Thank you for supporting Team 4201 The Vitruvian Bots! As the 2021 FRC season comes to an end, we would like to update you on what our team has been up to and some of our future plans.
For the Game Design Challenge, our team created Set Sail! In this nautical-themed game, alliances of three robots work together to collect Cannonballs and Loot Caches and then raise their Anchor and Sail. In late March, we submitted our field element descriptions, game rules, and the game field CAD, which were part of our written submissions. We also submitted a stop motion video, filmed using 3D printed 9:1 models of the game elements. Then, in early April, our students presented the game to a panel of judges. We felt the interview went very well and apparently our judges did too because we won the Designer’s Award at the Los Angeles Region Award Ceremony. Our game was then reviewed by another committee and selected as one of the 20 Game Design Finalists in the World! We are super excited about this and the opportunity to interview with FIRST’s Game Design Committee for the potential to be a future FIRST game in mid-June.
Our team also participated in the Innovation Challenge, where teams worked to improve mental and physical health. The team decided to tackle the issue of sedentary behavior by creating an invention to increase physical activity in teens and adults who sit for prolonged periods of time. They created various prototypes of their product, “Aryze”, and are continuing to iterate based on user feedback. Aryze uses passive infrared sensors and range sensors to detect when someone is sitting or standing and lets users know when they have been sedentary for too long. After submitting their executive summaries, the team had their interview where they shared with judges the positive impact Aryze could have on the world. Unfortunately, our Innovation team did not make it to the Semi-Finals, but we still have plans in store for Aryze, such as creating a user manual, website, and business pitch video to share about and distribute the final design.
After a very successful 2020 Infinite Recharge season, Team 4201 was excited to participate in the 2021 Infinite Recharge at Home Skills Challenges! Even though we had an outstanding season with our 2020 bot, Jango, we decided to tackle an additional challenge by building a new robot for the season. Our team worked hard to machine, assemble, and program our new swerve bot, Tyrannoswervis Rex (nicknamed T-rex). Although our team made lots of progress with our new swerve drive, we realized that we would not finish T-rex by our deadline, so we decided to use Jango for the submissions.
Thanks to the controls team’s continued improvements, we were able to improve Jango’s autonomous capabilities in time for the competition’s submission videos. Our team placed 8th in our competition group, and we are continuing work on T-Rex for possible off-season events and to further our experience with swerve drives. We shared about the design process from CAD to the physical robot with judges. Our presentation won us the Excellence in Engineering Award, during the Greater Los Angeles Region Awards Show.
We also won 3 more awards at the Greater Los Angeles Region Award Show. One of our mentors, Aaron Dolgin, won the Volunteer of the Year Award for his contributions to FIRST and the FIRST community. Maya Waller, our Business Director, was named a Dean’s List Finalist for her example as a leader who has spread FIRST’s message to her community. We also won the Chairman’s Award, which is the most prestigious award in FIRST. This award honors our team for spreading FIRST’s message and being a great example for other teams to follow. Winning this award qualifies us for the Championship level, so we are preparing for that interview this weekend as well. Although this season was different from any other season, we are so grateful that we were able to participate in every challenge this season and learn so much from each one!
Your support and interest in our team throughout this season is greatly appreciated. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at info@team4201.org. Thank you!