States Competition/Season Finale

Welcome back to the austin cans blog for the competition season finale!

Two weeks ago, our team carted down to Houston, TX for the final competition before Worlds: the First in Texas District Championship. Although we did not perform as well as our Houston district event, we did get a bunch of fun experiences that I’m here today to dictate to you.

First things first: actually getting to Houston. We had a select number of our team who were either part of our drive team or pit setup crew leave Wednesday such that they could be prepared for competition on the following day. The rest of the team was set to leave Thursday before school, and after a 3 hour trip from Austin, we had finally arrived at the George R. Brown Convention center. Despite our early departure, a lot of other teams who had chosen to leave earlier were already situated in the stands, so our choices for seats on the first day were somewhat limited. With the way the competition works, the stands were basically split in two, one side spectating the Mercury field (us), and the other the Apollo field. Divisions had come out a few days prior, and although both sides of the competition were stock full with the best of the best of Texas teams, it suffices to say that Mercury edged Apollo out the tiniest bit in terms of scariness (not a biased statement at all!)

Anyway, after finding a group of open seats, we sat down and watched the remaining practice matches of the competition. We got the chance to spectate teams we had not yet encountered, as well as those who we had who changed their robot or driving strategy in some way. Thursday also saw the beginning of qualifications, when winning becomes fundamental in shaping the way your robot is perceived by other teams. Of course, qualis also give you more district points depending on how well you do, so it was in our best interest to try our hardest.

Coming into Friday, we were about top 20 in terms of rank, but this could quickly change based off of how we performed in our following rounds. The amount of qualifications we were in at States was greatly reduced from what it was at our District competitions, so we really needed to make sure we were winning our matches since each one mattered more. We ended qualifications with an 8-4 record as the 8th seeded team. This means we barely scraped our way into the alliance captain position, and if none of the higher ranked teams picked one another, our first match would be against the #1 ranked alliance. Luckily, that didn’t happen, but we were still far from safe.

Saturday was the first and only day of playoffs, and after an equally terrifying and disappointing alliance selection (no Lady CANs or Farmerville…) we were set to face the #2 ranked team as our first match, featuring Cryptonite and Robowranglers. Needless to say, we were a little bit screwed. We still had a chance due to the fact that our alliance was pretty balanced in term of individual robot performance, but a reality where we beat the two powerhouses was pretty unlikely. After being sent to the lower bracket, we next were pit against alliance 6, who, after a tough battle, we successfully triumphed over with a 4 point difference. Our next match was against alliance 5, which we were admittedly happy about considering that the alternative if they had won their last round was alliance 1. We thought we had a pretty good chance, considering our scouting spreadsheet predicted us to win. This would be the last victory necessary to get to Worlds. However, due to a few alliance issues, we were unable to progress further and were eliminated from the competition, only one match off from the global championships.

Regardless, no matter how close we got, the fun of competition will never be detracted from by a loss. Watching our team trade blows with teams we had previously revered as unbeatable was motivation for everyone—on the field and off. We got to teach our recruits that competition is not about victory, rivalry, or spite, but about having fun. Sure, being a few points off from setting a world record was cool and all, but I think that the memories we bring home will be the friends we made, the silly hotel mischief we had, and talking robots over 50 Applebees boneless wings.

Houston District Event

WELCOME BACK WITH THE AUSTIN CANS!

We're finally back from our second district event in Houston, and I’m here to tell you all about it! To say the least, it was wild. We did hit a home run with this one. You can say that we did have that CAN-Do attitude!

In today's blog, I'll be telling you guys all about our wonderful adventures in Houston. This blog will be a rough breakdown of our team heading over to Houston, Friday and the full day of qualification rounds, our insane Saturday with alliance selections, semi-finals, and even finals!!

So stay tuned, cause there's a lot to catch you guys up on!

THURSDAY

On Thursday, the team packed and got ready to head out for our big day. The majority of the team focused on packing up our trailer and last-minute things before we left for Houston in the afternoon. Everyone left at different times between 1:20-3:00. The drive for everyone took about 2-3 hours long. As everyone arrived, the drive team and those in the pit got straight to getting everything ready before Friday. After we were all done, we headed to the hotel, and not long after we headed out for dinner. At about 10:45 everyone settled down and rested for the next day. Not much went on this day, but I can't wait to tell y'all about Friday and Saturday.

