The BEAST Robotics team has had a busy schedule these last few weeks, both with robot building and with community outreach events. We kicked off the week with our team picture, taken in our new Elmbrook Robotics Space. From promoting our team at Freshman Welcome Night to attending the FIRST WIsconsin Advocacy Day at Madison, our students have been hard at work this season.
Representatives from our team attended both Brookfield Central’s and Brookfield East’s Freshman Information Nights to recruit interested students for our team next year. We met a lot of enthusiastic students who we hope to see join the team next fall! BEAST representatives also attended the FTC Qualifier, Battle of Brookfield, held at Brookfield Central. There they supported our Elmbrook FTC teams. Collaboration, mentorship and support between FRC, FTC, and FLL teams are important aspects of FIRST. We were also able to promote the upcoming Wisconsin Regional competition at these events.
This past Tuesday, nine BEAST members took part in the FIRST Wisconsin Advocacy Day in Madison, volunteering over 100 hours in total, to help advocate for the continuation of the Wisconsin DPI robotics grant. Our BEAST members met five lawmakers and many staffers to discuss STEM education in our state. We extended an invitation for them to stop by the Wisconsin Regional, as well as our new robotics space.
Sussex Scrimmage
BEAST will attend the Sussex Scrimmage next Sunday, February 18, along with 24 other robotics teams. It is a “Week 0” event, meaning that it is a practice competition. The Sussex Scrimmage is hosted by Charger Robotics at Sussex-Hamilton High School. Our Business Team will be co-leading the Impact Award information session along with the Riverside RoboTigers. They will share tips and advice with other teams about the Impact Award, as well as our experience at last year’s FIRST Championship. Families are welcome to attend the Sussex Scrimmage! The event is free and open to the public, and it’s a great way to see the robots in action! Learn more about the event at https://www.chargerrobotics.org/sussex-scrimmage.
Woodie Flowers Award Nominee
The Woodie Flowers Award recognizes an individual mentor who has done an outstanding job of motivating students through communication and celebrates effective communication in the art and science of engineering and design. This year, BEAST students named Kristin Rothe as our 2024 Woodie Flowers Nominee. Mrs. Rothe is a beloved mentor. She earned a BS in structural engineering from MSOE and spent her career managing design and construction projects. When her children joined FIRST, Mrs. Rothe started helping and was hooked! Nine seasons later, she is integral to our team. She manages the team, onboards students and mentors, organizes team training, and advocates for FIRST community-wide. As the students wrote in her nomination essay, “Mrs. Rothe’s passion, communication skills, and mentorship have made her a role model and inspiration for students who see themselves not only becoming STEM professionals but STEM leaders.” Good luck, Mrs. Rothe!
Subteam Updates
The Electrical Team is done wiring the chassis. They have also begun setting up quality stations to verify bad components found during installation. They are now on standby for any repairs!
The Mechanical Team built their final shooter prototype and tested it. Testing was successful, so the shooter has been mounted on the chassis. They also finished designing the intake and have begun to assemble it. Final design for the shooter will be worked on this week.
The Software Team has been hard at work testing different shooter speeds and angles, programming and testing the chassis, and building out code for the intake, transfer, and nose roller. Additionally, the software team has also been utilizing our old robots to test pathing for this year’s autonomous mode.
The Business Team had a busy week representing the team at all of the above mentioned outreach events. In addition, they are finalizing the Impact Award essay and preparing for their Impact Award information session at the Sussex Scrimmage.
The Strategy Team is developing our scout training program for this season’s game. The scouting app is ready to test at the Sussex Scrimmage. Because all our competitions depend on alliances, it’s important that we understand the strengths and weaknesses of the other teams.
The Field Team is putting the finishing touches on the Speaker, Amp, Source, Stage, Microphone, and Trap. These are all field elements in this year’s Crescendo game. They also mounted AprilTags, which are like QR codes that help the robots navigate. We expect to take delivery of our competition field this week, stay tuned for updates.