Middleton Last Shot Competition
Below, TDT members enjoy a proud moment with Winning Alliance partners, team 3837, Force Applied. Force Applied was a force to be reckoned with and a great and gracious alliance partner.
Winning Alliance of TDT and Force Applied
TDT members really pulled together at the Middleton Last Shot event, employing great teamwork at all levels, and making some
simple and elegant engineering and programming tweaks in the pit between matches, to go from two non-scoring first matches, to a super powered machine that was scoring autonomously, and in the low and high goals and in the off-field goals.
The interview was smooth, with members touching on important points throughout and showcasing their robot and their team accomplishments articulately and comprehensively. The Engineering notebook was a thing of beauty, with contributions from every member effectively documenting their journey this season, from outreach programs like the FLL mini-tourny we hosted last July, to visits with mentors and the team’s sophisticated use of social networking tools like Skype and Google Aps to communicate between meetings, as well as their use of modeling tools like Pro/ENGINEER and Sketchy Physics simulations.
Darth Duct Tape
Pulling it together on the playing field was the icing on the cake, and initially doubtful, as
we couldn’t even pass the software inspection Friday night because of Bluetooth problems. A balky shooter
we couldn’t even pass the software inspection Friday night because of Bluetooth problems. A balky shooterdidn’t help either. But stick-to-itiveness did, and team members fought all the way to the end – and had fun in the process, making time for some dance and song in the stands and on the floor.
We capped off the day with a celebratory dinner with FLL team Brick Buddies, which we’ve helped mentor and on which one of our member’s younger brother now plays. It was a dinner planned the day before, to celebrate regardless of whether we won or lost, but made sweeter by well earned wins, both for Team Duct Tape and for Brick Buddies, who made some Smart Moves of their own at the FLL Regional Event at Hillsborough High School, going on at the same time as our event. Brick Buddies earned the Research Award and a spot at the FLL State Championship in Melbourne on Feb. 28. Way to go, Brick Buddies! 
All in all, it was an incredible, and an incredibly fun, day! Thank you again to all our mentors and supporters, and to Middleton Minotaurs for hosting such a terrific event!
