Well, it has been 6 weeks since the game was revealed and we started to work on our robot. Now, the time has come to bag and tag the bot until we are able to open it up for competition, which is now the main focus. The team has worked incredibly hard on this seasons robot and continues to work on the practice bot so that the drive team can begin practicing for the upcoming competitions. There is still quite a bit of work ahead, and the team is going into the competition season heads held high. Look out for updates on the upcoming competitions in March and April.

Since the Kickoff, the team has been planning, and now comes the building after numerous ideas were thrown around. Strategy is one of the key factors in the robots final design, and is without a doubt considered quite often. Once all the issues and design flaws get fixed, there is little reason to doubt the potential that this robot has. Many aspects of the robot have begun to spring to life as various prototypes are tested, revised, and tested again so that we can create the best possible bot. With the build season being around he halfway point, our team is without a doubt putting their best foot forward. Wherever the winds take us, the team’ll always be prepared.

     Alright, by now we all know that the 2018 game is something entirely new, and at times, seems confusing, but so long as we understand the manual, it shouldn't be much of an issue. Anyways, for the past week since the reveal, there has been planning upon planning for a good amount of time, ideas are circulating, being tested, and being crossed off the list. With so many possibilities for this game, who knows what direction the team is headed. All we can do is to see where the wind takes us, and we might not end up where initially planned, either way, the team is looking forward to our new robot and competing in the years competitions.

From August 26th to December 9th, 2017, Cinco ranch High school teamed up with Seven Lakes High School to put together a series of live broadcasts to Onslow, Australia- over 16,000 miles away from Katy, Texas.

Our goal was to foster curiosity, inspire discovery, and educate others about robotics with the help of each school’s FLL and VEX teams. The students in Onslow learned how to build both Ev3 and VEX robots from scratch, code them in their respective languages, experiment, and drive them- the result of over 70 hours of filming, editing, planning, broadcasting, and mentoring.

This project has impacted both sides of the globe positively by providing a one-of-a-kind STEM learning experience that will last a lifetime- and the cooperation between schools has taught us what it truly means to be part of a single robotics community.

"...You guys have been very helpful... You are very patient even with the communication problems we have at times, we really appreciate all the hard work and effort you guys put into this- Thank you for that." -A mentor broadcasting from Onslow, Australia on our last day of the Onslow Project.

We couldn’t have done it without our sponsor, Bechtel, who helped us achieve innovation spanning continents. The VEX and FLL teams of Seven Lakes would like to thank you, and hopefully, we can continue to change students lives, one robot at a time, no matter where in the world they are.

On December 2nd, a small group of girl scouts came to the RSC so we could help them earn one of their science badges. Doing various stations involving density, electricity, and a little bit of chemistry, as well as making ʻdino snot.ʻ The following week, a different group was invited, but this time we made slime, gave them a tour of our bay, and gave a rather exciting robot demo, as they were more interested in what we do. Without a doubt, there was a mess to clean up, but What does that matter if you had fun?

Our VEX crew is at it again, bringing home another award under their name on December 2nd, 2017 from the "In The Disco Zone" tournament! Held at a high-tech STEM facility at the campus of Houston Community College in Stafford, Team 3532 dominated the competition with a winning streak of 6 wins out of 7, both robots making semi-final alliances and their A team robot finishing in finals. Their efforts were awarded greatly with the Create Award for the innovative design of their B team robot, making their presence known once again across the VEX community. Congratulations once again to our Seven Lakes VEX team, and good luck on the next tournaments leading up to State! 

The Seven Lakes VEX Team is in the zone! On November 4, 2017, team 3532 made history at Cy-Fair's VEX "In the Zone" tournament by being the first generation of Robospartan VEX members to win the Tournament Championship award with a winning streak of 10 out of 13 matches! Along with both robots making semi finals- and one robot dominating finals after qualifying with an extraordinary score of 61 to 20- they also snagged the Judges' award! The team qualified to compete in the State competition at the CREATE U.S Open Robotics Championships, and they are all looking forward to a successful season! Great job, and congratulations to our VEX team!

November, just two months before build season begins, and the time where we go compete at Robot Remix. It has been quite some time since the last competition , TRI, but the team came to Remix with heads held high. Our competition started early, during the second match, and like our later qualification matches, we played with various teams, no two qualifiers were the same. In the end, out team had a nice record, we ended qualifiers with 2 wins, 2 losses and a tie. When the time came to pick alliances, the team waited anxiously to see if we were going to be picked, and we were in the end. Our alliance consisted of us, Team 4639, the Lady Cans, and Team 4328, the Furious Falcons. Both of our quarterfinal matches came close, but both were losses, one due to an accident where our rope snapped, therefore losing the points. no matter how unfortunate, the drive team did well, as well as showing what some new drivers are capable. Our team will turn this defeat into fuel for the coming competitions, Team 4639 will always be "Hooked on a Feeling" of optimism. 

            Alexander Elementary recently held a Lego night for students to, well, build with Lego bricks and witness a demo of our robot. Not only did the kids build cars, but they raced them and depending on how the car worked, the kids made adjustments to make the next run better, sounds like an early spark in STEM subjects don't you think? It's events like these which we want to attend to keep inspiring the future generations of STEM leaders, it is what the RoboSpartans work toward, and through showing these kids what we do, we hope to pass the torch to these students to keep inspiring the future generations of STEM leaders.