Aug
31

STEM at the Minnesota State Fair

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FIRST Team KING TeC as well as other Minnesota First robotics FRC and FTC teams participated in celebrating and spreading STEM at the great Minnesota get together. To show the public what a FIRST robotics team builds we brought the robots from Overdrive, Breakaway, and Logomotion to the fair grounds. Parents and children alike were in awe of the three robots. When they learned each robot was built in only six weeks, jaws dropped. As more people crowded around the robots, more of them asked questions such as ‘What is FIRST, How does this program benefit kids,’ and ‘How can I join the program.’ KING TeC members answered any question the fair-goers had. We also displayed pictures of FRC and FTC robots and competitions for show as well as having a sign-up sheet for anyone interested in learning more about FIRST robotics programs. For kids that are interested in FIRST, we brought FTC robots and a field for the kids to drive on.

Also on Stem Day at the Fair, KING TeC joined senator Al Franken and Dave Stead to announce that the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) is partnering with FIRST to make FIRST robotics competitions even more mainstream in high school. There will now be a state championship competition which teams will qualify for at the FIRST regional competitions. Robotics in the state of Minnesota will now have the same prominence as other high school league sports such as football and basketball.

For more information about this announcement please visit the MSHSL website

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Aug
31

Robotics Becomes Minnesota State High School League Activity

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During the Minnesota State Fair this past August, Senator Al Franken and MSHL Executive Director Dave Stead, along with FIRST FRC Team 2169, KING TeC of Prior Lake, and other Minnesota FRC and FTC teams announced that the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL)  have partnered with FIRST and will now support and recognize FIRST robotics competitions.

The announcement was made on STEM at the Fair day; a day designated to celebrate science and technology in Minnesota.  The day included several robotics demonstrations by various groups with a large section for FIRST robotics. Activities included various science demonstrations, driving FTC robots on a regulation FRIST field, interacting with the large FRC robots, and live science experiments on the main stage put on by the University of Minnesota Physics Department.

With the partnership of FIRST and MSHSL, a state tournament, aside from the yearly FIRST regionals, will be held in late spring. This recognition of science and technology in schools was made possible by the rapid growth of FIRST teams in the state; going from two teams in 2006, to one-hundred-thirty-one in 2011.

Robotics will now have the same status as other state sanctioned events such as football, band, and basketball. FIRST robotics now has the chance to become a larger phenomenon in one of the fastest growing areas for FIRST in the country.

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Aug
07

Lakefront Days Parade 2011

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The Lakefront parade turned out to be an amazing success. KING TeC’s float was a giant robot complete with gray paint,  moving arms and a spinning head. Both sides included the FIRST logo and a few of the team’s accomplishments this season. On the truck pulling the robot, the competition robot was on display for everyone to see. It looked very nice with streamers hanging from its claw. Members of KING TeC surrounded the float on its trailer and on the ground. Some lucky kids received candy too, they looked happy. Not only were the kids happy with us, but we got the crowd pumping with music and our team cheer. The crowd enjoyed this parade as much as we did. After going through the parade and disassembling the float, KING TeC celebrated the 2011 season by having a beach party! With the end of the party came the end of the year for KING TeC, but we will always be working to spread STEM and the message of FIRST.

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Aug
06

Laker Variety Show 2011

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This past Friday, KING TeC helped in the local area variety show! There were twenty-three different acts that performed ranging from a worldwide artist to a local school teacher playing the bag pipes. Two members of KING TeC were able to perform: Alex Passofaro playing a Muse piano medely and Nayana Batham dancing along to the sweet sound of bag pipes. We helped to set up each act for performance in quick manner, moving the show along. Some acts needed over forty chairs and drums to be moved on stage! After all of the acts performed, we continued our service by cleaning up the area where the audience enjoyed the show. In all, we worked hard, but had a lot of fun watching all of the different acts. Hopefully we’ll see some familiar faces from the show in the Lakefront Parade.

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May
01

St. Louis World Championship 2011

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KING TeC traveled to the FIRST Championship for the fourth time to compete in the new St. Louis Venue! It was one long bus ride to St. Louis from Minnesota, but we made it with an extra day early. The team used some time to got sight seeing and to play a bit of soccer under the St. Louis Arch, however, when the team returned that afternoon, it was time to prepare for the competition. Our strategists and chairmen’s presenters were hard at work preparing for the Thursday competition.

