Team Duct Tape took home the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award at the Seminole High School Techtacular qualifying competition last Saturday.  The award recognizes teams whose  “designs come to life” and have creative solutions to the game challenges , an elegant design and a robost robot. We had all of that, but couldn’t quite get it all to work at the same time on the field!

Bowled Over is a tough game with some amazing competitors, especially as the season moves on and teams continue to tweak and improve.  (We’re not done yet, either!)

Rookie team Brick Buddies took the top Inspire Award – way to go Brick Buddies!

This competition also marks the very first time TDT has ever been nominated for the Motivate Award. Sure, some teams pooh-pooh the Motivate Award, but for a bunch of staid self-described geeks and nerds, getting recognized for “costumes” and “outstanding spirit” is a first!  The nomination came thanks to the hard work of new team member, Adi, who created our fantastic TDT Duck mascot.  It took a little persuasion, but by the end of the day, several team members (including one of the coaches) had taken a turn in the outfit, or at least in different parts of the costume!

We also had a great time visiting our long time mentor and benefactor, Paul Markun, of Tampa Technik, who helped us fashion custom side panels for the robot, one set for show and one for competition.  Now we can strut our stuff in style wherever we go!

Now it’s back to the practice field for much needed driving practice, and a few more tweaks before we head off to the FTC State Championship in Daytona in February.  Thanks, Seminole High School, for a great competition!