Summary of our Regional Finishes

After a long bus ride down to snowy (yes, snowy) Arkansas, RC Dawson was ready for a nap and some regional competition. Our robot had some technical difficulties early on, but after they were resolved we performed well. The goal of the Arkansas regional was to get in some practice before the Denver regional. In the Arkansas regional our Rank was 32 and we had a qualification score of 54.30 in addition to a playoff score of 87.50. RC Dawson was picked by the 5th ranked alliance and we performed well. This regional gave us the confidence we needed for the Denver regional. RC Dawson was slightly unlucky in Denver and our robot suffered some serious mechanical failures. Our average qualification score was 69.60 and as a result we didn’t get picked. Although we didn’t get the results we were hoping for, we learned valuable lessons and are excited for next year!

Our highlight in week two's top plays for the FRC Top 10
http://bit.ly/1B671y3 

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Looking Back

You know that feeling that no one ever gets when they lose and you run around celebrating. Losing is the third worst thing on the planet behind wasps and brussels sprouts. Unfortunately, losing is something that everyone has to cope with. Losing might feel like the worst thing ever, but it is necessary in order to achieve success. A comparison one could make would be to the 2008 financial collapse. Everyone was getting in the market buying mortgaged-backed securities that had absurd ratings. People were buying houses with nothing down and almost expected a great return. People didn’t realize that there was risk in investing and not everything is as perfect as it seems. Once the bubble burst the United States economy collapsed harder than the Broncos super bowl attempt against the Seahawks. What happened in 2008 was a terrible injustice, but so far we as a country have learned from our mistakes. We have had a raging bull market for the last six years. Employment has gone up and the United States seems to be getting back on its feet. In RC Dawson’s case 2008 was the year it all started, the year we would grow with that six year bull market. The team has learned many lessons since its founding and RC Dawson has been a home for many students pursuing their love of robotics. Last week was a bad week for RC Dawson and the stock market, but at the end of the week the DOW closed at a gain for the day. This made me wonder what our bounce back was and what our gain from the Denver FRC Regional was. We lost, that sucked, but it would be naive of us to not look at the lessons we learned from this past week. The team gave it their all and endured through mechanical failures, long drives, tough losses and a since of defeat. What we have to realize is that at the end of the week robotics is supposed to be fun and educational. So many students have learned valuable life lessons as well as technical skills through the RC Dawson program. We all have spent late nights working on the robot and doing are best to make sure we can show up big at the competition. Although it might appear as if all that work was for nothing I think that the RC Dawson team would disagree. The team became a family throughout the course of the robotics season and I think at the end of the day that is just as good if not better than the DJIA 34 point rally on friday. We will keep our heads high and carry what we have learned from this incredible season into the next. 

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Meet the Team pt. 2

Jonathan Fuller

He is a very important member of the build team who dominates the building process almost as much as his favorite team, the Seahawks, dominate the NFC. When he is not putting together robots while wearing slightly too much Seahawks apparel, he participates in a wide range of physical activities. He is a premier lax bro and listens to questionable pop music while warming up. He also averages some amount of interceptions that I’m sure would make Richard Sherman proud. Although his street skating skills are not to of the type to be emulated, his long boarding prowess is unmatched.

Morgan Fuller

He is one of the most knowledgeable and creative members of the build team. He claims to be a bigger Seahawks fan than his brother…who knows really, they both go overboard with the fan gear anyway. When he is not competing with his brother to determine who the superior builder is, he enjoys cyclocross and playing video games. He is not to be mistaken for just your “average” gamer. He is a self proclaimed legend at head shots in the game Halo and balls hard in various other games. He also finds being shot with hard balls is fun as well and plays paintball to fulfill his enjoyment of this unique obsession. 

