From March 14th-16th, the Warlocks competed in the Finger Lakes Regional at the Rochester Institute of Technology. At the Finger Lakes Regional, the Warlocks had some tough matches but ended up being 12th out of 48 teams. We then were selected by 3157 (Alliance Captain of the #4 Alliance) and we graciously accepted. 
After going to a tiebreaker in the quarterfinal matches, we moved on to the semifinals against the #1 ranked alliance. After 2 hard matches, our alliance was sadly defeated.
We are looking forward to the competition in Cleveland next weekend and we will hopefully be securing our spot to the World Championship in Detroit, Michigan.
In week 6, the team is working to finish the final aspects of our robot, Buzz Lightyear!
Although Build isn’t completely done on Buzz, they are close to finishing the final few things that aren’t done. This year our robot was a little overweight, so Build has been working on the best way to make weight. They have however handed Buzz off to the programmers, so they can start doing what they do best. The programmers have started to work on our autonomous code, to help us during the Sandstorm period.
We have set up half a field in the high school’s cafeteria so our drivers can get in some practice before the season starts. On Sunday, some team members are heading to the Rochester Rally, to observe the different teams, and get an idea of how the games are going to go.
The Warlocks would like to thank all of the teachers, mentors, parents, sponsors, and the students that struggled through Build Season, and helped to make this possible.
During Week 5, the team has been working very hard to finish the robot on time. Since we lost three days last week, everyone is chipping in as much as they can to help make up the time we lost.
Our programmers have been pretty productive this week. Although they can’t program the robot quite yet, they programmed the LED lights so the robot will be able to track the alignment lines on the field. They also finished programming all of the controls on the Xbox controllers that the drive team uses to control all of the robots functions.
The build team, which is led by Ian and Jeremy, continued to work on our robot. The pneumatic cylinders that will help us climb and descend the different stages in the habitat zone have been attached to the robot, along with the wheels. We have come up with a great way to collect and score the hatches and cargo, and have started to finish the final details. The CAD team worked on redesigning a few of the smaller components of the robot and are super close to finishing the final drawing.
Mary and Katie have finished and submitted the Chairman’s essay and short answer questions, along with the Deans List and Woodie Flowers presentations. This year we got our idea for Chairman’s from a dream Katie had, and we are very excited to present it this year at the competitions. 
Mrs. Vasko has been working on the bumpers for most of the week, and as she says, “The bumpers are the most important part.”
Our team currently doesn’t have a name for our robot, but we have started to brainstorm some great ideas!
In Week 4, the Warlocks only had a few days to work because the Polar Vortex hit the Eastern Coast causing us to miss 3 days of school. During the few days this week that we did have to work, the build team put together some transmissions and planned to continue working on putting together the robot. The Polar Vortex did set us back a few days; however, we will be staying late for the rest of the build season so we can catch up and get our robot done on time.
On Saturday at the beginning of Week 4, the Warlocks began training the scouts for the competition season. As always, the scouts watched a PowerPoint presentation and then took a test to demonstrate that they understood the PowerPoint and the purpose of scouting. In the coming weeks, the scouts will take another test that is geared toward more game-related information. Scouts will then use this information during the competition season to track all the robots on the field.
The Warlocks officially finalized their robot design in Week 3! We have kept on schedule this far in the season by beginning to build our robot, beginning with the base. A few of the students are learning how to rivet the base and then they will return to continue working on the rest of the robot. Each subteam has been working hard to make sure that we will make the deadline.
This week we are highlighting the build team. The build team, led by Jeremy and Ian, has been prototyping and now that the base has arrived, they have begun to build our competition robot! Since build season is about halfway over, the build team is beginning to stay late into the night to ensure our robot will be ready on time.
In Week 2, the Warlocks have continued prototyping and have continued to finalize design plans. Mentors and students have been working together well to ensure that our robot will be the best robot we can make. Any questions that any student or mentor has, are answered quickly so that the build process can continue.
In the coming weeks, the team will be moving towards a final robot to pass off to the programmers. Once the robot is completed, the programmers work to get all the code loaded onto the robot and to have it running smoothly. We hope that this year our robot will do even better than OTIS did last year.
This week we are highlighting the CAD team. This week the CAD team, led by Tyler and Katie, has been working on the design plans so they can pass the drawings off to the build team. Throughout the week students and mentors have come to them for dimensions for parts of the robot and the CAD team has been making sure to get them accurate dimensions while continuing to finish the robot design.
The Warlocks have been working hard during Week 1 to decide what functions we want our robot to have. Our build team has also been busy in the shop building prototypes to help make these decisions. After the prototypes were shown to the team, we began to formulate ways to incorporate them into our robot plans. As the build season continues into Week 2, the CAD team will work to have the drawings completed so they can pass off design plans to the build team. Every day we get closer and closer to having our 2019 competition robot completed. 
Starting in Week 2 and continuing throughout the build season, the Warlocks will be highlighting a new sub-team and its members. Every week’s update will highlight a different team until the end of build season, when we will talk about our adventures through the build season as we prepare to compete in the Finger Lakes Regional and the Buckeye Regional.
We look forward to the next 5 weeks of build season and the competition that we will face at our regionals. We wish all teams the best of luck as they begin to build their robots for the season. We’ll see you all at the competitions!
On Saturday, the Warlocks kicked off the 2019 season with the game Destination: Deep Space. Missed the kickoff? Watch the game animation here!
We’re excited to begin brainstorming ideas for our newest robot! During the kickoff event, the team was broken up into smaller groups and we went through a variety of scenarios, such as the Dream Team, Win in Auto, and Play the Game, to determine the best functions for our robot. Each group had time to work out the scenario specific to their group and then they reported back to the rest of the group. At the end of the day, the team gathered in the gym to watch a group of students “play” the game.
On Sunday, the team met at MAHLE to continue brainstorming ideas. By the end of the meeting, we determined what functions we believe are absolutely necessary to make our robot function smoothly.
As Week 1 begins, the students will continue brainstorming until we figure out the design we are going to pursue. Check back in on this section of the website during the season to see how the team progresses through build season and competitions.
The FIRST Robotics Competition begins for the 2019 season this Saturday with Kickoff, the game reveal that sets the stage for the world-wide competition.
The Warlocks will be meeting at the school to view the game reveal video and immediately begin planning the 2019 strategy. The school will be open at 9:00 am. Attendance is mandatory for all student team members. Parents, sponsors, former team members, and the general public are welcome to attend.
When the kickoff video is over, the team will immediately begin studying the rules and developing a game strategy for the season. The team has been preparing by studying the basics of robot construction and recently completed sessions on brainstorming techniques. The hope is to have a strategy and design direction developed after three days. There will also be an optional day on Sunday afternoon (January 6,2019) at MAHLE from 1 pm to 5 pm.
Watch the live stream of this year’s game video, beginning at 10 am!
The Warlocks, Team 1507, are planning to attend the Northern Championships of FIRST Robotics Competition. The event is happening in Detroit MI on April 25-28.
The six competition divisions, each the size of a regional event with 68 teams, will be at the Cobo Hall. The winners of these divisions will eventually be narrowed down and a final event will take place Saturday afternoon at Ford Field. Over 400 teams will be participating, as well as FIRST Tech Challenge teams.
The Warlocks will be leaving the school by bus around noon on Wednesday and return Sunday early morning.
We will be competing in the Carson Division. Those who want to watch online can do so at The Blue Alliance Gameday Matches will take place all day Thursday and Friday with Division finals on Saturday morning.
Students were given a packet with details to bring home for parents information.