FRIDAY

It's the next day, and our first big day of the weekend in Houston. The team woke up and had to get ready by 7:15 to head out by 7:30. Some of our team headed out earlier to earn good spots by the time doors opened. By 8:00a, we all hurled in and got ourselves settled in the stands. By 9:00a, the opening ceremony had begun, introducing the rules, judges, and times for the first rounds.

Teams then began practice rounds till 11:00, after practice rounds were complete, we headed for lunch. After that, finally, qualification rounds started. There were about 66 qualification rounds in total, ours being about 12 matches. As our team got ready for our first round, match 5, it's good to say that we took away a big win in our first match of the competition. We had our ups and downs on Friday, but we got through it and we were on a roll. Meanwhile, in the stands, we focused on cheering on our team.

A big thing we also focused on scouting other teams and ourselves. Our people in the pit focused on helping the drive team and our mentors, as well as talking to judges. It was surely a busy day for The ausTIN CANs.

On the other things though. Fun things our team members did were talk to other teams, collect pins and just simply have a good time. By the end of the day at about 8:00p, they announced qualification rounds would be continued on Saturday, as well as alliance selections, semi-finals, and Finals. We ended the day with our rank in the top seven of 33. The day ended and the team headed back to the hotel to have dinner, as well as have our scouting meeting for the night. By 11:00p we headed to bed, resting for our second big day on Saturday.

SATURDAY

Our last day in Houston as well as for the end of qualification rounds, alliance selections, and much more. On the 2nd day, we had 2 more qualification rounds, and by the end of the matches and right before alliance selections, we were top 5. After the 66 matches, we headed for a big break followed by lunch right after. By 1:10p, alliances were about to be selected. We were the captain of alliance 4. We selected team 5414, Pearadox as our first choice. Our second being 4332 EHS RoboCats, as well as our backup, 7312 T3. With this alliance, 4 was created.

As the semi-finals began we were in the 2nd match. Hitting a home run with a huge win in our first match of playoffs.

Speaking of the semi-finals, one of our best moments was probably match 7. The crowd went wild. Talking about our second win of the playoffs against alliance 1. Having one more round to go in the upper racket, note that whoever won that round would advance to the finals and become the first finalist of the Houston districts. We competed against alliance 3……and WE WON THAT MATCH, ADVANCING TO THE FINALS.

But wait… who were we against, that wasn’t yet determined…It was all up to alliances 1 and 3. After a very exciting and close game, it was decided. We're going to compete against alliance 1! The crowd was cheering and we were getting ready for the big matches,

Meanwhile, in the middle of all this. Remember how we mentioned we had a “CAN-Do attitude”, well we kinda got a reward when they mentioned it. And that's when The ausTIN CANs won the Industrial Design award. As soon as we heard our names, we started cheering and shouting. Saturday was going great and we were all having a good time, but the pressure was on. It was intense. Simply a rollercoaster of emotions.

But let's cut back to the chase, FINALS…. We were ready, excited, stressed, and happy. A LOT of emotions were felt. Our 1st match wasn't the best, losing to alliance 1 by a huge gap, because one of our alliance partners had an untimely fall, We prevailed and just kept going, sure they defeated us in the matches, but our spirit was never let down. All we could yell was “we CAN DO it”. with the support of T3 and Paradox, as well as the EHS RoboCats. We got through it. Match 2 started, but that was the end of the road for us, and with that, we were eliminated in the finals.

Alliance 1 had won the Houston district against Alliance 4.

Reflecting on this, we did amazing. This showed me as a newbie into the world of first, how much love and power the world of first CAN have on me. I am so thankful for my team, our alliances, and everything that was brought to this district event.

And that's a wrap! The Houston district was amazing, we met so many amazing people and had a great time. We had our ups and downs, but that's all part of the experience! We came with a goal, and that was getting into states with no idea that we would be finalists in the Houston district! We were on a roll! Thank you to everyone and our great alliance partners. We will be back and better than ever, so stay tuned!

GO CANS!!

To be continued….

