The most exciting thing. This year had two both equally amazing...
Our first time competing in mainland competitions!
First mainland regional was at the Los Angeles Regional.
Winning the Engineering Inspiration Award.
This is our second EI win in a row.
Especially after having to completely rework our shooter to comply with the interpretation difference of a safe shooter wheel. Flew in from Hawaii overnight straight to the competition to find out that the shooter had to be encased. Spent the entire first day making it fit within our frame perimeter, getting no practice or fine tuning. Since most of us didn't sleep on the flight and the 3 hours of time difference we where quite exhausted for the entire competition. The students stayed strong and never gave up. Made me proud.
Our second mainland regional was at the Inland Empire.
Winning our first Chairman's Award. Big deal to us as a third year team! Amazing...
So many of our students worked so hard this year to achieve this. From graphics to outreach and everything in between, a truly next level achievement. I am still in awe.
The most annoying thing. This year again..
Traveling to the world competition with a new and improved floor pickup system and having the only tote that couldn't be lost... LOST.. Thanks American Airlines...
Not only was our pickup system lost so was all our spare parts.. Made the whole competition much more stressful than it already is.. Sad thing is the student that fabricated it insisted on carrying it on the plane but wasn't allowed by TSA.
Luckily we needed no spares, thanks to all the Newton teams that were there to support our efforts to fabricate some semblance of a pickup.
The tote is still MIA.. Could be in LA, Dallas, St. Louis...
So if you see a tote that is now converted itself into a robot, tell it to phone home..
Makes next years plan to build our first practice robot less of a reality.