Passing of Matthew (Rev) St. Laurent

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It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Matthew St. Laurent on March 2. He was a member of Texas Torque for four years until he graduated last spring. He was a freshman at the Colorado School of Mines. He is one of a handful of students who made a tremendous impact on Texas Torque. As a junior, he trained a large group of team members to use SolidWorks to design our robots. For his Eagle Scout project, he organized the building of the workbenches we use in our robotics lab. As a senior, he was a fantastic Build Lead and helped us build an extremely competitive robot. He will be deeply missed by his friends and family here at Texas Torque. Rev’s memorial service shall be held at Lord Of Life Lutheran Church this Thursday at 11 am. The viewing will begin at 10 am. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that LEGO kits be brought in to be donated in his LEGOcy. They can either be brought to the memorial service or dropped off at the Robotics Lab at College Park High School to a Texas Torque member between the hours of 9-3 until Thursday.
Please keep Rev’s family in your thoughts as they work through this extremely difficult time.
If you are ever struggling, please talk about it with a trusted family member or friend. Please seek assistance. Don’t suffer silently.
If you are contemplating suicide, call the suicide hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or text The Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
If you have any questions about Rev’s funeral, email us at outreach@texastorque.org
 Lord of Life Lutheran Church
Address: 3801 S Panther Creek Dr, The Woodlands, TX 77381
Rev’s LEGOcy Drive
Address for drop off: 3701 College Park Dr, The Woodlands, TX 77384

FIRST Robotics Competition Kickoff 2020: INFINITE RECHARGE

On Saturday, January 4, Texas Torque hosted one of the kickoff events of the Houston area for the new 2020 season. Teams viewed a live kickoff show, where they were introduced to the new game manual and field set-up. They also received a speech from the new FIRST president, Lawrence Cohen.

The following video released by FIRST explains this year’s challenge:

Following the kickoff, members of Texas Torque reviewed the new game manual. Current students, mentors, and alumni all worked together as a team to create a vast array of innovative ideas and strategies for this year’s FRC game—Infinite Recharge.

We look forward to the new season, and wish all teams the best of luck!

Bedding Sets Donated to Angel Reach!

1E4198A2-AF3C-4619-B048-75DBB1562B85On November 14, members from the Texas Torque team delivered over twenty bedding sets to Angel Reach, a non-profit organization that helps young adults transition out of the foster care system. These bedding sets were generously donated from FRC teams attending the 2019 Remix on October 26th, 2019. 

Thank you to all contributors for supporting this great cause!

The Remix 2019- Holy Cow(bells)!

Last Saturday, 32 teams from Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Mexico met at The Woodlands College Park High School to compete in the sixth annual Robot Remix.

The Remix raised approximately $1500 for the Montgomery County Women’s’ Shelter and collected over fifty small LEGO sets for a local children’s hospital. More than twenty bedding sets were collected for Angel Reach, a program that supports youth who have aged out of the foster care system.

This year’s competition was one of the fiercest ever! Torque finished qualification matches sixth, allied with team 5892 Energy HEROs and team 624 CRyptonite, but was eliminated after some tough defense played by team 118 Robonauts.

Congratulations to the winning alliance—team 118 Robonauts, 5261 Cyber Shock, and alliance captain 2468 Team Appreciate! The Robonauts, although routinely superb, was unable to play offense for the majority of the event due to technical issues. Instead, they became one of the most terrifying—and loudest—defense bots ever. While 5261 had a rough start, they rounded out the alliance and contributed to one of the most formidable offensive alliances at the Remix with Team 2468’a speed and precise maneuvering.

We would also like to give a big thank you to the volunteers that helped ensure the event ran smoothly. Special thanks go to our sponsors, Russo’s NY Pizzeria, and team 4610 BearTecs, 624 CRyptonite, 5417 Eagle Robotics, and 5414 Pearadox for running workshops.

Thank you to the teams and audience members that attended the Remix. We hope to see all of you next year!

Get Ready for The Remix 2019!

Each year, Texas Torque hosts the Robot Remix, an off-season event that provides an exceptional competitive experience for both rookie and veteran teams alike and serves as a fantastic way for individuals to challenge and enjoy themselves. This year, 32 teams from all over the continent will face off in Destination: Deep Space, the game from the 2019 competition season.

Texas Torque also uses the Remix as an opportunity to give back to the community through LEGO kit and bedding drives. The LEGOs are donated to local children’s hospitals, while the bedding is given to Angel Reach, an initiative to help young homeless adults. All profits from the Remix are also donated to the Montgomery County Women’s Shelter.

The competition will be held at the Texas Torque World Headquarters (location of the Lone Star North 2018 Regional) on October 26th.

If you would like to volunteer, please visit this link.

Please contact TheRemix@TexasTorque.org or our lead mentor, Scott Rippetoe, at mr.rip@texastorque.org for more information.

For more information or to register your team, visit this link.

2019 FIRST Houston World Championship

Texas Torque’s last event of the 2019 season was the Houston World Championship at the George R. Brown Convention Center and Minute Maid Park. This was the biggest event of the year with over 400 teams attending.

Texas Torque was in the Hopper Division along with 67 other teams to compete for a chance to play during Einstein rounds. After many successful qualification matches, Texas Torque ended with an 8th rank and a 7-5-0 win-loss-tie record. Texas Torque picked team 4020 Cyber Tribe, 4063 TriKzR4Kidz, and team 3635 Flying Legion to complete the 8th seeded alliance.  During the playoffs, our alliance was eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Congratulations to the World Champion finalists in the Turing division alliance! We would also like to congratulate team 973 Greybots, team 1323 Madtown Robotics, team 5026 Iron Panthers, and team 4201 the Vitruvian Bots for winning the Houston World Championship! We would also like to congratulate team 1902 Exploding Bacon for their induction into the Hall of Fame.