News
FTC Kickoff!
On October 7th at 9AM, FIRST Tech Challenge teams gathered at Lake Oswego High School for the season kickoff; it took place on the big screen in the auditorium. Beforehand, they got hyped up by raffling off over $500 worth of FTC parts and gift cards. After the dramatic reveal of the season, teams filed out to view the brand new field!
Teams also watched six educational 20 minute presentations on the Engineering Portfolio, Odometry, CAD, Social Media, Engineering Design Process, and Wiring. With over 150 attendees and 10+ teams represented, it was a highly successful event to get the season started!
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Lake Oswego Robotics Hosts Successful 6 Weeks of Summer Camps
In partnership with the Lake Oswego Parks and Recreation department, Lake Oswego Robotics hosted 6 weeks of 15 hour camps where 9-14 year old campers spent a week learning LEGO Robotics. Campers learned both LEGO robotics oriented skills with robot design, sensor and mechanism control, and programming with blocks, as well as general skills such as working in teams, persevering through challenges, and experimenting with different ideas.
The camps also provided valuable skills for the counselors, as they had to learn, teach, and assist with the curriculum throughout the week. Councilors were students from the Lake Oswego Robotics FTC teams, who spent one or two weeks each as a paid councilor or lead councilor.
All around, campers enjoyed the camp, with energy high throughout the weeks; parents were also very happy to see what their children had constructed for the final challenge showcase on Fridays.
If you are interested in having your child be a camper, keep an eye out this spring on the Lake Oswego Parks and Rec website!
LO Robotics Hosts Open House for Students and Parents
Lake Oswego FTC teams hosted an Open House on April 6th for middle and high school students interested in joining robotics. FTC teams each gave a small presentation about the values of their teams, as well as FRC Lake Monsters, who were attending their regional competition that day. Over 30 students from 6th grade to 11th grade attended and signed up for interviews. Students and parents also got to watch a full match demonstration from all four FTC teams. It was a great morning of introducing families to FIRST.
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FTC Teams Compete at State; Qualify for Worlds
All four Lake Oswego FIRST Tech Challenge teams competed at the Oregon FTC Competition during the weekend of March 9th. On Saturday, teams arrived, set up their booths, inspected their robots, and presented to the judges to earn awards. On Sunday, matches and elimination rounds were held in two divisions. After having spend around 20 hours at Liberty High School, teams received awards and discovered who advanced to Worlds!
In the Gold division, 18119 Mostly Operational finished 3-2 in 7th with a consistently high scoring autonomous and end game. They got chosen by the third alliance, but were defeated in the semifinals in the division.
Also in the Gold division, 8610 ToborTech went 5-0 and finished 3rd, consistently scoring high points with advanced autonomous and fast pixel placement. In the elimination matches, they were picked by the #1 team and fought their way to winning State! Besides their victory in competition, they also received the Compass, Innovate, and 2nd place Inspire awards. They will be in Houston, Texas for worlds in April.
In the Blue Division, 18127 All Hands on Tech went 2-3 and finished ranked 13th; selected by the fourth seed in the elimination matches, they lost to the first seed in the semifinals.
In the same division, 23260 Wire Fire went 4-1 and finished ranked 3rd with a strong autonomous and end game. As captain of the second seed during elimination matches, they lost to the third seed in the semifinals with a 1-2 record.
For All Hands on Tech, Wire Fire, and Mostly Operational, it was a great end to the season; it was also the first time at a State riviling before COVID for many team members. ToborTech is hard at work preparing for Worlds, while the other teams are relaxing, working on summer learning and outreach, and planning for the next season.
Thank you to all of the volunteers, referees, judges and mentors who made State possible. Without all of them, none of this would happen.
All Four Lake Oswego FIRST Tech Challenge Teams Advance to State
During recent FIRST Tech Challenge League Qualifiers, all four Lake Oswego teams advanced to the next level of competition, the State Qualifiers in March. From there, winning teams will advance to the FIRST World championships in Houston, Texas. In the Silicon Forest league on Feb. 3rd, 8610 ToborTech lead the league in both normal qualification matches and as captain of the winning alliance in playoffs. They ended up walking away from Hill High with 1st place Inspire, the highest award that can be given. Lastly, but certainly not least, their first playoff match earned them the 7th highest match score in the world (as of 2/17/24).