Boomer Scripps

Not only does he have the best name on the RC Dawson team, he also is a master programmer. He practically knows more about Java than the creator himself…or maybe he is the creator :o. HE doesn't always listen to music, but when he does, he listens to Gold by Imagine Dragons on full volume. Easily the most informed member of RC Dawson on current events and cool things happening in the world of robotics. He strongly recommends the youtube channel source fed news. Bottom line he is a forced to be reckoned with and all in all, the man.

Zach Worthing 

If someone needed the biggest chassis ever made moved he would be the first person anyone with a brain would call. His brute force combined with his gentle, easy-going attitude make him one of the best and most productive builders on RC Dawson. After exhausting evenings building robots he goes to sleep and dreams of his one and only love, a Dodge Ram 3500 larmie longhorn edition turbo-diesel V8 short bed dually (mouthful right?).  After he is done dreaming about trucks he wakes up and watches NCIS for as long as he can until he goes to robotics.

Bryant Lord

A true renaissance man who can do just about any task placed in front of him. He does a little bit of everything for the RC Dawson Team: marketing or building, you name it he has done it. When not running around doing everything he prefers to go one direction: Downstream. Although, Canoeing is his first and only love, he also enjoys listening to Spongebob Trap music (Yes that is a thing). He also says “ya dude” to much.

Brooks DeFrees

He is a member of the build team and appears to know what he is doing all the time. His pastimes include skiing and shredding gnarly waves at a surf spot he doesn't want to disclose because it’s sacred. His Hawaiian shirt game is at one hundred billion trillion and wears them to let everyone know he is in fact the man at surfing. The way he glides across waves resembles his unique ability to carve the band saw and make important pieces for the robot.

Michael Nannen

Michael is a builder on the RC Dawson team who knows how get things done. When not building robots he enjoys helping maintain proper animal diversity. He is also a truck enthusiast and upgraded from his rust ridden “truck” to a TRUCK. He considers himself a mediocre baseball player who hasn't yet reached his full potential. When driving his truck or shooting things or even playing baseball he listens to country music(who knows why, but he does…)

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The Name Game (aka North West has nothing on us)

Every year out team codes and coddles a fresh new robot. Like a small child, we teach it to move, play games, and interact with the world around it. And, like a baby, we are tasked with naming it. Whether you are a soon-to-be parent seeking naming advice from a top team or another frc team looking for some inspiration for your own bot's title, you have come to the right place! Here is a look back at the monikers of RC Dawson’s past creations:

Doug: 2014 Season

Doug, a derivative of Douglas, is an ancient Celtic name meaning “black water”. Our Doug, too, flaunted a darkish tint, but he, being a robot, was very allergic to water. The name was originally popularized by swashbuckling pirate Douglas Fairbanks. This fits our team, which is comprised almost entirely of swarthy rouge-types (we’re like STEM Pirates). 

OddJob: 2013 Season

The dictionary.com definition of “odd job” is: a casual or isolated piece of work, especially one of a manual nature. While it may seem an ill fit at first, this name suits our bot quite well. This is because OddJob was built by a whirlwind collection of small, effective tasks. And, though they may have seemed insignificant at first, they all came together to build one of the best robots in RC Dawson history. OddJob was, essentially, the product of many odd (but awesome) jobs. Ok... but less symbolically, the name OddJob is actually a reference to an old Bond villain. A man who threw his stovepipe hats like our robot threw frisbees.

Tim Tebot:  2012 Season

With a name reminiscent of the Denver Broncos’ star quarterback (ok, before Manning), its no surprise that Tebot was such a good sportsman. Just like his namesake, Tebot threw great passes that almost lead his team to victory... if it weren’t for that pesky movement thing.

BeastMode: 2011 Season

BeastMode, as his name would imply, was a total beast of a robot. Drawing his name from the “beast mode activated” meme of the 2010, *shudders at thought of old memes* this robot was a tank, weighing in at over 100 lbs. Ironically, BeastMode’s “beast mode”, his autonomous, was not exactly what you’d expect from a bot specifically named to be activated to achieve success. Don’t worry, though, we have since improved and scored 3rd place in states for our “beast mode” performance last season. Sharing his moniker are Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch and rapper Juvenile’s ninth album (also released in 2010).

