440W of power in a pushing match, a strategy that is well thought-out and effective, and level-headed students to make it all happen. Which shows in that we have been invited to the State Championship at Campbell University.

I am so excited for our team, but we have work. By Tuesday (yes, 3/28), we need to raise $4,000 to pay for our registration fees. Please help us through this issue – networking contacts, fundraising tips, and donations are all extremely appreciated. These students have far exceeded their expectations, and I want them to be able to see this through to its fullest extent.

To contact our networking team, please email [email protected]. To make a donation, you may message me back for information about sending a check, or you can make a donation online here: https://riverside-high-nc.ed.co/bull-city-botics-frc-team-6332