Eastlake High School Robotics Team

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are back from Atlanta, Georgia!

FIRST Robotics International Championship

Twenty-thousand spectators, students, mentors, volunteers, sponsors, and

FIRST supporters gathered over the weekend to experience the ultimate

celebration of science and technology that ignites students' scientific

savvy in three levels of Championship competitions. It was the climax to

months of regional competitions involving 1,680 teams from the United

States and ten other nations: Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Israel,

Mexico, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

 

The total FIRST Community (with over 196,000 students, 86,000 volunteers,

and 3,500 sponsors this year alone) is estimated at one million strong

and growing. With continued support from industry, the number of FIRST

teams continues to grow despite the downturn in the global economy.

 

"Our mission is about more than building robots; we are working to inspire

and change a culture", said Dean Kamen, FIRST founder. "Over the past few

days in Atlanta, we had the opportunity to witness this culture shift in

action. We watched as the innovators of tomorrow showed us they could step

up to the challenge and solve complex technological problems. And that's

good news for us, because we need more innovative thinkers to help solve a

number of increasingly complex problems in the world. I am confident there

is a bright future ahead - I caught a glimpse of it at the FIRST Championship."

 

FIRST is a not-for-profit founded by inventor Dean Kamen to celebrate

science and technology via robotics competitions worldwide. The 501(c)(3)

not-for-profit organization offers innovative programs that motivate young

people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and

math while building life skills. Teams earned their invitations to the

Championship by excelling in their regional tournaments in competitive

play, sportsmanship, and the development of partnerships among schools,

businesses and communities.

 

FIRST ROBOTICS COMPETITION (FRC)

High-school student teams built their robots from a kit of hundreds of

parts in six weeks. This year's game, called "LUNACY", tested the

students' and robots' ability to pick up 9" game balls and score them in

trailers hitched to their opponents' robots, while contending with the

laws of physics on a low-friction floor.

 

349 teams participated in 2009 FRC Championship divided into four

divisions; Archimedes, Newton, Curie, and Galileo. TitanBOT, team 2543

competed in "Archimedes". The team worked tirelessly during the qualifying

matches. "The Bucket" (our robot) never failed and its performance was

consistent through the whole competition. In one of the matches, our

alliance faced the team ranked number 2 and we pinned their robot during

the whole match. It was priceless to watch how our kids stopped the

international top scorer team, making it useless for their alliance.

 

Unfortunately, since we did not place between the first eight teams in our

division; our last hope was to be selected by one of those teams to play

in their alliances. It did not happen and that was the end of our race.

Our final rank was 63. Our team received a recognition by Autodesk Inc.,

for our Autodesk Inventor submission. The students also attended numerous

workshops and conferences and learned about CO-OPETITION (Cooperation

combined with Competition) that involves gracious professionalism in the

heat of the competition. We all had a great time and we are bringing home

a lot of "experience" to continue our work in the area of STEM (Science,

Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

 

THANK YOU ALL students, parents, mentors and volunteers for your hard

work, dedication and commitment to our team. The season is over but we

still have a lot of work ahead of us. The students are working on having a

social gathering to thank you personally. I'll inform you about it as soon

as possible.

 

Best regards,

Leonardo Ulloa

Math & Pre-Engineering Teacher

Eastlake High School

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