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Our robot was quite reliable for most of the competition. We did have a failed motor in the Frisbee floor-pickup system. Overall we ranked 12 of 50 teams, with a win-lose-tie qualification record of 7-4-0. We were selected to be on the 7th seed alliance by team 2984 The Vikings from La Jolla CA, along with team 3009 the High Scalers from Boulder City NV. We were eliminated in the quarterfinals, but we made some of the top teams in the country work hard to beat us.

Our work on build season and competition season paid off! We won the Judge’s Award. The Judge’s Award are given to teams who are acknowledged in a way that does not fit the criteria of other awards; essentially, we won the Hipster award, an award that concentrates on a quality of a robot that cannot be categorized into any other award. After the frenzy of competition, we are happy to announce that we were selected second pick for second-seeded alliance, proceeding to the semifinals. Unfortunately, our alliance’s robots malfunctioned; nonetheless, we wish good fortunes to all competition. Good luck to everyone and we hope to see you in the Las Vegas regional.

Hello readers! This post is just to thank the generosity of Mr. Forbes’ mother, Joan Cowell, for assisting our team in high-level sewing art that we students could not accomplish ourselves. Ms. Cowell constructed our gorgeous bumpers- which can be reversed to change team color, fabricated our team flag, and sewed our pumpkin sling for our trebuchet. She also baked brownies and cupcakes for the endless abyss that is our stomach, and generally served as the grandmother and sponsor of the Bit Bucket family. Here is a picture of us presenting our thanks.

Four grandsons are delighted and amazed by the reversible robot bumpers.

Our flag simulates a metal bucket with bits flying into it.

The Metal Man has pulled it through for us once again! With only a three days’ wait, our fabricated metal has arrived. It might have taken us some time to structure all of the metal together, but we have done it! With beautiful extrusions and shapes, cuts, and a glossy metallic color. that metallic color. Beautiful. Hopefully, its performance will match or exceed its appearance.

We were the top-seeded team by the end of the qualification matches at the AZ State VEX Championship Tournament.

Ultimately other excellent teams carried the day, but drive-team members Linus, Ben and Grant had a lot to be proud of. ASU hosted, offering top-notch facility and video-support.

Today we got our shooter wired to our practice robot. We are working on some ways for the floor pickup. Here, we are using a drill to find a location for our robot’s intake roller.

We are also trying to get both our VEX robots (Gary and Kevin) to be ready for tomorrows competition at ASU. We have rebuilt Gary’s intake and changed the gear ratios on Kevin’s drivetrain. We are also working on Vex software.

FRC 4183, Bit Buckets, presents our 2013 robot, Murphy’s Lawyer. We are competing at the Arizona and Las Vegas regionals and, hopefully, Championships.

Good luck and we’ll see you at the competition!