We went into the Asheville Competition, the first since Covid, with a solid robot. We can pick up and deliver cargo to the lower hub and can climb to the mid-level bar in end-game. We started strong and even though we were plagued with electrical issues through some of the competition, we did some great troubleshooting with the CTA of the event and other helpful teams and we ended up being Captain of the 6th Alliance and went out in the quarter-finals. We had a great time and learned a lot and worked hard! We are preparing now for our next event which is this weekend, March 26-27, 2022, at Guilford.

Meet the Flaming Flamingo! We have learned so much building this robot. We have mostly new students and our few returning students are having to learn and teach and lead all at the same time.  We are excited about competing with our pink flamingo!

The Hotbotz 2640 (2019-2020) Build team has been working diligently on their robot. On Week 4, the team worked on making sure their wheels were in top-notch shape with other frc team,Triple Strange 1533, the swerve drive. On Week 5, the team has been working on their intake of their robot. They also have been patiently waiting for the robots parts to get back to them, so the team can start the main build.

The Hotbotz 2640 (2019-2020) Build team were building the robot's turret for the shooter. While the Mechanical team was working on the turret, the rest of the team was reorganizing and making past awards to show how Hotbotz2640 has been working over the past years.

The Hotbotz 2640 (2019-2020) Build team is working on the design and the prototype of the shooter part of their 2019-2020 robot. The CAD (computer-aided design) and programming teams went to ABCO Automations Inc. this past weekend. ABCO Automations is a company that creates and builds automation parts for different manufacturing companies. ABCO works with Hotbotz 2640 to build parts of their robot from their CAD drawings. The Hotbotz 2640 team was working on their CAD drawings and the new team members were trying out and figuring out the basics of the Onshape software system and how exactly you build your CAD drawings. 

The HotBotz 2640 (2019-2020) Build team is working on their design for their new season's robot. This past week, our team has been focusing on completing the design of the robot along with prototyping of certain aspects. The team has really worked hard to design and perfect our shooting and climbing mechanisms. In the next couple weeks, we will begin building our final robot and hope to have it done ahead of schedule! Throughout week two and three, we will continue fundraising and building our bot for this year. We can't wait to see what's in store for our team!

This past weekend, we had the honor of competing alongside many fantastic teams at the Guilford County competition! Although this weekend didn’t go perfectly for the us, many valuable lessons were learned. Perseverance in the face of what seemed like an impossible-to-fix programming issue was key in getting our robot up and running in our final qualification matches. Thanks to the gracious professionalism of teams such as Triple Strange and The Hitchhikers, who collaborated with our lead programmer to fix the complex problems, we were able to successfully climb the third and highest platform on Sunday!

During the competition, our safety team was on the ball! From posting “P.I.N.K.” Campaign signs in the halls leading up to the pits to hair bands in the women’s restrooms, they did everything they could to remind others to stay safe during competition. Because of their hard work and the team’s exemplary safety practices, we were able to walk away from Guilford with the “Safety” award! Throughout this past weekend’s competition, we were able to not only foster safety practices among seasoned teams and give safety advice to rookie teams who needed it but we were also able to help every team we could. As a fairly small team, it’s sometimes difficult to have enough members to lend to other teams. Despite this, we actively lended and often gave away parts that teams needed during competition, as well as helped out teams with pneumatics and pit set up. This practice of lending a hand wherever we could, despite the small amount of hands we have in the first place, allowed us to have the honor of getting the Gracious Professionalism award.

​We are but a small piece of the gracious professionalism exemplified in all of FIRST’s participants, like the ones mentioned earlier. It’s because of teams like them that we build a network of camaraderie, and to be able to expand that comaradship is truly an honor and something we’re proud of. Although we had a rough go of things this past weekend, we are able to hold our heads high and proudly wear our pink! As we prepare for our upcoming competition in Asheville, be sure to pay attention to our social media pages for updates. Thanks for supporting the Hotbotz!