The first day of competition came, and our scouts and pit crew were well prepared for the Archimedes division. The practice matches went by fast, and it was already time for our first match, however, technical difficulties stunted the robots performance forcing early losses for our team. By Friday, the robot was in working order and began winning matches while showing the whole division our offensive and defensive capabilities by winning a match 106 to 11! By the end of the qualifying matches we ranked 18th in the Archimedes division. The team waited anxiously in the stands, flags, red-hair and all. Would we be picked as an alliance partner? The eight alliance captains walked onto the field. Alliances were selected one by one until…Yes! KING TeC was selected by team 1014 as their first alliance partner, the fourth overall selection, followed by team 3494 on the fourth seed alliance!  The excitement in the stands was palpable.

After lunch, the elimination matches started. As our team came out for the second quarter final match, we made the best of our voices. Everyone on the field could hear us cheering! Our alliance went up against teams 191, 33 and 1477.  Even though our alliance lost in the quarter finals, KING TeC kept our positive attitude. This was our first time being in the elimination rounds at the championship competition.

After watching the finals match at Archimedes, we moved to the stands in the Einstein field. Just being in the stands was fun. We had the chance to give a big KING TeC hello to CNN’s Soledad O’Brien and Dean Kamen who were walking past us. The Einstein matches were the most exiting of the competition. Between matches awards were announced to teams. Libby Kamen went to the stands to announce the Imagery award winners.

“This uniform team could have been guest at the royal wedding. Their pageantry is heralded across the field on an over sized flag and royal standard. These kids integrate technical concepts and seek to change the culture and conquer the universe with their crown robot. The Imagery Award is presented to team 2169, KING TeC.”

We erupted with cheers and shouts. This was the first championship award Minnesota and KING TeC would bring home. We were overjoyed! Alas, the competition did end. It was a long and fun competition, we were all tired. That didn’t prevent us from going to the City Museum until 1:00a.m. We woke up the next morning exhausted, but ready for another long bus ride. We came home happy and prepared for whatever is next.

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Mar
27

10,000 Lakes Regional Competition 2011

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After traveling 4 hours to our first competition this year, 45 minutes seemed much, much easier. The KING TeC crew loaded up our bus with not only half of our cave (workshop) and shadowbot but also our FTC robots, field, batteries, and plenty of chips and cereal, also our instruments for the KING TeC band.  As we piled into the bus, the excitement was tangible. The veterans were getting ready for 5 days of constant work and worry, while the rookies, after getting a glimpse of what Competitions are like from North Star Duluth Regional, were getting ready for 5 days of tech-based partying.

After the quick drive, KING TeC unloaded the bus, stuffing ourselves into our hotel rooms, and found a corner of William’s Arena by the entrance to demonstrate the FTC program. The lucky few allowed into the pits began to set up and check Sir Lancebot, our robot this year. The rest of us took to finding the nearest free WiFi and food. Eventually, like diligent High School students, we explored the U of M Twin Cities Campus.

The first practice day of competition, Thursday, KING TeC brought Minnesota style spirit by hanging out in the stands, cheering on and conversing with other teams. After an uneventful day of scouting and cheering, KING TeC gathered together for a team dinner at the spaghetti factory. Before, in Duluth, this was also when the Chairman’s presentation group was put on the spot to practice in front of the team one last team, but tonight they were excited like everyone else – leaving the worrying up to the driveteam.

Along came Friday – with half of the team waking up extra early to get into the Arena. The pit crew rushed through their final corrections, and the KING TeC band began to tune. By the end of the day, the band had one more performance under their belt, but Sir Lancebot was plagued with gremlins. By Saturday, the KING TeC band performed once more, except this time at Mariucci.

Back in William’s Arena, Sir Lancebot and the driveteam made it to the Elimination matches. Aligning with 2705 We Robot, and 3765 Terrabots, in the final match KING TeC’s aliance was against 525 Swartdogs, 967 Iron Lions, and 3642 The Huskies.

At the end of the competition, KING TeC added a second 2nd place trophy to our 2011 cabinet, along with the Engineering Excellence Award sponsored by Delphi.

