End of the Year Banquet!

Congratulations Octo-PI-rates!!

On all of your hard work this year!  You raised close to $21,000 which allowed us to pay for registration fees, robot parts, raw materials, shop supplies and invest in some key tools (toolbox, welder, and equipment necessary for our mill and lathe) that will help us in future years to come.

During build season, we successfully built a high precision frisbee shooting robot.  Though we had several mechanical and software failures during the Orlando Regional, we bounced back at the South Florida Regional placing 14th of 46 teams and earning an 8th seed finals slot.  We were eliminated in the quarterfinals but did not walk away empty handed.  Brenna earned the first International Dean's List Finalist at the Orlando Regional and we were given the Imagery Award at both events!!  We were also given many awards from other teams such as #1 in Pit Safety, Best Swag, and Pit Perfect.

This year's team is our strongest ever even though you are also our youngest team full of many freshman and sophomores!  This makes me super excited for the next few years to come.  We can only get better from here and have the potential to take on the big teams in finals!

To celebrate all your hard work, Charles and Ann are graciously opening up their home to host a big party for us.  The end of the year banquet will be on Sunday April 21 at 2pm.  It's a potluck style event, so please sign up here so we have a variety of foods.  http://www.perfectpotluck.com/meals.php?t=NPJB0037

Hope you all can make it so we can share stories and pictures and a final group hug before the summer.

BLOOAHBLUHBOLLBLAABLUU!!

Robot Day 2

Robotic Friends,

 

We are 2 days into a 45 day build season.  So far we know we will be playing a variant of disc golf with Ultimate discs.  We've already built a prototype of a shooter design and begun troubleshooting.

 

The robot rules and scoring are pretty similar to last year.  We are planning on having Monday to be our large group meeting with all teams where we recap and set our direction.  This Wednesday we will be ranking/voting on designs.  So we can start cading and ordering parts.

Here is the youtube video of the game animation if you want to share it.  http://youtu.be/itHNW2OFr4Y

We are also hoping to set up a dinner schedule.  If you are interested in bringing food for please sign up here.  You can access our meal schedule at:    http://www.TakeThemAMeal.com

Recipient Last Name: Octopirates   Password: 3502

If Monday or Wednesday doesn't work just let us know.  

The game field is simple. We will be building it during club and should be done by Friday instead of this weekend.

Thanks Again

~JaSun

Robot Season 2013

From JaSun:

Hello OctoPiRates,

  The FIRST robotic challenge is being announced this year on January 5th (3 days away).  We the OctoPiRates have fundraised $23,000 dollars to build an robot entry.  We know right now it will be <120 pounds and smaller than 28" x 38" x 60" (last years details), the rest will be unveiled in a few days.  

  We will be meeting at SAIL this Saturday 10-6pm to see the game release, brainstorm solutions, and general team bonding.  Parents are required and we will be having a information and question session to talk about what to expect.  

Big Dates:

• January 5th Kick Off 10am-6pm (Parents 10-12)
• We will be meeting every day after school 2:45 for juggling, 3: with required home work/reading time and 3:30 will start our meeting and sub team projects.
• You will need to attend meetings of your group/sub team talk to your lead mentor and large group meeting every Monday.  If your motivated you can be part of multiple groups. 
• Stop Build is February 19th is our last day and the robot has to go into a sealed bag before midnight. 
• March 6-9th Orlando Regional 
• We will be taking the ~18 most dedicated team members.  Based upon work hours and skills.
• Mar 11-15 Intensives
• Mar 18-22nd Spring Break
• Mar 28-30 South Florida Regional (Drive team and 2 Pit crew)

Parents:

• We will be at school every day till dark thirty (qualitative term for late).  As the season wears on we will host longer hours, weekends, and possibly over nights.
• I have Hungry Howies on speed dial and will organize food if we stay past 6pm.  Last year we had a great parent support that organized food several times a week, we will try to make happen again.
• Their are some costs associated with the team.  
• $5/shirt and $150/regional (These costs are waived with 40 hours of robot time logged) which some of your young people already have.

Students:

• I hope everyone learns a lot.  Makes a lot of great friends.  These seeds of learning will provide many rewards in your future.  
• Stay focused.  Keep pushing around obstacles, and ask for lots of help.
• I hope your excited and that you got lots of sleep over break.  
• If you have any time before Saturday read through our website. https://sites.google.com/site/sailoctopirates/
• During build I would like you to take ownership of a page and keep it updated.
• Everyone should also be reading their area on http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/portal.php
• lots of game hints and other fun reading.

~JaSun

Kickoff

Kickoff for the 2013 FRC is THIS Saturday!  We will be gathering at SAIL to watch the FIRST Stream featuring the game challenge.  We'll do some brainstorming, studying of the rules, and strategizing.  We'll also share some snacks and do some team bonding exercises.  Parents are encouraged to attend for the first hour so we can talk to you about what to expect during the next 6 weeks of build season.