4apr2 FRC FINAL from Moore Monthly on Vimeo.

Today was the final and most important day of the competition for Shockwave 1742. Our robot performance in matches up to the alliance selections were crucial to future success in the competition. Today we started with two qualification matches that concluded the qualifying section of the competition and led directly into alliance selections. In the remaining qualification matches, we won 137-48 and lost 114-72. In the final rankings of the qualifications, we ended up placing at 11th with a 6-3 record. Many thoughts went through our heads for alliance selections, but in reality we didn’t have as much say so in the selections due to an inability to captain an alliance. In the actual process of alliance selections, we were selected by the fourth alliance which was captained by 2354, Red River Robotics. We were further paired with 3247, Robopack, as the third alliance robot. Our plan going into the quarter finals was that we would score as many as we could, 2354, a 30 point climber, would climb the whole match and 3247 would defend. In the first quarter final match, we were shutdown by a 50 point dunker that took all match to climb. The ending result was a loss of 63-86. As the second quarter final match approached, we made adjustments to our strategy. Due to mechanical issues with Robopack’s robot, adjustments included replacing 3247 with 3660, The Lightsabers, to defend in their place. In addition, we focused more on holding back the 50 point dunker so that they couldn’t achieve the dunk. In conclusion of that match, we scored 58 points and won 96-55. In final quarter final match, being the best two out of three, we utilitized the same strategy to hopefully advance to the semi finals. In that final match, we put up 52 points but it didn’t measure up to the win. The final scores were subject to a close three point loss of 85-88. We were extremely close to advancing to the semis, but couldn’t quite pull it out. So we were out of the competition. So in conclusion, we were still pretty proud of ourselves because we couldn’t have done anymore to help our chances of advancing. We ran a near perfect match on that final experience on the match field. We are very encouraged by the results this year and hope to improve next year. We thank everyone who came out to support Shockwave 1742 and all that we do. You guys are awesome!!!

On the other side of the competition, our scouting was incredible!! They really gave the drive team an edge in matches, especially in the quarter finals. We wouldn’t haven been able to shutout our opponents in our second match without the help of scouting. Another team effort that we are proud of is our Chairman’s Award submission. Even though we didn’t win, we had a great presentation and presence with the Chairman’s Board. Our video was very professional looking and portrayed our team as a well rounded, outreaching team. Overall, as a team, we were successful on all levels of the competition. We want to thank our mentors, fans, volunteers, and other teams for there hard work all throughout this competition. It was a blast!! Shockwhat?? SHOCKWAVE!!!

Day 2 for Shockwave 1742 was even more successful than the first! We adapted to the feel of the game and also learned some valuable lessons along the way. We showed up to the regional in the morning, prepared to take on the first qualifying match of the competition. Our first match was scored at 74-8, which included 45 points coming from our robot. This score was one of our better scores of the day but we still learned many important things in each match. We learned how handle defending bots that tend to guard closely and we also learned more about how the robot shoots. Over the course of several matches, we have ended with a 5-2 record, which puts us in the 5th place spot. Tomorrow, we are focused on getting more accurate shots and scoring more points with consistency. Away from the actual matches, our scouting has been crucial to the decisions we have made every match. Our scouting sheets have guided us through decisions concerning autonomous placements, shooting placements, different types of shots, feeder choices, and climbing configurations. All of these contributing factors were essential our choices on the field. After today’s matches, we formed a meeting to scout and talk strategy for possible alliance selections for tomorrow afternoon. We are very confident in our abilities at this point and are encouraged that we can improve upon them even more. We really hope to see everyone up at the Cox Convention Center tomorrow for intense robot action!! See you guys there!!

Shockwave 1742 overall had an awesome practice day today! There were a crazy amount of problems we encountered over the course of the day including wireless connections, electrical wiring, and programming. With a great amount of determination we were able to pass inspection and get Discobolus out on the practice field. The first few practice matches were rough with problems in the connections on the field and frisbee loading issues. Match after match, we came up with a solution to cover the top of our hopper with Lexan. This would trap the frisbees and prevent them from flipping over. This solution proved to be very effective towards the end of the day. Another major problem we faced was our climbing mechanism. Due to a difference of measurement from the floor to the first bar of the pyramid, our climbing wedge was too far down and our robot wasn’t lifted high enough off of the ground. The wedge was adjusted to compensate for differences in those measurements and we could climb accurately by the last match of the day. In the last match, we scored 43 points, which is edging closer to higher performance of our robot with driving experience. In these 43 points we scored a perfect 18 point autonomous, 15 points in 3 pointers, and 10 points for a climb at the end of the match. Outside of the actual matches and our robot, we were heavily focused on scouting for the day. Scouting is extremely important to every match and future decisions in the competition. We watched and took data on many robots that could be very useful for the elimination stage. We were improving every match and hope to bring the robot to its highest potential tomorrow. Hope to see you guys on Friday and Saturday to see us improve, score frisbees, and climb pyramids!! Shockwhat? SHOCKWAVE!!

