News

This is the current news items about Downingtown Robotics, all the teams: FRC and FTC.

Remember to read about Current Events coming your way.

Techgirlz Robotics Workshop - 17-Sept-2016

Downingtown Area Robotics hosted its first Robotics Workshop in cooperation with Techgirlz. Thanks to Laura and Akhila for organizing and planning this event, and also to Sai and Katie for instructing. A great success and a lot of fun. I expect we'll do this again.

Robot demonstration for CCIU Summer Program students - 1-August-2016

FRC 1640 hosted a well-attended robot demonstration for summer program students at the CCIU's Technical College High School. DEWBOTs X and XII got to show their stuff!

Congratulations to our Graduates

Our graduating students brought the team through a period of amazing growth and success. We thank them and wish them success at University and beyond.

• Dana M - Co-Captain & Drive Operator - Downingtown West High School
• Paul B - Co-Captain & Pit Captain - Avon Grove Charter School
• Abbilyn M - Human Player - Downingtown S.T.E.M. Academy
• Fatima M - Downingtown West High School
• Kevin Schwenk - Scouting Lead - University Scholars
• Alicia G

STEM Advocacy at the State Capitol - 7-June-2016

Laura & Akhila with PA Senator Dinniman

Downingtown Area Robotics students Laura and Akhila met with Pennsylvania State Senator Andy Dinniman (in photo) and Pennsylvania State Representative Dan Truitt to advocate changes to bill HR833 to allow academic credit for participation in FIRST robotics programs.

King of Prussia FIRST Expo - 21-May-2016

FIRST Robots at the Court at King of Prussia Mall! How cool is that? Our sincere thanks to FRC 708 (Hatters) for organizing this event. Both Sab-BOT-age teams participated.

FRC Championship - 27-30 April-2016

Our performance on the very competitive Newton field was good. We finished qualifications (10 matches) ranked 17^th in a field of 75 with 27 ranking points and a 6-4-0 record.

Teams 5150 (Hornets, Flint MI) and 125 (Nutrons) invited 1640 to join the 5^th alliance, with team 48 (Delphi E.L.I.T.E.) as the 3^rd draft. We won the 2^nd quarterfinal match, but lost the 3^rd.

Sugartown Elementary School's Lego Expo and Robotics Fair - 22-April-2016

A joint FRC1640-FTC7314 demonstration. The Sab-BOT-age teams were again a big hit with the Sugartown students!

MAR Championship - 13-16 April-2016

Some serious loss on mojo from Westtown. The major issue was with the rebuilt boulder intake; the original fell apart (very nearly) to dust at Westtown. At first we would rebuild to old specs. But we were able to make it better, faster, stronger. We had the Technology! But, alas, the new, improved intake just didn't work. We spent the qualification matches making it work.

Thanks to 5895 selecting us in the 1^st draft, we qualified for FRC Championship! St. Louis, here we come!

1640 Alumni win Penn State Smeal College of Business' Supply Chain Entrepreneurship 'Pitch' Contest

Congratulations to IE student (and 1640 alum) Vamshi Voruganti and his team Connextion, which includes (1640 alum) Kenneth Au.

1640 CHAMPIONS and Co-Hosts at Westtown - 1-3 April-2016

The Westtown event was co-hosted by teams 1391 (based at the Westtown School) and 1640 and was a huge success. This was the first time the two teams had worked together to host a robotics tournament. According to Clem McKown, the Volunteer Coordinator for the event: “The Westtown School provides a wonderful venue for a robotics competition, while neighboring team 1640 has a much larger volunteer base of students, mentors and parents as well as experience in hosting FLL competitions. It was natural for us to team up to host a tournament. Together, we put on a great event.”

Team 1640 seeded 3^rd in a field of 37 teams with a (10-2-0) record during qualification matches. We gratefully accepted 225’s (TechFire) invitation to join them in the 1^st alliance, which was completed by 1391 (Metal Moose). Together, we went on to become Westtown CHAMPIONS, defeating the 6^th alliance in the 2^nd final match through a tie-breaker.

1640 received the Quality Award.

7314 Division FINALISTS at the East Super-Regional Championship Tournament - 18-20 March-2016

FTC 7314 finished qualifications as Hopper Division 2^nd seed with an (8-1-0) record. Recruiting teams 6055 (Gearticks) and our old allies 8645 (Robotic Doges) to form the 2^nd alliance, we finished as Hopper Division Finalists. This earned 7314 a spot at the FTC World Championship!

1640 FINALISTS at Seneca - 18-20 March-2016

Big improvement over Hatboro. Finished qualifications as 3^rd seed and went on to captain the 2^nd Alliance comprising ourselves, 4573 (Rambotics) and 6203 (Titanium Knights). Finished as Finalists, losing the rubber match. Picked up the Industrial Design Award and 60 MAR qualifying points.

Hatboro-Horsham - 4-6 March-2016

DEWBOT XII's first qualifier. Not our finest hour. We seeded 27^th in a field of 37 with a (4-8-0) record. That said, we were the 6^th Alliance Captain's (4454 - Artisan Rockets) 1^st pick and we made it to the Semifinals. 1640 also received the Innovation in Control Award and 36 MAR Qualifying points. Dean's List nominee Meghana advances to the MAR Championship!

