My life is robotics

tsun-ami:

Someone on my robotics team got me a button from Crush 1011.

Guys.

Crush 1011.

*cries*

I don’t even know what team this person is from or how you got the button, but I am glad you got one! Hope to see you at champs!

Dear valued CRUSH supporters,
​As many of you know, we attended the 2013 Colorado Regional this past weekend. This regional was definitely one of the most inspirational and exciting regionals we have ever been to! Being the only team from Arizona, we had no idea what to expect when we got here. As it turned out, we were instantly greeted with warmth and affection. It seemed like there were visitors in our pit all competition long as everyone wanted to know more about our team and robot! Speaking of our robot, Mezza Luna was performing better than ever this regional! Thanks to our robot and amazing drive team we ended the qualification rounds at rank 13 and were selected for the 4th seeded alliance! This was the highest seed our team has been in over 5 years! Mezza Luna gave her all in the elimination rounds and after two hard fought quarterfinal matches CRUSH was eliminated from the tournament ( Round 1: 67-58, Round 2: 53-50). Our robot might have been knocked out but our spirit and enthusiasm was not! As the tournament came to a close, our team was waiting in anticipation of the award ceremony, hoping that we would win an award that would qualify us for the 2013 Championship event.
​This qualification was sealed with the prestigious Engineering Inspiration Award. This is the second year in a row we have been awarded this honor. Here is what the judges wrote about our team:
The Engineering Inspiration Award recognizes outstanding efforts in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering across the winning team’s community. The recipient shows measurable success in recruiting students, leading outreach efforts, and communicating the mission of FIRST. Their efforts are ongoing, not strictly concentrated on the build and competition season. Inspiring others to respect science and technology requires knowledge, and commitment; FIRST celebrates these qualities by presenting its Engineering Inspiration Award.
This team’s mission shines like the sun
They want to show thousands that FIRST is fun
They host robot Olympics and young rookie teams
To entertain and inspire young engineers dreams
Mezza Luna is great with orange and blue
But they crush the field with all that they do
Upon the realization of our award, the team went nuts! We now have the opportunity to compete at the FIRST Championship Event in St. Louis, MO on April 25th- 27th.
We couldn’t have done this without YOUR help! Now that we have this wonderful opportunity within reach, we have just two weeks to raise the $20,000 necessary for the trip. We are imploring you for assistance in this matter. As every dollar counts, any support you can give the team is much appreciated. Thank you for your consideration!
GO CRUSH!

Sometimes I make cute things

Joining my high school’s robotics team CRUSH (Creating Robots under Severe Heat 1011) is the best decision I have made during my high school career. During the first week of January, a 45 day build season begins, during which robotics teams throughout the country build a robot that fits the requirements to play that year’s competition. This program has not only been fun, it changed my life.

        My role on the team was very diverse. I joined the team in my sophomore year, the very first year I qualified. When I first joined, I barely knew how to use any of the machines or even what most of the tools were called. I started out with learning how to work all the main machines from the lathe to the table saw and even the mill. Now my role has broadened: I do a variety of tasks from administrative work to machining parts to making the little momentos that we give out at competition. The role I enjoy the most is sharing my experience with new members: helping them find their own place on the team and training them to succeed in it. I am one of the main student leaders on the team and because of that I help with organization and I am in charge of the many outreach activities that we do. I also recruit the sponsors our team needs to go to the competition and build our robot.

CRUSH 1011’s motto is “We Build More Than Robots.” This program has not only taught me how to use all the tools and machines, it has also taught me how to manage my time efficiently. During the build season I frequently stayed at school until 9 or later, yet I still have managed to maintain straight A’s. This team has also helped me learn to be part of a team and cooperate with all the other members of my team.  CRUSH made me who I am today and I can honestly say I do not know what high school would have been like without this team.

        From the very moment I joined CRUSH, my life began to change. I was experiencing this whole new world where I applied the math and science I had learned to make something that was just amazing to me, and I loved everything about it. It wasn’t just something I liked to do, I craved going to every meeting and learning something new. CRUSH has helped me grow into the person I am today. I have learned how to be self-sufficient, use all sorts of machines, and it has given me the knowledge of working well with others on a team to complete a major task of building and programming a robot. This year I  will continue with CRUSH and be actively involved so I can further my growth and knowledge. I even plan to come back to the team after I graduate so I can be a mentor and continue to help CRUSH succeed.

roboticsmadness:

therealfirstlife:

My team, except we only did defense really well 2 years. People come up to me and always tell me we have always been a defensive bot and I am like noooooo

I am not a member on my team anymore, I am a mentor now. I haven’t been able to go to many meetings because I have school, but I am still stressed out. I am not sure if my team realizes how much we have to do before build season and how we have like no money. It seriously stresses me out. We need to write the awards, apply for google rise, contact sponsors, do fundraisers, plan out robolympics, and soooooo much more! I am really worried about how our team is going to do this next year and it upsets me because I can’t do much about it. I continually tell them all that has to be done and they say they know but nothing is getting done. I need to stop stressing about it and let them do it and learn. I spent all of my high school making our team to where it is today and it crushes me to know it won’t stay that way.

K.Atiyeh.: Making a Difference one Graduating FIRST Student at a Time

kaatiyeh:

I submitted a proposal to the Steering Comittee on my robotics team for a scholarship that would benefit every graduating senior. And I found out it was approved (woo hoo!)

Being unable to apply for any FIRST scholarships because I wanted to become a teacher really frustrated me as a student who…

New Cool Movie

Our Driver Station. Spray painted by my friend and I(mostly my friend)

my best friend and I making parts on the mill

Playing around with ideas for more stuff for our team to give away. We will make something like this from felt and put them on headbands!

My mentor and I at championships in our pit

9’ banner I hand painted for our regionals this year

Having friends on other robotics team is the best thing in the world. I love FIRST kids.