The next weekend, teams 18127 All Hands on Tech, 18119 Mostly Operational, and 23260 Wire Fire competed for their chance to advance to State. At the Rose City League Qualifiers, the teams finished qualification matches in 2nd, 3rd, and 6th respectively. During the playoffs, All Hands on Tech, 2nd alliance captain, graciously chose Mostly Operational as their pick, removing them from 3rd alliance captain. Wire Fire got chosen by the new 3rd alliance captain, but they ended up getting defeated by All Hands on Tech and Mostly Operational in the Semifinals. All Hands on Tech and Mostly Operational ended up as the finalist alliance, losing to the winning alliance in the finals.
However, all three teams also won multiple judged awards. Mostly Operational received both 2nd place Inspire and the Connect award for reaching out to the community. All Hands on Tech received the Motivate award for spreading FIRST; Wire Fire received the Control award for advanced and consistent software and sensors. All three Lake Oswego teams from Rose City League ended up advancing to state.
FIRST Robotics Competition Starts New Season with Game Reveal
FRC team 2635 Lake Monsters had their game reveal on Saturday, January 6th, 2024. Their season CRESCENDOâ„ presented by Hass, is based around the world of sound and speakers. Their first competition is on March 1st and their second is on March 21st; they compete within the Pacific Northwest District. See here for competition information. Watch the below view to see FRC's exciting and challenging game reveal.
FRC Finishes up BunnyBots
Lake Monsters were successful and performed well at BunnyBots! While they did not make playoffs, their robot was extremely resilient and had an excellent showing. Their rookies rotated through the driver and human player positions, setting they up well for further drive training, team unity, and the Centerstage CRESCENDO season.
FIRST Tech Challenge Competitions During November & December
During December & November, FTC Teams competed in a variety of league competitions. Team 8610 ToborTech competed in their Meet 1 & Meet 2 at Silicon Forest in Hillsboro. At the first meet, they won 6 matches, placing them 1st in the league and in the state. Their second meet, in the beginning of December, also resulted in 5 successful matches and no change in their 1st ranking. On the same day, Rose City and Mostly Operational, All Hands on Tech, and WireFire also had their Meet 1 competition (it was delayed due to the PPS strike). Wire Fire went 3-2 with a high score of 78 and a fully functional autonomous & pushbot. All Hands On Tech had a fully kitted out robot, but with connection issues, they ended up going 2-3. However, the meet did give them a chance to test all of their new mechanisms in competition, which proved fairly successful.
Mostly Operational went 4-1 and 2nd in the league, thanks to an improved autonomous. All four teams next competiton is on Jan 6th. Live streams can be found at Rose City & Silicon Forest; All offical results can be found here.
LO Robotics FTC Teams Participate in Meet 0
FIRST Tech Challenge teams Mostly Operational, ToborTech, All Hands on Tech, and WireFire had their first competition on Saturday the 28th. Meet 0 is a chance for teams to check how their robot is performing, as the results have no impact on the rest of the season. ToborTech, at the Silicon Forest League in Hillsboro, went second in the league, with a 4-1 record. They also scored the highest score of the meet. At Rose City League, based at Grant High School, Mostly Operational lead the league, winning 5 matches and finishing 1st. They also had the only robot able to hang from the truss. All Hands on Tech ended the day ranking 4th of 17; their odometry system for Autonomous worked flawlessly. Rookie team WireFire ended ranking 6th, and had a very successful 45 point Autonomous. All the teams are excited to be getting back to competition. Teams have one to two weeks until Meet 1, which is the first competition that goes into the record.
FRC Lake Monsters Starts Off-Season Competition: BunnyBots
FIRST Robotics Competition team Lake Monsters is gearing up for BunnyBots, a fall training competition! The BunnyBots event this year will be on December 16th. In the past few weeks, Lake Monsters have been focusing on training subteams and working out digital, or CAD (Computer Aided Design) designs for their BunnyBot. They also attended the FIRST Chance competition a few weeks ago, a competition using the previous season's robot to help rookie team members get accustomed to the flow and feel of an FRC Competition. They all had a lot of fun there, and the rookies who attended got valuable driving experience for the upcoming competitions. To learn more about BunnyBots and find the live stream, visit https://www.team1540.org/bunnybots.
FTC Visits OMSI Planetarium
Members from Mostly Operational, ToborTech, and All Hands on Tech visited the OMSI Planetarium on Monday the 2nd of October. Jim Todd, the Director of Space Science Education, explained the interesting history of the oldest planetarium on the West Coast. Students also got an explanation and a demonstration of how the OMSI projector and laser software works. To help understand the software, a few students got a chance to directly operate the planetarium. Lastly, they got a quick Halloween themed laser music show. Everyone got a unique learning experience and saw some pretty cool software and hardware. Thanks to OMSI and Jim for the amazing and educational experience.
