Howdy!
Last week we competed at the FIRST in Texas District Championship, where we faced off against the best teams in Texas and New Mexico. This was the first State District Championships and we really enjoyed getting to play with and meet teams from all over the state.
One of the most interesting parts of competing in a large event is the flurry of constant excitement and fun with other teams. Buttons are always a staple in the remembrance of a team, so students love collecting as many as they can from the pits. At this competition, there were multiple students with floor-length capes, blanketed in a thick layer of colored metal pins. (Or in some cases, wood!)
Not to mention, we found some more members of #flippersclub at Districts. Team 5414, Pearadox, makes a 180-degree pivot over the front of the HAB platform!
On Friday night, after the majority of qualification matches were completed, we drove back over to Howdy Bots Headquarters to share and develop scouting data, which helped our alliance compete in eliminations on the final day. We also reviewed our driving and game strategy to see where improvements could be made.
In the eliminations, we reunited with our partners in Del Rio, 7521 Ultimate Robotics, along with 7179 Crossfire. However, we were shut down by the first seed, who achieved the highest scoring match without penalties this season, setting a new world record!
Unbeknownst to many, our 2019 robot actually has a backstory. Her name is Outlaw, and she’s an employee at the Orbital Outpost, an intergalactic gas station located near Planet Primus. However, she keeps running away from the pit to play with her friends on the game field. But with the help of ‘Wanted’ posters, our team was able to track her back down. Due to Outlaw’s rebellion, the Howdy Bots won the Imagery Award at the Austin District Championship!
As a local team in this event, we believe in the importance of staying for a few hours after it ends, to help in the tear-down and pack-up of the field. This serves as fun and effective stress relief, especially when it comes to deflating cargo balls.
Team 4610, the Beartecs, stayed behind as well to provide help for FRC volunteers.
After a long three days of competing, the Howdy Bots went out for frozen yogurt, to celebrate all of the teams’ accomplishments and the end to our first state competition.
Our performance at our two district events and the District Champs brought us to 11th in the district, which qualified us for the Houston World Championship! We will provide more details on that once we get them. If you’d like to watch us compete, you can view the live-stream on the front page of our website.
Houston World Champs Information
We are in the Turing Division
We are very excited to be competing at the Houston World Championships next week!! Here is all the information so you can enjoy this experience with us!
How does the World Championships work? The 400 teams competing are sorted into 6 different divisions. Think of each division as a mini-competition. Note that we are in the Turing division this year. Through the elimination matches, a winning alliance from our division will be determined. That alliance will compete in a round robin tournament with the other 5 division alliance winners to determine the 2 alliances that will compete in the Finals at Minute Maid Park.
How can I watch? The stream is located here on our front page. The stream link is: https://www.twitch.tv/firstinspires_turing.
We will be posting on social media too! We have students posted all over the convention center to take pictures and share their experiences over social media. Watch us on any of our social media channels posted at the top of our website!
SCHEDULE
| Thursday | Quals – 8:30 – Noon Lunch – Noon – 2pm Quals – 2pm – 5pm |
| Friday | Quals – 8am – 11:30am Lunch – 11:30am – 1:30pm Quals – 1:30pm – 5:30pm |
| Saturday | Division Awards + Alliance Selection – 7:30am – 8:30am Division Playoffs – 9:30am – 1pm Lunch – 1pm – 2:30pm Einstein Round Robin Playoffs: 2:30 – 4:30pm Comeptition Break – 4:30pm – 6:30pm Closing Celebration, Finals, Awards – 6pm – 8:30pm |