7314 PA CHAMPIONS at the FTC Pennsylvania Championship Tournament - 27-February-2016

Pennsylvania Champions

We finished qualifications as 2^nd seed and accepted 1^st alliance captain 8645's (Robotic Doges) gracious invitation to join their alliance. together with 2^nd pick 8509 (STEEL Serpents), we won the PA Championship!

With this win, we, and our alliance partners qualify for the East Super-Regional.

Boeing Engineering Week FIRST Robotics Demo - 25-Feb-2016

We demonstrated our robot, attended a aeronautic engineering exhibit, and went on a plant tour of the Chinook assembly line.

7314 CHAMPIONS at South Central Pennsylvania FTC Qualifying Tournament - 20-February-2016

2^nd alliance captain 8221 (Cubix³) invited us to join their alliance, and we accepted. 8645 (Robotic Doges) completed the alliance. Together, we won the tournament. Both ourselves and 8645 qualified for the Pennsylvania Championship as result of this victory (8221 had previously qualified).

We set the PA State ResQ scoring record at 493 points. We were also the first team in Pennsylvania to score with the beacons.

FTC 7314 also received the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award. According to the judges:

This team's innovative design allows them to score in the middle and high boxes. They consistently rescued climbers in autonomous. Although they tempted the Robot Gods to sabotage their robot, in the end they came through with flying colors in winning all their qualifying matches.

ISPE Vendor Night - Demo - 9-February-2016

Team Sab-BOT-age participated in the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering vendor night, discussing FIRST's programs.

Southeastern Pennsylvania FTC Qualifying Tournament - 9-January-2016

FTC 73144 managed a (3-2-0) qualifier match record which put us as 10^th seed out of 34 teams.

4^th seed / 3^rd alliance captain team 8528 (Rhyme Know Reason) picked us as their first choice alliance partner. Team 7423 (Flaming Phoenix) completed the 3^rd alliance. We finished as semifinalists.

The team received the PTC Design Award. According to the Judges:

For the design award, this team has it all right. They are wearing gold to reflect their winning style. You see, they have a clean simple design, obvious functionality, and a notebook full of incredible CAD renderings. Their design shines with brilliance.

FRC Kick-off - 9-January-2016

The secrets of FIRST Stronghold were revealed to us. Hold on to your hats: it's build season!

Eastern Pennsylvania FTC Qualifying Tournament - 5-December-2015

FTC 7314 Sab-BOT-age finished qualifications as 6^th seed out of a field of 36 teams. We were invited to join the 1^st alliance and went on to finish as finalists.

Downingtown Area Robotics-TCHS-Penn FLL Qualifying Event 2015 - 5-December-2015

Downingtown Area Robotics' fourth annual FIRST LEGO League Regional Qualifying Tournament was held at the CCIU TCHS Brandywine Campus in Downingtown, PA. Eighteen area teams participated in this tournament, with four qualifying to advance to the Penn FLL Championship in this year's game, Trash Trek_SM!

FLL Judge & Referee Training - 2 & 3 December-2015

Clem McKown and Andrew Weissman as trainers. In preparation for the DAR RQT.

Ramp Riot - 14-November-2015

Due to the D-Town Dustoff FLL Scrimmage we needed to be in two places at once. Neat trick. We picked a small, focused team to compete. Six students and three mentors. The students ran the show.

We went to Ramp Riot with a Coach and Operator experiencing their first competition as drive team members, and a human player experiencing his second competition in this role. Only our driver and two pit students were experienced veterans.

How did we do? Really well. We ended up as 1^st seed and led the 1^st alliance. A huge shout out to alliance partners 1218 (Vulcan Robotics), 1626 (Falcon Robotics) and 1712 (Dawgma). We didn't win, but did very well in the quarterfinals. A truly outstanding last competition for DEWBOT XI.

D-Town Dustoff FLL Scrimmage - 14-November-2015

Our 4^th annual FLL scrimmage was a great success. 20 area FLL teams participated. The CCIU graciously provided the venue.

FLL Judge & Referee Training - 5-November-2015

Clem McKown and Andrew Weissman as trainers. Lightly attended. Oh well. Training is over-rated anyway, right?

Team Halloween bonfire - 24-October-2015

Thanks again to the Binder family in taking the lead! This was simply great fun for all!

Girl Scout Open House - 21-October-2015

We had an excellent turn-out of Girl Scouts and parents at our open house. Thanks to the Moyers for organizing this event!

Duel on the Delaware - 17-October-2015

While first seed (of 33) and first alliance captain (joined by teams 836 and 87), we were eliminated in the semifinals thereby bringing our Duel on the Delaware winning streak to a close.

Great jobs by the whole drive team, with a special fedoras-off to first-time driver Abbi and first-time human player Kevin! Also, thanks to Ian for stepping up to the challenging job of Lead Scout.

Demo at Downingtown S.T.E.M. Academy - 22-September-2015

Organized by Meghana, Abby. Nicholas & Laura supported this.

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Older news items can be found in:
News Archive 2015
News Archive 2014
News Archive 2013
News Archive 2012
News Archive 2011
News Archive 2010
News Archive 2009