Friday, March 8, 2013

Competition Day 1: Rebel Alliance

Greetings Fellow Rebels!

The day started out great, with a quick breakfast in the hotel, followed by the opening ceremony. It was really inspiring to see everyone together bonding over their love of robotics. It got us so pumped! With the amount of teams participating, FIRST divided Regionals into two parts. Each part was then put on one side of the arena. With the other competition going on right next door, we knew we had to up our game.

Our first match was at 9:32. We we nervous and didn't know what to think. Our first battle was upon us!
We were apart of the red alliance, and won! The look of surprise on our faces was evident as we shook the other team's hands.
To our excitement, our streak continued for 5 more rounds!
A rookie team, undefeated? For six straight matches! We could not contain our excitement. 
We ended up losing the seventh round, which took us from second place to third.
We like to think we learned more from the loss than we did the wins.

When we weren't on the field, we were scouting our fellow team's pits. Everyone was so helpful! When we spoke to teams, they would ask us how long we had been in FIRST, and were very surprised that we were a rookie team. We recieved several offers for help and were given priceless advice.We felt felt the ideals of FIRST were really shown in everyone's attitude and behavior. It was the epitome of gracious professionalism.

 After the competition today, we went to Grandma's to eat, proceeded by a social where we formed  new connections with other teams. After the social some of us went to the pool to relax and have a good time. With everyone we met, we know we will have some great alliances tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, we have three games, and then we pick alliances for the finals. The top eight teams get to choose the alliances, so its a tough competition.
We wish everyone the best of luck!

Best Regards,

The Rebel Alliance
Team 4624

Friday, February 15, 2013

Were famous..almost.

Great job guys! We made the front page of the paper!!

The Owatonna High School robotics team, Rebel Alliance, will be finishing its robot over the next few days as Tuesday’s deadline nears. Although its first competition isn’t until March 6 in Duluth, the competing teams must have their robot finished and “bagged” by Tuesday.

The team members will have to create a robot that can spin Frisbees through rectangular slots on a board. In addition, the robot will have to climb a pyramid and defend against other robots slinging Frisbees.
When asked to rate on a scale of 1 (not close) to 10 (close) how close the Rebel Alliance is to finishing its robot, senior captain Jarrod Neuharth said 9.5. Teammate Kurtis Pierret said 9.3. When finished, the team members hope the robot will be able to fling a Frisbee and climb a pyramid.
The team started in late September with roughly 40 students. Neuharth said 25 students are still consistently coming to each meeting. The members of the robotics team can earn a varsity letter for meeting certain criteria. Faculty advisor Val Rose said roughly 15 students will letter.
Ashton Huntsman was one of the students who signed up last fall, and said the team has met his expectations.
“It’s mostly how I thought it would be. We’re building robots and getting through it,” Huntsman said. “I didn’t expect the robot to be made out of wood, but other than that, the team is what I expected.”
The robot is partially made out of wood because it’s lightweight (105 pounds) and Pierret had access to some and knew how to work with it. A robot can’t weigh more than 120 pounds.
Nueharth said the hardest parts of building the robot were the wheels and the shooter.
“We worked on the shooting system for about four weeks, now we have a really nice urethane wheel that one of our mentors made at MRG in Faribault. A lot of it was just getting it to run like we wanted it to. We needed to fix things that weren’t working properly. The hardest design part was the shooter.”
Rebel Alliance will work on the robot on Friday before traveling to Eagan on Saturday and Sunday to practice. After two days of practice, the team will have its final build on Monday before locking the robot up on Tuesday.
While new to Owatonna High School, robotic competitions are not new in Minnesota. Several schools, including the four Rochester schools, have participated for years. Rochester team members have been working with Owatonna as it prepares for its first competition. - By DEREK SULLIVAN dsullivan@owatonna.com

Let the games continue! Keep up the good work!

Monday, February 11, 2013

IMPORTANT INFORMATION!

Important announcements!

  • Parents will be notified this week on hotel reservation information for up-coming overnight competitions. It is very important that everyone gets registered on time. If you do not receive your  hotel information by February 16th please contact Val Rose. 
  •  Bag and Tag for Rebel Alliance is scheduled on February 19th from 5:30 to 6:30. There will be no practice after school. Dinner will not be provided on this day. 
  • Every Rebel Alliance participant needs to send in the fallowing information; Name along with parents occupation and place of employment. There will be an envelope placed on the sign in board. Please write down your information and drop it in the envelope. We need this in as soon as possible.   
  •   We are still in need of families willing to serve dinner through the month of February! Below is a list of dates still needing to be filled. February 12, 14 and 18th. Please Contact Val Rose at (507) 444-8834 if you are able to cover any of these days. 
That's all for now! 
Let the games continue!   

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Lets Letter!

 
Robotics Lettering Criteria 

Student must accumulate a minimum of  65 Points to letter based on the fallowing point system:

1 point for each hour of participation during build season
1 point for each attended large group and or/small group meeting
5 points for being a team lead
5 points  for each attended fundraising event or activity
5 points for each attended preseason event (St. Peter, Prior Lake, U of M) 
10 Points for each attended competition (regionals*  and state**, if applicable) 

*Criteria for Regional eligibility:
  • A minimum of 36 hours of participation during build season
  • At least one fundraising or preseason event
**Criteria for State eligibility: 
  • Be eligible for Reginals 
  • Attend Regionals  

Get working guys! Begin with a goal in mind, and strive for the best! Good luck!

Friday, January 25, 2013

Sponsorship



If you are interested in sponsoring Rebel Alliance print and mail the fallowing information.    Rebel Alliance Robotics
First Team #4624

Sponsorship information 2013
Business name ________________________________
Contact Person ­­­______________________­­­­­__________
Address ______________________________________
City ___________________State___________________
Phone (__)_________________Zip Code_____________
Email _________________________________________
Business website ________________________________

We greatly appreciate your generosity and ensure all donations will be put to maximum use.
Student Contact: _______________________________
Amount Donated: $_____________Check #___________
Cash $__________ Materials Donated:

Please make all checks payable to: Owatonna High School / Rebel Alliance
Federal Tax ID: 41-600-4063

Checks can be mailed to:
Owatonna Robotics Team #4624
Owatonna Senior High School
333 East School Street
Owatonna, MN 55060

We thank you for your support!

Let The Games Begin



Welcome, welcome, welcome!

This blog was created for anyone with an interest in Owatonna's very own robotics team. For the next few months I will be keeping all of you up to date on what our team is working hard at. Enjoy the ride, and let the games begin!

Rebel Alliance is the FIRST Robotics Team (#4624) from Owatonna Senior High School. Together we compete: For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST).  Our motivation behind creating Rebel Alliance is to inspire youth to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.  Our robotics team of 43 is broken up into six different groups: public relations, builders, electrical, financial, mechanical, and safety team. Each group works simultaneously to ensure the very best outcome in creating a successful robot and unstoppable team.  
Each week members of Rebel Alliance devote countless hours of hard work and sweat into making our goals a reality. For all my parent readers out there; I apologize on behalf of your missing children. I am sure you have all noticed, we work straight through dinner time and often well past. Thankfully, we have had such generous families willing to bring in dinner for the team through the week to fuel our brains. We greatly appetite the generosity and welcome anyone willing to volunteer in the future. We are in need of meals through the month of February. If you would like to feed a team please call Val Rose at (507) 444-8834.  
We need your support! 
Keep on following, and let the games begin!
-Rebel Alliance