Señor Chang Mark 1: 2010 Season

Señor Chang Mark 2: 2009 Season

Señor Chang Mark 3: 2008 Season

Admittedly not the most creative names, the Señor Changs hold a special place in RC Dawson’s heart. As our first 3 robots, the Changs were the very beginnings of Dawson robotics. Drawing inspiration from Señor Chang of the television show Community, our robot was bound for success (in sitcoms and Spanish, at least). To quote Amy Poehler (Leslie Knope on Parks and Rec), this name's "ambiguous ethnic blend perfectly represents the dream of the American melting pot." More excitingly, however, is the second half of their names: Mark 1, Mark 2, and Mark 3 respectively. These phrases indicate multiple iterations, or models, of our robot (in this case, three of them). Because no one has told us otherwise, we can safely assume that we, the students of RC Dawson, coined this term. Meaning that in Iron Man 3, when Tony references his suits as Mark 1 - Mark 42, he is using our very own term (are we entitled to a cut of the profits?). Step over JARVIS, the original bots are here.

Having learned all about RC Dawson’s vivid naming history, I’m sure that you’re asking yourself “Well what is the 2015 robot named?” As much as I would love to just give away that valuable information, it has yet to be determined. Some names that have been considered are TARS, WallE, and Mr. Nickerson’s twenty-second bowtie. Unfortunately, we have no consensus or conclusion on this pressing matter as of today, so I will have to update you later. Thanks for Reading (and feel free to use these names for any STEM-minded children you may posses)!

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The ACTUAL History of RC Dawson

Ok, I’m going to level with you, RC Dawson practices can go as long as 7 hours on the weekend days; so, to keep motivated, and amused, we must employ a certain element of satire to our roles on the team. This comedy comes in particularly handy on the RC Dawson team blog. Recently our most prolific, accomplished, and sarcastic writer, Cole, added a surprisingly popular post about the history of RC Dawson. For clarity’s sake, you should know that it was mostly satire; for contrast’s sake I write this post. Luckily for us, the very first RC Dawson team coach, Ryan Depew, dropped by our practice today, and granted me an interview. So, with further ado, I present The ACTUAL History of RC Dawson:

Contrary to what you may now believe, RC Dawson did not start out of the back of a beat up van (you may be thinking of the Scooby Doo Crew). We did not have an uninteresting formation, however. According to Ryan Depew, RC Dawson was founded when the fine folks at DeVry University approached him and asked if he had ever heard of First Robotics. They were looking for a team to sponsor, and, as fate would have it, they wanted us. Looking back, Mr. Depew has no idea why DeVry contacted him specifically, but he couldn’t be happier that they did. So, on one fateful day in 2008, Alexander Dawson School started its very first day of Robotics.

When I asked Mr. Depew about RC Dawson’s very first robot, he couldn’t help but chuckle. “We couldn’t get it to move.” he told me. Back in those days, all of the robots had to be packaged up and shipped to competition; even if you were just driving down the street, it had to be Fedexed. That very first competition, RC Dawson didn’t even have their robot moving until the weekend before shipment. That year the game was called “Lunacy”, and it was designed to feel like driving on the moon. The RC Dawson robot was called Señor Chang (read my Robot Names post to find out why) and he was virtually useless. He could not pick up or throw game pieces, merely herd them around. According to Mr. Depew, he did little more than “run amok” in the competition field. Towards the end of the competition they learned how to play defense, but at that point it was too late. Thankfully, our skills have developed rapidly and Mr. Depew expressed awe at the current team’s ability to build extremely complex and functional robots with little need for help.

