Finalist Alliance and Judges Award Winners!
Thumbs Up Duck!
TDT with Coaches and Mentor
Five years, five State Championships! Team Duct Tape does it again, this time with a brand new crew of 13-16 year old rookies new to the FIRST experience, on our veteran team bringing home the trophies. Thanks in enormous measure to dedicated coaches, mentors and families, all committed heart and soul to our character driven team philosophy that elevates Gracious Professionalism, teamwork,and academic and intellectual achievement above all else, Team Duct Tape succeeded in all counts.
After a day of vigorous game play that included some pretty high scoring matches, we finished with a Finalist Alliance award after a hard-fought three match finals with our great alliance partners Dent in the Universe and Masquerade, from Middleton High School, and the Judges Award for “Highest Ranking Improvement” recognizing our journey from nearly last place at the start of the season, to the State Championship. When all was said and done, we finished in 9th place, had a great time, learned an enormous amount and are full of ideas for improving team performance next season.
TDT Cheering Section
Ringing it Up! big time
We also made the most of our visit to Daytona Beach, touring the fantastic Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, having fun at the awesome Sun Viking Lodge we stayed at on the beach (too cold and windy for us Floridians to hit the ocean, but some team members made the most of the heated pool, and they had an arcade!), and some of us toured the Daytona Speedway. We had fun meeting new teams and making new friends, and can’t wait to do it all again next season!
Our heartiest congratulations to the FTC World Championship bound teams – top championship Inspire Award Winners, FTC Team 5070, NUTS, of Orlando Science Schools, and Winning Alliance Captain Maelstrom from Middleton High School, whose alliance with Brick Buddies and team 3839 NeXT helped them earn the top robot performance award.
Doing the wave between matches
Judges Award Winners
While the game playing season is over for us, we’re not done playing with robots! We’ll continue with our hallmark outreach efforts, hitting the road on Saturday for Florida FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Orlando Regional , to demo FIRST Tech Challenge and watch the big robots play, then to the coolTech Expo on March 14, and the Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire on March 23rd. We’ll also be meeting semi-regularly throughout the spring and summer, to play (paint ball anyone?), get in some FTC related training and workshops, maybe teach a few ourselves, and generally just keep enjoying each others’ company!
Thanks again to all who helped us get here from there. Rip it! Stick it! Done!
TDT @ coolTech 2012!
Now in its fifth year, coolTECH is the premier showcase of new technologies and cutting-edge innovations in the region – and FTC Team Duct Tape has been at the last three events! On June 22, from 9am-3pm, at the Tampa Bay Convention Center, we’ll be joining exhibitors
showcasing some of the hottest technologies in an interactive format where attendees can experiment first hand with the innovations.
Stop by to visit us in Booth 15, to see our sky high scissor lift robot, and try your hand at driving it. We’ll also be showcasing student CAD resources – try assembling your own FIRST Tech Challenge robot, or maybe even driving one in Robot C Virtual Worlds – and sharing more about FIRST STEM programs for academic and career technical education. FTC Team Brick Buddies will also be at coolTech, so you can have twice as much fun with FIRST!
You can register to attend through June 22. Hope to see you there!
TDT Wins Rockwell Collins Innovate Award!
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!
Team Duct Tape 