- Sam, and Jacob building in a few changes that we decided to make for the Nationals while our mentor watched
- John, Grace, and Annie work on the Core Values presentation and poster that we have decided to get ready as it is an option
Annie
Team Member
Today all focus was on the work that we have left to do before the Nationals. We sat down and talked about the last few things that needed to be discussed about the project, robot design, and core values. After that we separated into two teams:
Annie Team Member
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Hello again, everyone. Today was our official victory party. It was a mixture of pizza, games, and also preparation for the UK and Ireland National Final!! In the morning, we video called Jacob, who was unfortunately unable to join us. We redistributed the trophies, and also voted unanimously to rename our solution. We then had pizza for lunch. After that, Sam wanted to work on some edits to the robot, and he was helped by our mentor, John S. Meanwhile, Grace, Annie and I played Risk. (which I won, of course.)
John H Project Chair This Thursday the Tech HEds upheld its reputation as an outstanding and successful team at the Wessex Regionals, placing 2nd place overall, close behind winners L20. It was a very exciting day for all the team, and it went something like this, as soon as we got there, we started practicing with the robot. We did this until 10:15, when the competition officially started. After about 10 minutes more of robot practicing, we gave our project presentation. The presentation itself went great, but annoyingly, the judges asked us every question apart from the ones we had practiced answering! Nevertheless, we all agreed it went well. From there, we went to practice on the robot tables some more, and then Grace and Sam did the first official robot run, scoring 104 points, putting us at the top of the robot scores, and giving us an almost guaranteed place in the knockouts. Unfortunately, before the next robot run at about 12:30, the robot started to go very wrong. (probably due to low battery). Due to this, Sam and I scored 0 points on the next robot run. (This does not matter though, as only your best score counts, and we were still in the lead). After that we went straight to the Robot design and Core Values judging. That went quite well, and we were able to tell the judges most of the stuff we had planned to tell them. After a quick lunch, Sam and Grace did the final robot run, which was still nothing particularly spectacular, scoring about 35 points. The good news is that the first run still got us into the knockouts. The knockouts were rather anticlimactic, though, and we were knocked out in the semi-finals. After a short break, it was time for the trophy ceremony. As I mentioned earlier, we placed 2nd overall. Unfortunately, we did not get a place at the UK and Ireland Nationals. This was rather disappointing as for the last several years, both first and second place teams at the Wessex Regionals got to attend the Nationals. Thankfully, at the end of the competition, we were approached by the Wessex Regional organizer, John Trickett, who said that, as we are the biggest regional competition, and because we were so close behind L20, there is a chance that we might get a wildcard to the Nationals. The next day, Friday, we received the message that the Nationals had made an exception, and we could go!! This was great news, and after a quick victory party on Thursday 24, we will be back to work improving our robot, the project, and of course, our core values! The rubrics was very encouraging to get back, we got 66/72 on the project, 71/72 on the robot design, and 65/72 on the core values. Our overall score was 202/216, or 93.5%. We were very pleased that we managed to maintain a high score even though we are a younger team than last year. See you all at the Nationals on February 16th!
John H Project Chair Today (which is Monday) is our last meeting before our regional competition this coming Thursday. We are excited and nervous at the same time. We practiced the project presentation a few times and answered question from our coaches and mentors. We talked over Core Values and read through the rubrics. We ran the robot on the table and made a few last minute changes! The changeover of frames are now well practiced. The robot is not totally predictable so Sam may make a few minor changes on the day. Finally we practiced our Robot design lines. Now everything is packed up. Bristol, here we come.
Annie Team Member This week we all work very hard to make sure that all was working. There was not much to talk about concerning the project so we just talk about homework and one or two things more. Then we practised the project presentation a few times until we were happy with it. Afterwards we separated and did difference things. Including:
Annie Team Member The competition is drawing nearer still and there is still some work to be done on the robot and project. We practiced the project presentation and then went though it in front of our coach and mentor. We all worked very hard on the robot and the mission trips are all meant to be working although they still need a bit of fine tuning. The project also needs a bit of improvement but other than that the project is going fine. We have now started writing and learning our robot design lines.
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