Shockwave 1742 is super pumped about the upcoming Oklahoma City Regional on March 29th and 30th. It’s going to be an intense competition but a lot of fun overall. We will see teams from Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon, and Kansas! There are a lot of great teams coming to take the top spot. We are determined to come out in one the top spots and top alliances. The anticipation for the competition is HUGE!! Hoping to get a great amount of practice in on Thursday, the day before qualifications. Inviting all of you to come out to support FIRST and Shockwave 1742!! On another note, we have made many additions to Shockwave attire while getting prepared for competition. We thought of getting creative with our driver’s station this year. We used a snowboard and completely redesigned a the station with a new look and feel. It’s much lighter and just way more awesome, considering it’s a snowboard!

On top of the snowboard drive station, we also ordered some premium Shockwave buttons for fans and other teams!! Come see us at competition and you can get one!

Shockwave 1742 can’t wait to see you guys there! Gigantic frisbee shooting, pyramid climbing robots everywhere is going to be one of the most incredible things you have ever seen!! Don’t miss out!!

Ultimate Ascent! Probably the most difficult and challenging FIRST FRC game yet! FIRST Team 1742 Shockwave has definitely had its ups and downs throughout the build season, but now we are closer than ever to achieving our goals. The team as a whole is getting a lot of much needed upgrades this year! From new shirts, new members, a new mentor, and even a completely new drive station!

Shooting Frisbees through the air can be a tough thing to do, but we came up with a pretty accurate and efficient way of doing it! Deciding what kind of shooter to have was a hard decision; both a linear shooter and circular shooter have their advantages and disadvantages. A linear shooter would be smaller and easier to load while a circular shooter would be more accurate and easier to angle upward and downward. After prototyping and drafting like crazy we finally came to the decision of a 90 degree circular shooter using a motor powered wheel, pneumatics, and a top slot Frisbee feeder loading hopper! After mounting the shooter, attaching the angling mechanism, and installing the programing, we were finally able to see what our shooter could do! We are now able to shoot at the 3 and 5 point goals pretty accurately! With the help of target angling and 5 different shooting speeds our shooter is definitely a force to be reckoned with!

Climbing. Just even the thought of construction a heavy robot with the ability of climbing up a pyramid baffled all of us! Many ideas were explored with numerous sketches and prototypes. There were even a few days where the entire team just sat around and stared in absolute silence at the pyramid trying to come up with different ideas to get the job done! We will not reveal our climbing strategy in this article, but trust us when we say it was not an easy task! We cannot wait to go to competition this year and see what all the other teams have come up with! The FRC Competition is March 28th-30th at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City! Come see gigantic robots shoot frisbees and climb huge pyramids!! Hope to see you there!! Shockwhat? SHOCKWAVE!!!

Check out some videos of our robot shooting around HERE

Thanks to Christal Bennett for helping us spread the message of FIRST Robotics!

Shockwave hosted the Fox 25 morning show in which they displayed both high performance robots and described what FIRST really means for the community.

Students and instructors from Team 1742 have dedicated themselves to modeling Gracious Professionalism, and communicating the value of the FIRST Robotics experience across the state of Oklahoma. As a result of that commitment, Team 1742 was, and is, an important factor in the explosive growth of FIRST Robotics in Oklahoma.

We have made presentations to state legislators, the Noble Foundation, the Oklahoma State School Board Association, the Oklahoma Career Tech Convention in Tulsa, the Oklahoma Pre-Engineering Conference, Career Tech Directors, schools outside our districts to help start a team, local school boards, the chamber of commerce, and the Rotary and Lion’s Clubs.

We have made trips around the state to help other teams, and were fortunate to win the 2008 Johnson and Johnson Gracious Professionalism Award at the OKC Regional. We have been helped by many teams in the past and present.

We have created, funded, and mentored three FIRST Lego Teams in Moore Oklahoma. Teams Aftershock, Powersurge and the Microwaves.

Team 1742 makes it a point to reach out to those less fortunate than ourselves. Every year the team anonymously adopts at least 2 families in the community and makes their holidays brighter by providing Christmas presents and dinner.

All members of Team Shockwave are certified by OSHA for two years.