Next, I asked Mr. Depew about his current job (as he is no longer a high school physics teacher). In all honesty, I didn’t expect much from this question, but I was very pleasantly surprised. According to Ryan, he would not have his current job if it weren’t for RC Dawson. He told me that his high school had never offered any sort of engineering classes, despite it being, in his opinion, the best thing that one could do in high school. Mr Depew said that his work with RC Dawson “engaged his imagination”. So, when he was searching for his next path in life, he knew that engineering was to be his field. “Now I work for a company that makes robots.” He said with a smile. Work with RC Dawson is not only transformative for our students, but for sponsors, teachers, and mentors as well. So, even though Ryan Depew is no longer our coach, we are proud to know that he is continuing the mission of RC Dawson: bringing robots to the world.

Finally, I asked Mr. Depew if there was anything he wanted to share with our readers about RC Dawson. I will leave you with his parting words:

"It doesn’t matter if you think you’re technical or not. it doesn’t matter if you think you’re science or math minded or not. There is a place for anyone with an interest at RC Dawson, and it is potentially the most engaging, most real-world thing that you can do in high school."

Ps. Follow Ryan on twitter @FRC2972Mentor (and RC Dawson @FRC2972)

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The History of RC Dawson

Long ago at a school named Dawson two young men decided to buy a poorly-maintained van. Although the van was something you might find in breaking bad, it became the catalyst that started it all. RC Dawson was spray painted on the side of the van and little knew that this name spray painted onto a van with mediocre artistic ability would become the centerpiece of the greatest program known to Dawson. The van sat in Dawson’s parking lot begging to be towed, but just like the resiliency of the RC Dawson team, the van stayed put and refused to be towed away. The van was a foreshadow of events to come, great, phenomenal events. In 2008 the owners of the van decided that the work they were doing was limited due to the confined space of this van. They took it upon themselves to found the robotics team at Dawson and fittingly named it after their beloved van, RC Dawson. 

When the program was started in 2008 little paid attention to it and it received less credibility than it should have. RC Dawson was the underdog, the abandoned van, the group of misfits. The funny thing is though the misfits seem to always find their way and in most cases rise above anyones expectations. It didn't take long before RC Dawson rose to the top and became the most participated in extracurricular activity at the Dawson School. Here is a timeline:

300 BC - Not really sure what was happening, but something important probably happened 

1776 AD - Most important year ever…very critical to the ability for RC Dawson to be founded

2008 - The van makes its debut on Dawson School’s campus and RC Dawson is founded

2009 - This was a landmark year for RC Dawson because it was our first event. The event was comparable to the first episode of Glee. For those of you who don’t watch glee the first episode goes like this: A teacher has 5 or 6 students that would kind of dance around and sing with enthusiasm. They showed up to the first competition and were amazed. The first team to perform is choreographed, has matching outfits and their performance in general was very professional. There is this great shot of the team in Glee that shows the team just in aww. RC Dawson was essentially the cast of glee in the first episode, but just like how Glee improved after seeing what their competition was like, RC Dawson followed suit.

note that team grew 330% in terms of student participation in first two years 

2010 - Our team builds a robot that looked like a pile of gold compared to the other one. This year 7th and 8th grade students are now eligible to partake in the program.

2011 - Due to our less extensive resume RC Dawson was picked last during the alliance selection at regionals. We made it effortlessly through regionals and competed in the Archimedes division at World Championships in St. Louis. Although we didn't perform well in the arena, our team members dancing prowess was displayed at Roboprom and was unmatched to say the least. 

2012 - Our robot “Tim Tebot” makes competes in the Kansas City regional and does extremely well. Program is still growing…a lot

2013 - We went to Denver regional and came out 3rd in autonomous and 17th overall. We were selected by the fourth place alliance and lost to eventual champions.

2014 - This year the program had its largest number of participants and only one senior. Our team endured a miserable bus ride to Lubbock, Texas where the odors of team members became overbearing on peoples noses. We didn’t exactly pass inspection smoothly, but we made it to the quarterfinals. However, the decision to go to Texas was a good one because we were more than prepared for the competition in Colorado. After the preliminary rounds we were in 7th place and unlike recent years we were now the captains selecting the other teams. We lost to the eventual winners in the semifinals. 