FIRST Tech Challenge Kickoff Hosted by LO Robotics
On September the 9th, the FTC Centerstage challenge was released to the world. All four LO Robotics teams collaborated to plan, run, and host the Kickoff at Lake Oswego High School. All three FTC teams gave presentations on various parts of FTC. As for teams, Lake Monsters helped setup and sold concessions, Mostly Operational ran the auditorium presentation and coordinated between teams and the school, ToborTech created the poster and emceed for the Kickoff, and All Hands on Tech created the schedule and signage for the event, as well as inviting other teams. Overall, over 100 people attended, with strong representation from both LO & non-LO teams. Everyone had a great time and hopefully learned a bit. We look forward to the upcoming season; click here to watch the kickoff video.
FTC Teams Visit Autodesk Portland
FTC teams 18119 Mostly Operational, 8610 ToborTech, and 18127 All Hands on Tech visits the Portland Autodesk office on August 9th. This is the second year the teams have visited, and our LO Robotics Student Reps arranged this years outing. Members from all three teams were treated with a tour of the building, including the maker space and rooftop view. Then, team members got a brief presentation on software the Autodesk FIRST interns are working on, which is designed for FIRST teams; team members also got a chance to try out a beta version of the software. Lastly, they got to ask questions to a panel of Autodesk staff and interns, learning about everything from the company culture to the various career paths the staff took. All three teams had a great time, learned a bit about Autodesk, and just maybe got inspired to join Autodesk's FIRST Internship program.
Lake Monsters at Worlds!
​The Lake Monsters Robotics team, composed of about 35 students from Lakeridge and Lake Oswego High Schools, had an incredible 2022-23 FIRST Robotics Competition season! Lake Monsters won the 2023 Engineering Inspiration Award at regionals, which qualified the team to compete with their robot at the 2023 FIRST Robotics World competition in Houston from April 18-23. While the team has won many awards in past seasons, this is the first time in eight years the team has been to Worlds! The team, their mentors, and parent chaperones enjoyed meeting and competing with more than 500 FIRST Robotics teams worldwide.
FTC Open House
Lake Oswego FTC teams hosted an Open House on April 6th for students interested in joining robotics. Over 30 students from 6th grade to 11th grade attended and signed up for interviews. Students & parents watched a short presentation and a robot demonstration.
FRC Advances to Worlds
Lake Monsters 2635 recently went to the Oregon State Fairgrounds Qualifying Tournament in Salem and won the Engineering Inspiration award! They also played in the playoffs with team High Desert Droids 753 and Metal Beavers 1432. They are now moving on to regional championships in Cheney, Washington. They are bringing strong marketing, outreach, and media presence to storm regional championships! For more information about FRC & Lake Monsters 2635, vist frc2635.org. They will next be competing in Houston, TX at worlds.
FTC State Results In
Lake Oswego Robotics finished strong at State. Due to snow, State changed to remote at the last minute, pushing teams to rapidly pivot and testing the team's ability to adapt. All three FTC teams were ranked above the top 20 in Oregon. All Hands on Tech demonstrated consistent performance throughout the season, and ranked fifth in Robot Performance. ToborTech won the Control Award, was a finalist for the Connect Award, and ranked second in Robot Performance. In addition, coach Hans Tsai won the Compass Award, recognizing his commitment to local robotics teams. ToborTech member and student representative to the LO Robotics board, Aidan Kwapisz was also nominated as one of Oregon’s Dean’s List finalists. We is proud of a strong season and eagerly awaits next year's challenge.
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LO Robotics Hosts FTC Scrimmage
On February the 12th all three LO FTC teams hosted three other top ten Oregon teams. Teams played a total of eight matches in the morning, with a variety of results. Everyone got a chance to test out new designs and fix issues. Everyone there had a lot of fun through all the chaos. Thanks to High Voltage, RevAmped, and Overcharged.
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All Three FTC Teams Advance to State
On Jan the 21st & 28th, all three Lake Oswego First Tech Challenge teams advanced to the state level. At the Willamette Valley League, All Hands on Tech were in the Winning Alliance and got 1st place Think. In Silicon Forest, ToberTech was the captain of the winning alliance, won Connect 1st, and Inspire 3rd. At the same league, Mostly Operational made it to eliminations as a captain, won Innovate 1st, and Think 3rd. State is on February 25th at Hilhi High School & is open to spectators
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TR3 Tour for LOSD Staff & Admin
On January 23, FTC & FRC came together to show LOSD the School Board & School Staff the new Tech Room 3, redesigned and rearranged by students. Staff first got a presentation about FIRST, and then got shown two tours in two groups. The first tour focused on FTC, with a full match and other aspects demonstrated. The second tour focused on FRC, including the machine shop.