Adventures of week 7 and 8

Hey everyone! The ausTIN CANs are back again

to tell you about what's been going on during weeks 7 and 8. These past 2 weeks have been pretty hectic because of the Waco FIT district competition coming up soon ( by the time you see this, it’s probably already passed) Everyone’s been all over the place, trying to get everything from getting Dyson ( our robots name!) to getting out impact representatives ready for their big day. Our wonderful drive team also practiced non-stop. We’re all so excited to be there and compete and simply just have fun. Let's cut to the chase though, and let's talk FRC!

First and foremost, Business! We didn’t really have much to do, but we finished what we had before the competition. Things that we had to do were the “CAN We Talk?” flier and the Reveal video for Dyson! Things that are in progress are our team video intro. Finishing up CAN-dy ( which I the writer am making myself) we can’t wait to give them to the teams and a thank you for everything! We have also been finishing up our 2nd episode of “CAN We Talk?”! Business has finished up our latest Technical document, Technical Board, and our Outreach Board. Things that will never be non-ending for the Business group are updating this blog, social media, and photography! Now, things were done with. We have finished up our Sponsorship booklet, our new logo for Dyson, and our Impact video!

CAD, on the other hand, has added lighting patterns and zip-tie holes to Intake Panels. They have resized Dysons intake to better intake against the walls. They have gotten the handles and released parts for 2nd robots and spares. They also added support for the 1st arm gearbox.

Manufacturing has finished assembly on the second robot. Organized the parts binder, about 138 parts were made. Manufacturing has cleaned and organized the mills and shop. They have also gotten all parts made on the lathe.

And lastly, Programming has finished the Arm Subsystem. Arm is now fully functional for both cubes and cones. They have also been working on Autonomous. Programming has been fixing up some issues such as rollover and the latest iteration of the Choo Choo gearbox.

In conclusion, the team’s been busy. It’s been stressful, but it’s also been fun. Seeing how things are before competitions are about to start.

Speaking of the blog We will definitely get better at frequently sending these out. Thank you to everyone who has shown their love and support to this wonderful team, we can’t wait to share more with ya’ll in the future! For now through, all you gotta do is show is your CAN Do attitude! Talk to you guys next time!

CANs OUT!

Waco District Event

HellOOOO, Austin!

A few weeks ago, we visited our very first district event for this game in Waco, Texas. Although it did not end how we hoped, it allowed us so much time to troubleshoot our robot and give our driver hands-on experience on the field. We got to work out kinks, work out the kinks that came up after working out the first kinks, and worked out the kinks that we did not think were going to be kinks. We also had the opportunity to test out all our new cheers and swag to get the team hyped up, like our team’s brand-new team number signs and our newest member of the CAN-fam, Baby CAN. Overall, this experience gave us the opportunity to fix issues before they became a major problem in our next district event and/or states.

People (from left to right): Team 2158, Baby CAN

After the field had been set up and the practice games began, we got the chance to test our robot on an official game field for the first time. Right off the bat, we noticed that our autonomous programming was often getting stuck as our arm pulled up to put our pre-loaded game piece on the highest pole. Instead of moving upwards then retracting, the robot would simply move back to its original position, impaling the intake on the bar. This would make it so that we were unable to pull back, sticking us in a limbo of just hoping that our alliance partners could pull through. The pit crew (mechanics from our team prepared to repair our robot) tried relentlessly to fix this issue, but no matter what we tried, we still got stuck. This left our team with a nervous feeling in our stomach as the qualification games began, which actually determine if we are able to make it to the playoffs.

Unfortunately, the issue still pervaded us, making our first few games which should have been easy wins into tough losses. This damaged our rank sorely, as we fell to the mid-30s. However, by some miracle, we finally got it working and began to repair the damage the bug had caused. We were able to climb to rank 27 before qualifications ended, which certainly wasn’t good, but it wasn’t the worse in the event. Luckily, though, during alliance selection, we were picked by alliance 7 as their first choice. This at least gave us a chance, even if our first match was extremely hard to go against.

As expected, our first match against alliance 2 was a loss. Their robots were simply more adept at scoring quickly and reliably compared to our alliance, so we were unable to match up to their power. After that round, we moved to the loser’s bracket, where we were put up against alliance 6, who had also lost the previous round. Luckily, we overcame the challenge and moved on without being eliminated. Unfortunately, however, our next match was against the two most powerful robots at the event: alliance 5. Their speed and agility overcame our capabilities and they won against us. As that was our second time being defeated, that meant we were out of the competition.

