Team Blog

TechFire Robotics Competition Team Heads to World Competition

4/15/2018

York-based competitive robotics team, TechFire 225, qualifies for the FIRST Robotics Competition World Championship in Detroit, MI on April 25 - 28. York’s premiere robotics team set the Mid-Atlantic Region on fire when its top seeded alliance took the top place among more than 60 competing teams. “This is a year where we have had a lot of great opportunities. We have a really robust robot, a really strong scouting team, and we’ve got some solid mechanics to back it all up,” says Jagr Krtanjek, one of 225’s Drive Team members.

Along with alliance partners, team 2590 Nemesis of Robbinsville, New Jersey, and team 2016 Mighty Monkey Wrenches of Ewing, New Jersey, team 225 TechFire competed throughout the weekend, making it to finals and battling through the playoff rounds to finish in first place at the district event. Krtanjek says landing the Mighty Monkey Wrenches team on the alliance was, “a steal and a half.” He beams, “They complemented our alliance so well. Nemesis being a fantastic scale bot, TechFire being a fantastic scale bot, and the Mighty Monkey Wrenches being an amazing switch and exchange robot... the fact that we had them available was incredible.” Pit Team Member Jess Babcock agrees, “What matters most about your alliance partners is what you can do with them. Compliment your weaknesses with their strengths.”

Winning the event qualifies all three teams to compete at the FIRST World Championship sponsored by Qualcomm on April 25 - 28 in Detroit, MI. TechFire is hopeful to make it further into the competition than last year, ideally all the way to the esteemed “Einstein” field. Babcock predicts, “This year I think we can make it to Einstein. I think we can only be stopped by our own personal limitations, and if we believe we can do it, then we will do it.”

Babcock remembers, “Last year was a season where we did not have that great of luck. We had some tough matches. But, I think this year, we are able to see that hard work that I know we put in really come to life. Especially with many of us being juniors and seniors this year, it makes me tear up just thinking about how happy I am to end my senior year on a good note. That is something I’ll always remember.”

Watch history being made at the FIRST World Championships at Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan on April 25 - 28. Visit firstinspires.com and www.firstchampionship.org for more information.

Local Robotics Team, TechFire Takes Two Awards at Regional Qualifier

4/5/2018

TechFire, York’s premiere competitive robotics team set the district on fire when it received two prestigious awards at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Qualifier of the FIRST Robotics Competition in Montgomery, New Jersey on March 25. Combining the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology, the FIRST Robotics Competition is the ultimate sport for the mind.

For its unique robot design, TechFire was awarded the Industrial Design Award. Sponsored by General Motors, this award celebrates form and function in an efficiently designed machine that effectively addresses the FIRST Robotics POWER UP game challenge.

Along with its alliance partners, Team 25 Raider Robotix of North Brunswick, New Jersey, and Team 5992 the Pirates from Seton Hall Prep in West Orange, New Jersey, Team 225 TechFire competed throughout the weekend and battled through the playoff rounds to win the District Event.

Winning the event qualifies all three teams to compete at the FIRST Mid-Atlantic District Championship Sponsored by Johnson & Johnson on April 4 - 7 at Lehigh University’s Stabler Arena. Winning teams will then move on to the FIRST World Championships on April 25 - 28 in Detroit, MI.

Build Season

2/20/2018

These past five weeks have been a whirlwind of prototypes, powerpoints, CAD drawings, and perpetual progress. It seems like just yesterday we were finding out what the game was, and waiting eagerly for the reveal of this year’s water game. Now, at the end of the beginning of an incredible journey, we stand awaiting the trials and tribulations of the impending competitions.

Overall, build season has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs. "In the beginning, everyone is really excited, and there is lots of stuff to do, and at the end there are a lot fewer things to do, there is a lot of a tweaking and programming. But, that's when we are getting ready for competition and are really excited," says 12th grader Michaela. Build season is a six week period where the team prototypes and tests multiple designs in order to form a more perfect robot.

Throughout this period we watched students step up, from rookies to seniors. We saw what started as dreams on paper became a physical, working robot. No matter how many years you’ve been a part of FIRST, it’s always astounding how the team bonds and friendships develop as our robot slowly becomes an engineering masterpiece Throughout build season we’ve made countless memories. Many being preserved forever on the famous ‘Quote Board’ that sits proudly on our shop wall. From teamwide games of Superfight and Mafia to sitting down for TechFire family meals together, we are creating moments we will never forget. As we enter into the competition, we can’t wait to make more with our friends and family.

TechFire 225 screams “WHAT THE TECH?!”

2/13/2018

TechFire 225 is a team whose goals and priorities reach beyond that Monster PowerCube Placing Machine called a robot. We here at TechFire believe marketing and public relations (MPR) is a vital key to our success and are incredibly ecstatic to introduce our new media segment called “What the Tech?!”

