FTC at Stockton JHS on December 7

On Saturday, December 7, students from Texas Torque will be volunteering at the FTC Meet #1 at Stockton JHS in Conroe. All seven junior high schools started FIRST Tech Challenge teams at the start of this school year. The event runs from 8 AM to 4 PM with matches starting at 11:30 AM. Texas Torque, along with the other FRC teams in Conroe ISD, has been working with the school district to provide volunteers for all the events scheduled.

Summer Robotics

The last thing on the minds of most students is going back to school, but that is exactly what Texas Torque will do on Tuesday, June 4, from 3 to 6 pm. Summer is a great time to join the team. We are competing in the Texas Robotics Invitational June 28 – 29 and will spend the time between now and then getting our Johnson Division winning robot Takeoff ready. Not only will new members start learning how to design and build robots over the summer, but we are hosting a summer robotics camp for younger kids and can always use more help.

For more information about joining the team, go to our website and click on the Join Us. Not everything has been updated from this past season but there is a link that will let you register with the team and get on our mailing list. Also on the website is a link to our team calendar so you can see when we are meeting. We usually meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the summer. Just drop in and we can get you started with the team.

Wild Ride at FiT San Antonio District Event

Hopes were high going into this past weekend but reality easily exceeded expectations. FRC 1477 Texas Torque went undefeated over the two days of competition, finishing with a record of 17 wins and 0 losses. The last time they went undefeated was at the 2013 Arkansas Regional where they had 18 wins.

The Winning Alliance of FRC Teams 5103, 1477, and 624

They finished as the number one seed at the end of the qualifying rounds after a hard fought match against Team 624 CRyptonite who they chose as the first pick during alliance selection. With the last pick, they invited Team 5103 The Jaegernauts from New Braunfels. The other alliances played hard fought matches against Alliance 1. In the finals, Alliance 1 played a best of three against Alliance 5 consisting of Team 2881 The Lady Cans, Team 5427 Steel Talons, and Team 7616 Cerberus. Both matches went to Alliance 1 after they edged out their opponents in the highest scoring matches of the event. Texas Torque also won the Innovation in Control Award.

1477 has earned enough District Points to advance to the FIRST in Texas District Championship at the George R Brown Convention Center on April 3 through 6. The event is open to the public.

Texas Torque to Receive $2500 from the Gene Haas Foundation

For the second time in as many years, Texas Torque has received a $2500 grant from the Gene Haas Foundation. The Gene Haas Foundation donates millions of dollars every year to manufacturing education and the community. 

The Gene Haas Foundation was established in 1999, by Gene Haas, founder and owner of Haas Automation, Inc., to support the needs of the local community, through grants to such local charities as the Boys and Girls Clubs, Food Share, Rescue Mission, and others.

Seeing a growing need for skilled manufacturing employees industry wide, the Foundation expanded its mission to include support for manufacturing training programs throughout North America and beyond. By providing scholarship grants, sponsoring individual and team CNC competitions, and partnering with the very best CNC training programs in the world, the Foundation helps expand the availability of high-quality manufacturing technology training worldwide.