Although we only made it to semifinals, this experience gave us a chance to see our robot perform with other teams for the first time, as well as giving our driver vital experience that would assist us in future events (no spoilers, but spoilers!) It was a learning experience for members both rookie and veteran, as rookies learned the general structure of competition and veterans got back into the jive of participating in events. We also got to see a bunch of unique, different robot designs with elements and strategies we had never thought of that made us shift the way we approach the game as a whole.

Overall, our first district event gave us the chance to form our own expectations of competition, as well as see how we held up in the fire of competition. And although the hot steel of our team burned, we’re ready to be quenched and come back stronger than ever.

The adventures of week 6!

HEY Y'ALL, The ausTIN CANS are back!

In today's blog, we're going to be recapping week 6. As you all know, there’s not much left until our first competition in Waco. After a very terrifying and excruciating grade check we students just had, I (the writer) am glad to say that….wow after this roller coaster of a week. It’s so exciting to know that there are only a couple of days left till we go on this amazing adventure to compete with other teams, and simply just have a jolly time. I really would love to talk about just how we feel the more it comes near, but we have to make room for our weekly recaps, am I right?

So let's cut to the chase, and let's talk about what the team has been up to!

First & foremost, Business; we as always have been busy with so many things. Such as finalizing essays and things involving technical writing. We’re glad to announce that Gavin has been working on the second episode of “Can We Talk”! So stay tuned for that. Business has been working on multiple things, such as Impact video, sponsorship booklet, tech doc, and updating the website. We finally got the Impact essay done, and started making buttons!

Manufacturing manufactured all the necessary parts for robot one and a majority of the parts for robot two. The assembly of the intake and the arm have been finalized. They have almost completed the buddy climb. INTERESTING FACT! The arm for the buddy climb is made out of broken hokey sticks! This was a idea was implemented by the team to start a new plastic initiative and incorporated circular manufacturing design principles into our CAD and assembly.

Programming, on the other hand, started to confirm that autonomous functions work. As well as auton which should be ready when the arm can score and release v2 of the drive base. They have also been focused on mobility, docked + engaged. Programming also has been working on the arm subsystem. The arm just needs more tuning before it’s ready.

CAD has finished the assembly of the arm and Intake. They’ve been working on buddy carry assembly. They have also been working on cube intake: adding a PVC roller and belt from the second roller to the top roller. We also have gotten the 1st comparison between the front rollers.

Other than our subgroups, the team has been focusing on scout training and testing out our new scouting app. Our team leads have been doing their daily meetings. We also have our Saturday and Sunday meetings that we update you guys with on our social media. As well as preparing for competitions in the upcoming week. Our team's Impact award representatives have also been prepping and finalizing their speeches for competitions.

That’s about it Yall, our recap of week 6. With every day that passes by and the more, we get busy. Although it can get nerve-racking, it’s also an adventure. We can’t wait to see those who will be there in Waco next week, and personally ( me, who’s a first-timer) am so thrilled to be there and I hope you guys are too. Now let us stop being cringy (that's probably just me), but we gotta go. See you guys later to talk about week 7. Bye! Catch us next time.

ausTIN CANs, OUT!

Cute photo of president Noga and baby Zaynab!

Adventures of week 5!

Guess who's back? US! The AustinCan’s!

Now I know it hasn’t been long since we’ve talked, but we did mention we'd be back soon..right? Now let's chat about robotics! In today's blog, we're gonna recap week 5. Competitions are nearing, and all we can say is that wow.. the amount of excitement we feel the more it’s near. It’s insane ( is it just me? Or are we all feeling excited?)

Business; we have pretty much been working on very similar things that carry out throughout the weeks. For example, things that are currently in progress that we are working on such as the Impact awards which are due on the 14th of February. Working on our monthly newsletter and looking for sport ball sponsors. Following with updating Notion with blogs, fundraising, photography, and outreach. Things were done with on the other hand, like the woodies reward, ordering our brand new shirts, and podcast visuals. Speaking about the podcast….it's out! So go check it out if you haven't yet!

