Team Duct Tape had a full and fun day at FTCs first qualifying event of the year on Saturday, at Hillsborough High School’s Robomania, bringing home the PTC Design Award. The PTC Design Award ” recognizes design elements of the robot that are both functional and
aesthetic.  All successful robots have innovative design aspects
however the PTC Design Award is presented to teams that incorporate
industrial design elements into their solution.  These elements could
simplify the robot giving it a clean look, decorate the robot, or
otherwise express the creativity of the team.  The winning design
should not compromise the practical operation of the robots but
compliment its purpose.”

We were also fortunate to be selected from the winning teams lottery to attend the FTC Florida Championship at the University of South Florida on February 27,2010. We’ll be joining Exploding Bacon who took home the top awards, including the Inspire Award and captaining the Winning Alliance, Minotaur and Team Hydra, from Hillsborough High School, who did a great job of hosting a fun and efficient event.

A beta test Field Control System put the event more than an hour ahead of schedule, even with a rematch necessitated by a minor technical

Hot Shot! Match

glitch! The new FCS worked better than our robot sometimes (despite our very cool design), but with all teams in various states of early design, the playing field was, quite literally, level.

While Hot Shot! plays slower than Face Off! did, it was challenging and interesting to watch. TDT came away from the event with some helpful ideas for improving our robot before our next competition and we’re looking forward to getting back to work.

FLL TechnoForce members learning about TDT robot

One of the best parts of the whole day was  the unexpected and completely wonderful boisterous appearance of FIRST LEGO League

FLL TechnoForce Supporters

team TechnoForce, one of the FLL teams Team Duct Tape mentors. TechnoForce turned out — in force!  Team members and their families accompanied TDT to one of their matches, chanting loudly, “Rip, Stick it, Done!” and “Go Team Duct Tape!”  and continued a cheerful, supportive din for us in the stands.  It was exceedingly heart warming and a great morale booster.  Between matches, TDT members enjoyed showing TechnoForce members their big bot, and explaining elements of design and programming to them.   FLL TechnoForce definitely has their Gracious Professionalism down pat, and we’re looking forward to seeing them at their upcoming competition at the USF Patel Elementary on December 12.

Our great friend, Paul Markun, of Tampa Technik, also came by for a visit and enjoyed seeing the sophisticated robot team members developed.   We’ll be visiting him sometime in the next couple of weeks, for a shop tour for new members, and to learn more about belt drive and conveyor belt design and technology for hoped for improvements to our current design.

You can enjoy one of our match videos on YouTube, and check out our Media section for more photos from RoboMania soon.