Ready for World Domination - or something!

Team Duct Tape hosted a short scrimmage session with FIRST Championship bound dent in the universe and Masquerade on Saturday. We spent more time on the work bench than on the practice field, but it was a fun afternoon, with great company,  good eats, and a little bonding time – especially over the dart board!

We did get a chance to get some driving in and to see what our scissor list, in our happy dream, could look like on the competition field if all the stars align.  It would look pretty darn impressive, actually!

Okay, so we had to attach the crate ourselves - but this is what our happy dream looks like!

And our robot really is impressive!  (After three complete rebuilds, it should be!!) Team members have been putting in an incredible number of hours to create a sleek, impressive and well

Working at Tampa Technik

engineered and well programmed machine that glides up on a beautifully designed scissor lift and can manage two crates in the process.  It’s relatively light-weight, elegant in design and far reaching – literally! –  on the field.

So we’ve worked, and played and shared FIRST with everyone who would listen, and CADed, and done engineering notebook entries, and fundraised – thank you Voysis, Raytheon, Aquacal, Tampa Technik, Franklin Jewelers, Golf Car Depot, Breakfast Nook and everyone who came out to Sweet Tomatoes and Barnes & Noble on our behalf!

We didn’t raise quite as much as we’d hoped, but we raised enough to make a difference and help make our St. Louis journey a little more affordable for our students and their families.

We deeply appreciate the mentoring guidance of Paul Markun, of Tampa Technik, who stayed long hours after work in his shop to make his tools and his expertise and wisdom available to Team Duct Tape members.  He was always just a phone call or email away, and generous with his time and resources.

Learning from Mr. Markun, of Tampa Technik

Thank you, Mr. Markun!   You’ve set the gold standard for elegance in design and construction for Team Duct Tape, and that’s the most priceless gift of all!

A few more meetings this week, for final tweaks, driving practice and to pack up – and then we’re off to St. Louis!  You can keep up with FIRST Championship news & updates at http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc/FTCWorldChampionship .  And you might be able to catch some of the matches via Livestreaming – so check the website next week for details.

Good luck to all the teams going to the FIRST Championship (there are 128 FTC teams this year!) and we’ll see you in St. Louis!