Friday Fun News

   Hello Everyone! Have I got big news! Team Ingium 3590 is headed to the FIRST FTC World Championships! They won the Inspire Award at the first ever Vermont State Championship Tournament. It is a huge honor especially to my kiddos who live, breathe, eat, and sleep robotics! To win Inspire is what they've been striving for since they became involved in FTC three years ago. It is the ideal to which everyone aspires--the most well-rounded/all-about-the-journey quality, commitment, and learning which is so difficult to see nowadays in but a few. [Do I sound old, and jaded? I am after all a Boomer and it just seems to me that I sound more like my Nana every day...she was a pioneer who went west in a covered wagon as a child...really.] 

   Many teams think it's about the competition, and that's cool--but there are also many who think it's about igniting the fire to be an engineer or other math/science professional.

   I am just happy I can help out occasionally and tag along for the ride to watch all the incredible people we meet. At Worlds there will be teams from all over the US and 16 different countries! Wow! Geek power! Here's a picture of one view of the robot:

   One way I contributed is helping with team calling cards, and coming up with an idea to decorate their robot's ramp. [Have I mentioned lately I love Pinterest?] I tried a tutorial I pinned and it worked beautifully to transfer the team's design to their ramp--which deploys during the final 30 seconds of the game to allow their Alliance Partner to drive up and be fork-llifted into the air for many points. It was particularly gratifying when in their first round at VT they let the ramp down with a satisfying thwack--and there--for all the world to see on streaming video--the magic Ingenium I--like a helo-pad to destiny....[who says crafting doesn't have other rewards?!]

   Check out my Pinterest boards for this idea and others that strike my fancy and inspire ingenious ideas! A special thanks to Lesa here for her excellent, easy tutorial that saved us so much work! Make it a great weekend everyone!