2015 - To be determined….(but it will be great)

3000 - We will have robots making our robots…hopefully

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RC Dawson Gears Up New Team Members During Week One

Although veteran RC Dawson team members never seem to stop working on various robotics projects, the official season started last monday. There already has been a sizable increase in participation for RC Dawson. The program has become the fastest growing extracurricular at Dawson and the team is working to ensure the accommodation of everyones ideas. The growth of RC Dawson has been almost exponential. The program originated from just a select few students who shared a common interest, to a large team. 

The RC Dawson team has become a family in the sense that traditions and knowledge are passed down. Opening week is a special time because the veteran members get a chance to bond for the first time with THE future of RC Dawson. New members get a chance to explore every branch of the RC Dawson program and find their niche. Whether it be business, PR, or just passion for building, the RC Dawson program offers something for everyone. 

Below are the internal thoughts of a new member during week 1 of robotics:

Monday, Day 1

Note: Jim is not actually a real person

Jim:

I have never really been a natural at integrating myself into groups of people…C’mon Jim show some confidence, they are probably super nice and you will fit in great. 

Alright just step in and check it out…I cautiously walked into the room hoping not to break anything and look like a rookie even though it was evident that I was in fact..a rookie

I knew who everyone on the team was because I spend to much time on facebook, but I didn't really “Know” them which might be awkward…

Oh my gosh the captain of the team is approaching me. I kind of want him to talk to me, but at the same time I don’t want to say something wrong. 

(He says “Hi how are you? You’re here for robotics right?”)

I literally could not form a cohesive thought because I felt like I was in the presence of a legend.

I kind of mumbled something and he showed me around the room, my face looked as if it was raining skittles: pure astonishment…

After he introduced me to other members of the team I sat down along with other wide eyed novices to listen to the captain give a welcoming speech. He assured everyone that regardless of their skill level they would be received with open arms. 

We split up into groups and rotated stations, learning about various parts of the team: programming, business, journalism and building

As soon as I got to the build station I knew I would never regret my decision of joining the team. 

Tuesday, Day 2

I patiently waited for school to end absorbing what material I could even though all I really cared about was robotics after school. 

As soon as I was dismissed I stumbled out the door while receiving accolades for my questionable coordination from fellow classmates…haters

I practically fell down the stairs so eager to get into robotics…

I spent the whole time with the build team learning how last year’s robot, Doug, was built. 

I experimented with gearboxes and asked probably too many questions to the members about how things worked, but I didn't care because I felt like I was in heaven…if heaven had lots of robots and students running around building stuff. 

Wednesday, Day 3

I went through a similar routine…you know…school…waiting

Today was my day…all I could think about was learning how to use the new band saw and CAD

I once again displayed my unique athleticism when I ran to robotics…but ran is a generous term when addressing my athleticism…really it was more of a stumble

I accomplished everything I had wanted to do that day and still had time to spare

I was pleasantly surprised because one of the veteran members walked in with donuts and soda to celebrate the announcement of the new team captain. It was fun, but I was eager to get back at my attempt to assemble a gearbox…I had a long way to go to say the least

Thursday, Day 4

After my daydreaming about robots I actually had a chance to work with the robots after school

I continued to expand my knowledge of engineering…slowly, even though a thought I had accumulated the knowledge of a rocket scientist

Today was also the day the team was test driving and making improvements to old robots

Some might say I was a natural at the whole process…which was kind of true-ish..more of a stretch, but I felt like a champion none the less. Even though my driving prowess was superseded by almost everyone on the team it was only a matter of time before I became THE BEST. 

I could see myself…standing there making clutch maneuvers in the world competition and the team lifting me up and carrying me around but then I realized I had probably eaten too many donuts to be lifted up and robotics class was over. 

To be continued…

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