FRC – Page 4 – Texas Torque: Team 1477

Lone Star Central Regional

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Scott Rippetoe

Texas Torque participated in the Week 3 Lone Star Central Regional this past weekend, and suffice it to say that this regional was one for the books. Along with 40 other teams, Texas Torque competed at Strake Jesuit College Prep for the chance to take home the regional win.

After a great round of practice matches, Texas Torque emerged from the qualification rounds with a 9-1 win-lose record and the first 4-rotor match of the regional and state. We finished ranked 2nd after team 118, the Robonauts. At alliance selection, the Torqueonauts were revived after six years when Texas Torque was the first pick of 118’s 1st seed alliance. Joining our alliance as the 3rd bot was team 5526 tCATs from Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico.

With the help of our talented alliance partners, we were able to get multiple 100+ point autonomous periods and 300+ final match scores. We faced some fierce competition throughout the elimination rounds, but at the end of the day we were able to win the regional! This was the first time since 2013 that Texas Torque has won a regional, so needless to say the team was ecstatic!

More good news came during the awards ceremony, when Texas Torque was also selected as the Chairman’s Award winners! This is our 3rd Chairman’s Award in four years, and the start of a now two-year streak of winning Chairman’s. This was also the first time in Texas Torque history that we came home from a competition with 2 blue banners! You can watch our 2017 Chairman’s Video here.

We would like to thank our alliance partners 118 Robonauts and 5526 tCATs and congratulate the finalist alliance of 3847 Spectrum, 5829 AwtyBots and 3997 Screaming Chickens, who all qualified to attend the World Championship! We would also like to congratulate 5526 tCATs on winning the Engineering Inspiration Award!

We look forward to hosting (and competing in) the Lone Star North Regional at College Park High School in Week 5!

FRC Top 25 (Week 1)

Posted on March 11, 2017 by Scott Rippetoe

Earlier this week, First Updates Now (FUN) asked fans to vote on which teams they thought deserved to be the top 25 robots out of all the Week 1 competitors. After voting closed, FUN announced their results on their First Updates Now livestream on March 7th. As Texas Torque members eagerly watched the livestream, we were very excited to find out that out of the over 800 teams that competed in Week 1, Texas Torque was voted the #3 spot! We would also like to congratulate our alliance teammate from Hub City 3847 Spectrum for securing the #15 spot, and all other teams who ranked in the top 25! To see the full list, you can visit the FUN website here or watch the episode here. We’re looking forward to competing at Lone Star Central during Week 3 and keeping Texas Torque in the top 25!

Hub City Regional

Posted on March 10, 2017 by Scott Rippetoe

At our week 1 regional, the Hub City regional, Texas Torque competed with 45 other teams coming from across the USA and beyond, including Turkey, and Mexico. Members of Texas Torque were excited to attend a week 1 regional of FIRST Steamworks.

After scouting a series of matches and intense game plays, we were able to get the highest score in qualification matches and a 10-1 win-lose record. We were the the 2nd seed alliance captain, and picked 3847 Spectrum and 159 Alpine Robotics.

Elimination matches were tough, but we made it to the finals with our great alliance members! The regional was a great start to our season, since we also won the Entrepreneurship Award! With the new implementation of one free wildcard per regional, we were able to qualify for the FIRST World Championship held in downtown Houston!!

Thanks again to our awesome alliance partners, 3847 Spectrum and 159 Alpine Robotics! Congratulations to the winners, 1817 RoboRaiders, 935 RaileRobotics, and 4063 TriKzR4Kidz! Also, congratulations to team 3847 Spectrum for winning Engineering Inspiration, and team 624 CRyptonite for winning Chairman’s Award!

We are extremely grateful to compete in Hub City Regional with great teams, and we look forward to meeting more in our next regional!!

The Remix 2016

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Scott Rippetoe

On the weekend of October 22, teams from all over Texas and as far as Mexico gathered at College Park High School to compete in Texas Torque’s annual offseason competition, the Remix.

Students, alumni and various other volunteers worked all Friday afternoon to transform CPHS’s gymnasium into a FIRST Stronghold game field. On Saturday 25 teams, both veteran and rookie, competed to become the Remix champions. Dr. Stockton, the superintendent of CISD, came as a guest speaker and gave a talk about the importance of STEM in schools. During the Remix, there were also workshops about topics like Emceeing and Chairman’s Award. Texas Torque also sponsored a bedding drive at the Remix, and the bedding collected from that will be donated to Angel Reach.

At the end of the day, the 2nd seed alliance consisting of 3847 Spectrum, 624 CRyptonite and 4205 Robo Vikes got to go home with the Champion title (and replica swords). We would like to congratulate the winning alliance, as well as thank our alliance partners 231 High Voltage and 3335 Cy-Borgs! Overall, the Remix 2016 was a great success, and we would especially like to thank all of the team, volunteers, students, mentors and parents that made it happen!

NRG’s FIRST Robotics Showcase

Posted on October 17, 2016 by Scott Rippetoe

This past Tuesday, October 11, members of Texas Torque participated in NRG’s FIRST Robotics Showcase at NRG Stadium. For the competition, four of the teams that NRG sponsors – 1477 Texas Torque, 4587 Jersey Voltage, 3847 Spectrum, and 3735 VorTX (formerly Klein Bots) – were challenged to build a robot capable of completing football-inspired challenges. The robot had to be able to throw a football for distance and accuracy, kick for distance, and complete an agility course. The four teams involved also got to participate in a Q&A session with Houston Texans players Vince Wilfork and Christian Covington to discuss football, robotics, and STEM.

The competition was fierce, but at the end of the day, it was Texas Torque that came in first place and took home the check for $5,000. We got a real kick out of competing in such a fun challenge, and we hope everyone else had as much of a ball as we did!

Don’t pass up on your chance to attend The Remix, which will be held this Saturday at our own College Park HS. More information about this event can be found here. We hope to catch you there!

Texas Robot Roundup

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Scott Rippetoe

This past weekend, Texas Torque drove to Austin for the 6th annual Texas Robot Roundup. This year, the event doubled as the UIL Robotics State Championship.

We finished qualifications in the 10th seed and went on to become captain of the 7th seeded alliance, along with teams 3999 Shadetree Robotics, 3847 Spectrum, and 6171 Wildcat Robotics. Though our alliance was eliminated in the quarterfinals, we had a great time at the event and look forward to competing again in next year’s UIL Championship.

Congratulations to the winning alliance of teams 118 Robonauts, 148 Robowranglers, 5242 Robocats, and 5726 RHUMBOTZ for their stellar performance at the Texas Championship!

(Our own offseason event, The Remix, is coming up this October. We’ll have more information out soon, or you can contact us with any questions you may have. We look forward to seeing teams from the Houston area and beyond at The Remix!)