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Mar
13

Lake Superior Regional 2011

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KING TeC participated in the inaugural Lake Superior Regional in Duluth, Minnesota.  Even though our robot was plagued with communication issues, by the end of the qualification rounds we were able to beccome the #2 seeded team with a 11-1 qualification record. We were honored to have teams 2530 (Inconceivable) and 3275 (Team RPM) as our alliance partners as we proceeded into the elimination rounds.  We went undefeated through the quarterfinals and semifinals thanks to the fast work of all three teams to successfully mount one of our 2 second direct drive minibots onto 2530′s deployment system during the one hour lunch break. We knew we were up against a tough alliance in the finals and they proved they were the champions.  We took the first finals match with a score of 76-67.  During the second match there was a field scoring fault that caused the match to be replayed, however team 2530′s deployment system was damaged, leaving our alliance capable of only deploying a single minibot.  The high powered offense of teams 876 and 2512 proved to be too much to overcome and our alliance lost the next two final matches. Not only did our own John Hines win the Dean’s List Finalist award, KING TeC was awarded the prestigious Chairman’s award for the third consecutive year!

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Feb
12

KING TeC Helping Out

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On Saturday February 12th FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) team 4386 and FRC (FIRST Robotics Challenge) team 2511 came to our scene shop in search of help with their robots. KING TeC was more than willing to lend a helping hand. Our programmers assisted team 4386 with their programming and helped with the general design of their robot. Team 4386 also looked at the progress that we have made on our three FTC robots. Eagan´s FRC team 2511, whom we have helped in the past, came once again we gladly offered our support. They needed help with their cRIO and overall robot design. “I very much enjoyed helping their team, and their members were very eager to learn,” says Jake Heilmann, one of our captains.

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Feb
05

Parents meet the robots

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The parents gathered in a circle at the KING TeC Workshop. The nearly completed 2011 FRC robot was brought out and the parents admired the work the team accomplished in such a short amount of time. Joe Passofaro, KING TeC’s main mentor, explained the FIRST competition and the skills such as team work, gracious professionalism, and efficiency that are necessary for future careers. The parent´s look of awe quickly changed to amazement as the FTC robots were brought out to show the parents the innovative designs and features that the KING TeC members thought of themselves. Looking satisfied, the parents were brought into a question and answer session where their remaining thoughts were answered.

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Nov
20

Minne Mini Regional

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The Mini Regional begins after many hours of preperation and assembly the night before and morning of, thanks to volunteers from the FIRST FRC teams KING TeC 2169 and The Green Machine 1816, and also thanks to The Green Machine graciously borrowing their field for the event. With the entire crowd in the stands with their hands over their hearts, band members from KING TeC march into the gym, flags and all, and play the national anthem. Shortly after the not-so-uncommon inspirational speech by Joe Passofaro, the upbeat music returns to full blast as teams return to their stations in the pit, rushing to make last minute adjustments before the games begin.

To outsiders, it appears to be complete chaos as high school students and adult mentors dash to and fro their stations, looking for red and blue tape, various tools, and mysteriously missing screws, nuts, and bolts, frantically fixing loose wires and malfunctioning motors, while the pit admin call out for supplies and arrange aid between veteran and rookie teams, in between herding busy teams into the queue for the next match. To robotics members, it is complete chaos, but it is also full of rushing adrenaline and a lot of fun!

The games begin around 10 a.m. The scouting that began earlier in the day intensifies as teams examine other robotics, determining strengths and weaknesses for alliance partners and game strategy. KING TeC alumni and M.C. for the event, Nate Vetter, keeps the crowd pumped throughout the day. All of the teams around the region practice competing against others and working with alliance partners they’ve never met, in preparation for the First Tech Challenge 2011 game.

A short lunch break at noon ensures a moment to destress for some and a few minutes to tweak robots for others. The games then resume for several more hours until the elimination matches end. In anticipation of the results, all of the team mascots start battling it out in front of the crowd! Mr. Volm performs for everyone, playing the bagpipes, and KING TeC spans across the entire gym as they dance the Electric Slide and the Chicken Dance.

The final matches resume and alliances are made, all “graciously accept” and the winning alliance comes out on top. The three robotics teams apart of the winning alliance were 2232, 2667, and 2220, as well as team 3184 receiving the Chairmen’s Award for displaying gracious professionalism from set up to tear down. There was a turn out of about eighteen teams that competed, and everyone had a great time. We hope to see even more teams participate next year.

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