OPJH Robotics League Championship

The final competition was Saturday, 02/01/20 at OPJH. The format is like what they will encounter if they make it to "States".
Here's the information we received from her Coach, Glenn Hair:
From: "Hair, Glenn", Date: January 26, 2020 at 2:23:41 PM
Good afternoon parents!
I would like to take a few minutes to catch everyone up as to the status of the team as well as provide some insight as to what the next few weeks could look like.
To start, the team has been very busy and very productive.  After the last event, it was clear that they had settled on a robust and capable robot design.  However, some big changes have occurred since the last event as well.  Coding continues to progress, and the team will be fielding a more capable autonomous routine for the championships.  New, faster motors were added to the lifting mechanism to decrease cycle times stacking blocks.  A few additional structural components were also added to aid in this as well.  The robot should also be sporting some sponsors, custom wheels, and a big upgrade to lighting.  In short, you won’t be able to miss the Gladiators robot on the field!
Our branding team have busy pressing out buttons that they have created as well as putting the finishing touches on a full wiring schematic of the robot.  They have also been working on a scouting routine to allow for easier alliance selections.   Members of the assembly team have been working very hard on a full 3D rendering of their robot in Autodesk Inventor.  Most importantly, the notebook sub team are in the final edits of the team’s Engineering Notebook.  Be sure to ask your child if they have read it yet!
All of this is in preparation for next weekend’s League Championships.  So, I wanted to provide an outline of what the team is going to be doing leading up to Saturday and what things could look like if they advance to State competition.  I also wanted to provide you, as the parent, some things that you can do to help the team.   First, we will be meeting every morning this week.  The team needs the time and the practice.  We will set up for Saturday’s event on Friday afternoon.  I will be calling the team out of their 6th period class to assist with the setup.  We need to erect 3 full fields and our pit.  This event utilizes the cafeteria and the media center so there is a great deal of work to do.   I am planning on the team staying after school for a bit on Friday as well.  I would like to plan for a 6pm pickup, but it could be earlier if everything is done.  The goal is to be fully setup for the event before we leave.  I can have students call or text if it looks like we will finish early.
On Saturday, I would like the team there at 7:00 am.  They will have a big day in front of them, so please make sure they get plenty of rest Friday night and eat a hearty breakfast on Saturday morning.  On Saturday the team will have their interview and robot inspection.  The inspection they have done before so it should not be too ruffling, but the interview will be new to most of the team.  For the past few months I have been encouraging all team members to research the FTC interview process and to learn their robot – regardless of sub team.  The team will have 5 minutes to present themselves and their robot and then will be opened to questions from the judges.  Most of the awards in FTC are centered around this interview.   It is imperative that all students are prepared to speak, both inside and outside of the interview room.  Even after the interview judges could approach students and pose robotics and team related questions.  I have informed the team that they will be under scrutiny by the judges from the time they walk in that morning until after the awards ceremony.   This same mindset will hold true if the team advances to the Florida State Championship.
About the State competition, it is scheduled for February 28th and 29th at the Prime Osborn Convention center.
Competition over! A separate post has photos that Ford took. Now that we know the OPJH team is going to States for their Inspire Award, we will see what the schedule is as it does not involve the robot competition.