After a rigorous first three weeks of build season, students from TechFire were challenged to brainstorm ideas on how to put the good ole’ TechFire spark out on social media. Meetings spent sifting through Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to gain knowledge about the pros and cons of each medium have certainly paid off. Students decided that a weekly media post seemed to be the happy middle ground for consistency without overpowering our followers with posts. Every Tuesday, our followers can be sure to look out for our weekly TechFire Tuesday post which will include our “What the Tech?!” segment for the week.

Inspired by the National Geographic World magazine feature called “What in the World,” TechFire’s students came up with the brilliant idea of having our followers play a little game each week. The game “What the Tech?!” will feature a magnified picture of a robotics themed object. These objects range from robot parts, outreach presentation items, and even the occasional game piece. Followers will then have the chance to guess in the comments what the object is and we will reveal the answer on the following week along with the next challenge.

Thank you to our amazing follower base for playing along with this exciting game that is not only fun to play but even more fun to create. Be sure to checkout TechFire on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook and we will see you on TechFire Tuesdays. As always, stay forever fiery.

TechFire 225 Holds Season Launch at York Country Day School

1/28/2018

On January 6, 2018, a team of high-school students from 13 area school districts filed into the York Country Day School. These students are members of York County’s world-class robotics team TechFire 225, and are ready to kickoff their next season of STEM competition entitled POWER UP. Competing within the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition program (FRC) includes 6,770 other teams from across the world. Teens work with adult volunteers, called mentors, who train students to become strong leaders and creators and oversee the student's progress. TechFire hopes to achieve the same success as their previous years by creating a robot ready to engage competitors from across the globe. In 2017, TechFire finished the year ranked #21 according to FIRST Updates Now.

Nadine Hubner, a representative of Scott Wagner’s office, was present to show the State Senator’s support of STEM. When asked for her thoughts on the program, she said, “FIRST has so many positives to it, even if a student doesn’t decide to go into engineering. All the skill sets...and the problem solving you learn you really take into your life. So I think it’s a really great thing to do and it’s fun. I wish they had this when I was a kid.” These skills have allowed TechFire alumni to attend universities for engineering such as Yale, Syracuse, and Penn State. Additionally, students gain access to hundreds of scholarships, totaling over $50 million, available only through the FIRST program.

Boy Scout Troop 54 leader, Chris Beauregard and his troop of scouts ages 11-14 were also present at the event in order to kickoff their engineering merit badge. Beauregard was impressed by how his troop’s interest grew as they saw the number of teenagers engaged in such a high-energy engineering event. “To see the problem solving, teamwork and then to see the young people here getting excited about the competition is fascinating. You can already see their brains turning, almost like ‘How am I gonna solve this problem and what am I going to be working on?’“

This kickoff sparks a six week period in which students will need to design, build, and program a functional robot to compete in challenges over the next few months. With the right strategy, TechFire 225 may qualify for district, and even world events, as they have for the last 5 years.

For more information on FIRST or POWER UP, please visit www.firstinspires.org. Follow this season’s team action at www.techfire225.com. .

District Event Wrap up, ready for MAR Champs

4/6/2017

Springside Chestnut Hill and Montgomery Wrap-Up Blog Post

It's been a whirlwind of competition, unbag sessions, and robot reiteration these past few weeks. From Springside Chestnut Hill, to Montgomery, now we're heading out to MAR champs.

And maybe those two district events didn't produce the results we wanted-were expecting, even, but we still know we worked extremely hard. No matter what, we'll always leave everything on the field. Our drive team was at the line, waiting for the end of autonomous to pounce on our controls. Our pit was constantly double-checking, triple-checking, and fixing whatever pieces needed a little more TLC on our bot . Our scouts were in the stands, hunched over tablets pushing information and planning our team's text moves. Our Dean's List candidates and Chairman's team were delivering heartfelt speeches and answering questions from judges. Mentors o were going crazy running from student to student to see who needed help and what would need to be done.

That being said, there's always room to improve. As our mentors have said from the beginning, the purpose of these competitions isn't to win, it's to grow and learn, and see what we've created complete what it was designed to do. And, losing doesn't mean our robot isn't a great robot. This past week even helped us land at #20 on FRC's Top 25 list! And, no matter the results of MAR champs, we are incredibly proud of what we've accomplished this season.

Adding to that, a huge congratulations to every team that entered this competition season, regardless of how you've done thus far. We know you've left your heart at every competition, just as we have. Whether you've made it to MAR Champs (Or your district’s equivalent), already qualified for Worlds, or ended your season after your final district, everybody should be incredibly proud of the robots that have taken the field.

Every day in the shop, every competition, we're always looking to learn, and we certainly have learned a lot. Now, we're excited to take what we've learned and bring it to MAR Champs.

Good luck to everybody competing at this stage of the season, we hope to see you at Worlds!

Bag Day 2017!!!

2/22/2017

Following six long weeks of blueprinting, prototyping, and building, we have come to the beloved, yet dreaded, day: Bag Day. The final day of our six-week build season, full of frantic bumper-checking, final volume and weight measurements, and shop clean up.
    Every build season is chaotic, let’s be honest, but this year we were testing new ideas every day, searching for what would make our (still unnamed) Robot the best we could possibly design. Throughout these six weeks we’ve bonded over ultimate frisbee games and “family” dinners, created a quote board to track some newly-infamous TechFire sayings, and created a great working environment with which we’ll enter our competition season.

