It wasn't that long ago that the FRC Kickoff was shown all around the world to many anxious students, and now the build season is nearing its end. Our team has been working much more lately in order to meet deadlines for our robot. As our pieces are nearing preparation, we are assembling our robots for programmers and soon practice. This year, we have went with some new ideas as well, which are keeping us very occupied. We are finally setting the final look and design for our robot, with the electrical system coming together fairly quickly. For much of it, it is definitely crunch time, with tasks being done much quicker than before so that we can make any last minute adjustments so that we may have time to fix any problems, big or small. We have multiple components of our robot created and ready to go such as our drive train and intake system, and we can't wait to see them in action on the final robot. It's starting to come down to the wire now, but we are getting ready for bag day!

Ever since the beginning of the school year our vex team has been preparing for their new season. Now, they have been competing at multiple competition and have seen a great amount of success. Our team were finalists at the Cypress Ridge, Battle in the Boonies and Cinco Ranch New year Powwow competitions, where they were one of the most sought after teams in the entire line-up! They also recieved "The Tournament Champion Award" at the Longhorn Engineering VEX Tournament, and more recently won the final championship and skills challenge at their competition in Cy Fair. Both of our VEX teams are also qualified for the statewide competition, where they will compete for even bigger awards! Good luck and congratulation to oue VEX RoboSpartans who continue to work hard each and every week! WE can't wait to see just how far you all will go!
In other news, our build season for our FRC robot is starting to enter the second half. With all of our parts already or currently being produced, we are preparing to assemble our practice robot. Once that is done, we will move on to the creation of our final competition robot! It has been an exciting season so far, but there is still alot of time left before the season ends!

With the preparations to assemble our practice robot underway, it is only a matter of time before we begin work on our final robot. While we can see the work of our CAD, mechanical, and electrical teams, we are still yet to see the full extent of what our programming team has accomplished. This year's game has the addition of the sandstorm, a first for our team. Our team is going through all the possibilities, working with cameras on the robot to improve a variety of features and to be used in the sandstorm. However, we haven't decided to cut out autonomous entirely, as you never know when something may go wrong. Our whole team is working to the best of their abilities, which will no doubt result in a one of a kind robot for 2019!

With our plans coming together, much of the robot is now being worked, however, we are still in the early stages. With our CAD models coming together, our team is now able to accurately cut parts for our practice and competition robots. Over the last three weeks, our team has really started to come together to create this year robot, and it's all thanks to our cooperation. With improving communication, each group, in charge of different parts of the robot, are working together to carefully plan the robot out, allowing it to be the best it can be. With the parts now being cut, our electrical team is starting to find the best way to power the robot, and this is no small feat! This year, we are currently looking to have an ambitious robot design, but there are still three and a half more weeks left before bag day, so anything could change!
It's not just building robots that has happened today though. Our team once again went to demo one of our robots at Griffin Elementary school. Just as always, the students were in awe of our robot, and in many, you could see the beginning of an interest in STEM and engineering more specifically! Now that we have concluded our outreach events, for now, that is, we are able to put more focus on our new robot. After this year's season, we hope to see our new creation out there showing kids the fascinating world of STEM!

With the specifics of our robotstarting to come to fruition, our gears are beginning to shift. Along with our robot, other parts of our team are starting to come together. We have new numbers for our team to hold up during competition! They are much more durable and take up significantly less space. Our buttons are also being made now! Here is what this years buttons look like: 

Ever since the beginning of the build season, we have been planning our strategy and prototyping. Now that much of it is ending, we are looking to begin the robot as a whole rather than the individual mechanisms. The mechanisms that are chosen will be revised and created by our CAD team so that the proper material and size is as accurate as possible before it is created for the our final, competition robot. With our focus shifting to the construction of the robot, our team is steadily getting more excited for the future. 
We went to Shafer Elementary school as well, demoing our robot to young children and the parents. The students and parents had a blast and are showing interest in getting involved with FIRST themselves! There is still another demo during our build season at Griffin Elementary, so stay tuned!

As the halfway mark approaches, much of our current projects are starting to slow down before we begin to focus on the final design of the robot. Many of the prototypes are nearing their finish line, and there are several that are on the CAD list. Few of our components are still being prototyped due to the material needed, but once they are done, they are sure to be a sight to see! It won't be long before our team decides on aplan for our 2019 robot, but there are still many steps to go. Our CAD team is working hard along side our mechanical, electrical and programming teams to create prototypes that may have a role on our final design. There are also some new tools that Team 4639 will be able to work with now as well, such as the Jestdon software! So far it's looking to be an exciting year for our team!

Continuing from the past week, many of our ideas are being explored through prototyping. As several teams of students work together to create the best possible design and mechanism for this year's game, our strategy is being planned out as well. Most prototypes are finishing up, with testing being one of the last steps needed before we choose the best option. Once that is all wrapped up, more refined versions of the mechanisms will be created for coding and robot testing. It's still fairly early in the build season and anything could still change! 

     After kickoff, our team began planning possible strategy ideas, not going into detail about the robot and its components. Yesterday, we bagan the process of creating designs that may be prototyped and built for our final robot. Today, this planning has continued, revising ideas and choosing the best plan of action. Prototyping has also began to take place, with ideas being tested and refined depending on how effective they are. We can't wait to see how our ideas work out!
       Other decisions have been made as well. A tank drive configuration has been selected, however, this is only one of the many decisions to come. 
       There is even more news. One of head mentors, Mr. Milan, who has been with the team since the beginning, has earned the Texas Honorary Life PTA Award for his help with our team. Without Mr. Milan, we don't know where we would be. Thank you for everything that you have done and continue to do for our team!

On January 5th, the 2019 FIRST Robotics Competition season began with the Kickoff, revealing this year's game. For the remainder of that day, our team was brainstorming possible strategy ideas and what would be our best course of action. Today, January 8th, that has continued, only now we are getting into much more detail. With ideas now beginning to include, robot components, our team is following a robot design theory: identify, asses, and design. This allows our ideas to come together smoothly before we begin any prototypes. Best of luck to all the teams around the world! Team 4639 is ready for lift off!   

​To watch the FRC Destination Deep Space game reveal, click here.