Fall Robotics

 As you all know being on the robotics team is the kids' primary extracurricular activity.  They love it.  We were so excited when they both made the team.  The way that it works is that there are actually four robots that the school competes with. Once the kids make the overall robotics team, they are placed on a smaller "team" which must build, program, and compete with one of the four robots.  I like this first picture because it has the entire school team sitting on rows with the members of their smaller teams.  Owen is on a team with four other boys who all have lots of robot experience (they've all been to Worlds).  This is a great opportunity for Owen to learn about robotics.  Of course, Owen competed in elementary school, but there is a huge difference between that and middle school.  In elementary, the kids get a lot of help from the advisors.  In middle school, the kids do every single thing themselves.  So, Owen has a lot to learn and this is a great team to be on to do that.  Oliva is on the girl-powered team again this year.  She is the "captain" officially, but the girls work so well together it's like they're all co-captains.

 There were three competitions in the fall, and there will be more after the new year.  Here is how things have gone so far:

Competition #1:  Both kids' robots made it to the finals.  Olivia's robot finished fourteenth in qualifying and fifth overall in the alliance competition, and Owen's finished third in qualifying and second in the finals.  The second-place finish at this tournament qualified Owen's team for state.

 Competition #2:  The Robogators absolutely dominated this competition winning five of the six awards presented.  Olivia's team finished seventh in qualifying and second in finals.  Owen's team finished second in qualifying and won the tournament.  Owen's team also won the skills challenge and the excellence award at this tournament.  The win here qualified Owen's team to attend the U.S. open in Iowa, which they will attend in April of next year.  One of the other teams (team A) also finishes first or second consistently and they were also big winners at this tournament.  They will be going to Iowa as well.

 Competition #3:  This tournament was special because the team from the kids' old elementary school were also competing.  It was good for them to be back around their old coaches and Owen's teammates from last year.  Olivia's team finished seventh in qualifying and third overall.  Owen's team finished first in qualifying and won the tournament.

 I am proud of all four of the teams.  All four teams have consistently performed at the top at each competition.  Owen's team is doing really well and has won or finished second at each tournament.  Olivia's team has come so far from where they were last year.  I can't remember if they ever made it to the finals at any tournament last year.  They may have had once, but that would be it.  This year, they have made it to the finals at every tournament and have even come close to winning.  They haven't qualified for state yet, but they have a good chance of doing so if they keep working at it.

 The only kind of negative thing about robotics is that there are not many other teams in our area, so we have to go to north Georgia for all of the competitions.  This takes a lot of time and is expensive because it's so far that we often have to spend the night.  I have noticed on my drives up that if the competition is in Covington, the route there passes by Juliette, Ga- home of the Whistle Stop Cafe (from Fried Green Tomatoes).  We had extra time after our first competition this year, so the kids and I stopped to eat here.  It was super busy, but we stuck out the hour wait and enjoyed a delicious meal.  I like it when we can couple our robotics trips with other things that I've always wanted to do.  That makes the long drive more bearable.