    Besides the work we’ve done to create our beloved bot, we also completely redesigned our chairman’s presentation and essay, and created a designed our new T-Shirt. We also decided to include polo shirts and hoodies as part of official TechFire student and mentor apparel.

Our scouts have also been hard at work, creating a brand-new scouting app, tailored specifically for Steamworks. After the success of last year’s scouting, our team is looking to build off that momentum, preparing to hold regular scouting meetings this season.
    Our sponsors, as per usual, have been incredibly involved throughout the build season. In fact, some of our sponsors paid us a visit this past weekend, talking to students and learning even more about the team, as well as this year’s game. That same day also brought us a visit from some of the local press, who were interested in learning what our team does throughout the year. (You can view the article here)

    Though we may receive a few extra hours of sleep tomorrow, that blessing will only last a few days. While our robot may be bagged, and build season may be over, our work is far from over. Our drive team will be hard at work with our practice bot, Chairman’s presenters will be rehearsing our presentation, videographers will be preparing visuals, and our pit crew will be tweaking our withholding allowance, working to create an even stronger robot. You may not see us at any practice matches, but you will see us on March 18th, when our named robot will be taking the field. While we may have bittersweet feelings about the end of build season, we are hopeful that we will receive even better results this season than we did in previous years. We’re ready to refuel, so we’ll be revved up for Springside Chestnut Hill. We’re geared up for a great series of competitions against our incredible MAR competitors, and hope that you’re as excited to follow us along as we are to compete.

    Refueling begins……..11:58……..11:59………...now

Duel on the Delaware 2015 Champions

10/19/2015

On October 17th TechFire competed in the Duel on the Delaware. This event is hosted by Teams 316 (LuNaTeCs), and Team 365 Miracle Workerz MOE.

TechFire put up some high scores, finishing qualification matches as #2 seed going into alliance selection. TechFire picked Team 4954 Palindrome Robotics, and 321 Robolancers.

During elimination rounds TechFire, Palindrome, and Robolancers put up multiple event high scores including a very strong 204 in our last Semifinal match.

TechFire, Palindrome, and Robolancers were unstoppable and emerged as Duel on the Delaware Champions.

A big thank you to FRC Teams 316 LuNaTeCs and 365 MOE and to all the volunteers who made this off-season event successful and fun.

Great job everyone.

TechFire is now gearing up to welcome all the new students to the team in the next couple weeks and compete in their last 2015 competition which will be Ramp Riot. Ramp Riot is hosted by FRC Team 341 Ms. Daisy. For more information please visit http://www.rampriot.com

Come out and see TechFire compete as we introduce our new students to the FIRST atmosphere.

Battle O' Baltimore 2015 Champions

9/27/2015

TechFire competed in the 9th Annual Battle O' Baltimore FRC event at McDonogh High school on Saturday, September 26th. This event is hosted by Team 4505, the McDonogh Eagles.

TechFire put up some high scores, finishing qualification matches as #1 seed going into alliance selection. TechFire picked Team 2537, the Space Raiders from Howard County Maryland, and 9171 (Team 1719's second robot), The Umbrella Corporation from Park School in Maryland as our alliance partners.

TechFire, Space Raiders, and The Umbrella Corporation were unstoppable and emerged as Battle O' Baltimore Champions.

A big thank you to FRC Team 4505 McDonogh Eagle Robotics and to all the volunteers who made this off-season event successful and fun.

Weldon Solutions Open House

7/24/2015

Our team was honored to take part in the biennial Weldon Solutions Open House, “Automate – Innovate – Educate”, this past week. TechFire students gave presentations and on-going demos to attendees. In addition to talking with industry professionals, the highlight of the day was seeing the many FANUC robots on display which included:
o   FANUC 165kg 6-axis Robot for handling bearing rollers.
o   FANUC 50kg 6-axis Robot for handling pinion shafts
o   FANUC 50kg 6-axis Robot for handling transmission gears
o   FANUC 50kg 6-axis Robot for handling transmission gears
o   FANUC 20kg 6-axis Robot for handling fire hose fittings.
o   FANUC 20kg 6-axis Robot for handling boiler sections.
o   FANUC 7kg 6-axis Robot for handling miniature candy bars … serve yourself!
o   FANUC demo cell: Large delta Robot picking parts from a Flex Feeder.
o   FANUC demo cell: Small delta Robot demonstrating force sensing.
o   FANUC demo cell: Two small delta Robots picking and placing metal discs.
o   FANUC demo cell: Small delta Robot sorting colored pills at high speed.

A special thanks to Carl Moon and Charles Gales of Weldon Solutions for coordinating our visit.

Awesome job, 225!

Learn more about Weldon Solution here: http://www.weldonsolutions.com/