So… Again a long overdue post. I am really bad at keeping a post schedule…. Not that I am trying to defend myself but one of the reasons is that cool stuff and big things in ones life do not happen on a schedule.

For that reason I will try to shove as many things as I can remember in the next post. And as I look now the last post was mid March… dang. OK.

April – VEX Worlds, FRC Worlds (Robotics Competitions I participate and mentor for) These were a lot of fun and in the VEX competition, my Rice University team go to the eliminations round of 24! In the FRC competition the high school team that I mentored also did really well getting to the eliminations and getting knocked out by a little bit in the quarterfinals. But hey, we were ranked 3 at one point!

May – School, Finals

Finally we come to June which is what this is about!

Sometime in May I decided that I wanted to split from my old robotics team and start my own so I contacted a couple of different High schools about potentially starting FRC teams in their schools. Long story short, after about 2-3 weeks of emails, Awty International School (who had a VEX team already) responded with enthusiasm! Teju and I went to visit and explain the program and all of the students and teachers at the meeting loved it!

After getting approval from the school things started going faster and faster. We were able to obtain a really nice area to work and to have our shop (it has low ceilings, but its OUR OWN space, I’m not complaining).

One of the students on the teams dad had a trailer that he had not used in a really long time, and let us borrow it to take all of our stuff to competition! This was great! It made the team a lot more organized and the pit look clean (we could take the big husky toolboxes without reorganizing) Its a really long story about the trailer, but we went to one competition with it… after fixing the top vent, and it disappeared from the parking lot. 😦 Here is the picture in remembrance of the awesome trailer. I felt, and still feel so bad as it was given to us to use.

Anyways… Its not all bad, overall the team is great, the students are great, and we have all that we need, as we got a couple of quick grants over the summer! And, we went to a competition in Dallas at the end of June and got Finalist! Yes a Pre-Rookie team, with about 3 weeks of build on the robot that was built in 2 days and never tested or driven got Finalist at an offseason event. I will let that sink in…. (look at the picture while thats sinking in)

Yea that thing above my head: a trophy! I am so proud of this group! Coming into the off-season with no experience and just the will they were able to build (and I mean build, because this robot was completely changed) a good robot that could compete with veteran teams.

Now, after the first success they have improved the robot even more and are ready for the competition next weekend in Austin! It will be a true test of how well the robot performs, as there will be great teams there as well!

So this did not turn out a car or beer post or anything so ill just file it under tech. I promise a very interesting car post is coming this week though. I have had a car change, and ill leave it at that for now!