Meanwhile, CAD has already finished the arm prototype! They have also finalized the design for the arm and intake. Arm A is powered by the Choo Choo wheel, and arm B is powered by spool. CAD also has the parts for gearbox A & B. With the arm they designed the sweeper. We have the design for the cube holder and rollers, as well as the bearing holder and rollers. Following the completed version for the buddy Carry.

Manufacturing's main focus is on charging stations. Making trusses and supports for the station. They also have milled parts to continue assembling them in the field. By the end of week 5, the manufacting team has finalized assembling the charging station. Now they are even signing people up to use the field for practice! Manufacturing is mostly done with assembling intake, making over about 30 parts this week.

Finally, let's talk about programming. The group has been working on an arm system. An elbow that is able to hold its position at a given reference point using PID control. They have also been working on autonomous paths and subsystem toggles. Programming has also been continuously working on previous things such as buddy balance and assisted balance. They are currently working on the led subsystem for the robot.

With this week 5 ends, we also followed without the usual scout meeting and group leads meeting up so that we can provide you guys with bangers such as these! As we mentioned before, competitions are nearing, and it's Simply just a blast of emotion right now. We can’t wait to see you guys and hope that you're doing well. Also don’t forget to keep your grades up, to whoever is in school. Can’t wait to tell more soon! Bye for now.

To be continued….

Wasted frozen tears and FLL!

WE'RE BACK!

Welcome everybody, today's Blog is going to be a tad bit different. Our team had unfortunately not been able to have our regularly scheduled meeting’s, due to the sudden snowstorm that happened during week 4. Many people lost their electricity and roads were dangerous. This had canceled both school and robotics, but after a week or so we got back to our Saturday meetings! As well as having FLL on the same day! ( spoiler, it was a success!) As for those in Austin or were facing the same issues, we hope you are safe and warm!

So, shall we begin?

After a week of no school due to the storm. Our team had both the Saturday meeting and FLL to host. First and foremost, our Saturday meeting! Of course, being that we were behind schedule, our whole team all got straight to finishing up objectives from week 3. Following that, every subgroup had gone to do their thing. So if you don’t mind, please let me tell you about what we did!

Business has been working on impact and woodies essays as technical writing. As well as a communal basket for our team! We also focused on FLL that very Saturday for outreach hours and volunteering. Following with ongoing tasks, such as photography and keeping up with social media and blogging! Our one & only host Gavin S. Will soon be publishing our very first episode of “Can We Talk?” Very soon! (Probably already out by the time you read this, so go check it out on YouTube if you haven’t!) We are currently still working on finding Sponsors as well as getting T-shirt quotes. That’s about it for Business, stay tuned for more!

Now, CAD; they have been working on finishing up version one of the robot! ( that's so exciting, isn’t it?) They also have an intake and arm as well as the Choo Choo gearbox assembled! They have also been continuing with prototyping and are focusing on floor intake! Following by prototyping and designing the buddy balance.

Manufacturing, on the other hand, has roughly completed half of the necessary parts to complete the charging station. The subgroup has also been working on 3d printing parts for prototyping and has made parts on the HAAS mill. Manufacturing has also begun to assemble the charging station and are about 10% done with it.

Finally, let's chat about programming. They have released the second stable for the practice swerve drive. They’ve been working on things such as the arm & LED subsystem. Programming has also begun writing code to automatically balance the robot on the charge station.

Now that we talked about what our team did, let's talk about FLL. So if you don’t know what FLL is, don’t fret! We shall explain. FLL is an abbreviation for “First Lego League”. Robotics for Elementary students! There were so many teams, and it was so fun seeing everyone being in a great mood both competing as well as to those who were volunteering. This also focused on being a part of an outreach for those part of our team! To say the least, FLL was a success and a great way to start robotics after the storm.

With this, our recap blog is over… this was such a chaotic week, and although we couldn’t be in ATC without the whole team working to get things done. We ended the week strong. We just couldn't wait to go back to our regular routine and see each other’s faces! We would love to chat more with you, but we have to go for now! Don’t miss us for too long… we will be back, so you gotta wait. See ya next time with ….

The ausTIN CANs!