The Raton Roar

10/27/2016

The Gifted Raton Robotics Team (GRRT) at the local BEST robotics competition in Trinidad, Colorado.

10/27/2016

The Gifted Raton Robotics Team (GRRT) recently competed in Trinidad, Colorado for their local BEST robotics competition. The BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) program gathers hubs of schools all across the country to design, build and compete with their robots built from provided part kits.

Team GRRT did very well, having received five trophies at the SoCo (Southern Colorado) hub; they will move on to regional competition in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The team was awarded 1st Place Game Award for their robot's outstanding performance, 1st Place BEST Award for their marketing display and presentation, the Founder's Award for Creative Design, the Software and Simulation award, and the Most Robust Machine Award.

The recipients of the 2nd Place BEST Award, the Manzanola robotics team, will also be traveling to Fort Smith to represent the hub.

GRRT plans to make big improvements on their robot and display to be strong competitors in Arkansas. We ask that you stay posted for fundraiser event dates and to see pictures and videos of their progress!

04/11/2016

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04/10/2016

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04/07/2016

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12/07/2015

The GRRT team and their faithful robot "ARK" competed in the BEST Regional Competition in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

ARK and the team performed as hoped, dutifully retrieving the required objects. The wheels remained in place and there were no major malfunctions. Overall, it was a very successful mission.

However, the competition was FIERCE! In their rookie year, the team learned a lot about what it takes to field a successful team. Whereas the GRRT team planned on scoring 125 to 150 points per round, the more experienced teams were scoring 400 to 500! That type of performance requires a lot of advance planning and practice.

The GRRT team plans to use their newfound experience to improve upon their future performance. They are thankful for all the support they have received from the community and the opportunity to compete at district level.

The Roar will post more pictures of the competition as they are processed.

Until next year..."Compete! Persevere! Win!".

Brock Adams
Technology Reporter for the Raton Roar

12/05/2015

Live Feed from the Robot District Competition...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCrqkJuqJ4o

The livestream for BEST Arkansas Regional competition, presented by Metro Homeschool Robotics. ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ► Leave a like if you enjoyed! ▬...

12/05/2015

this robot has some work to do

12/03/2015

The Roar Can Now Reveal This Exclusive Footage!

As the competition is now only a day away, the Roar can finally reveal this never-before-seen video of the ARK robot in action!

This footage was taken by an embedded reporter at the GRRT team's secret hideaway overlooking the burg of Raton, NM.

Now everyone can see the top secret technology the team hopes will make a good showing in Fort Smith!

Raton High School's robot, competing in the 2015 BEST Paydirt game. https://www.facebook.com/RatonRoar/ https://www.ratonroar.com http://best.eng.auburn.edu/

12/02/2015

Cheerleading Controversy for GRRT Robot Team
~ robots need pom-poms, too ~

A controversy has arisen regarding the lack of a cheer leading squad for the GRRT Robot Team. The issue was brought to light at a recent, grueling, training session when one anonymous parent asked, "why doesn't the team have any cheerleaders?"

As it turns out, one team at the Trinidad competition DID have cheerleaders. It just wasn't the GRRT team, who had to provide their own cheering. It should be noted that the team is much better at building robots than cheering.

When interviewed, the anonymous parent stated, "I would protest with a picket line, but there's just me and I would have to make my own sign and stuff. Who would bring me coffee and donuts? Besides, it's cold."

When pressed further, that parent revealed, "I stayed up last night making up cheers. I've got three good ones so far: "Go, team!", "Compete! Persevere! Win!", and "Beeeeeeep". The last one sounds best in an R2D2 accent...I'm working on that!"

The Raton Roar tracked down one of the anonymous parent's anonymous sons who emphatically implored, "I don't know him. I'm an orphan. Please quit interviewing him...whoever he is. You're just making things worse."

The anonymous parent's other anonymous son proved to be much too fleet of foot to be cornered for an interview, so we had to record that as a definite "no comment".

Brock Adams
Technology Reporter for the Raton Roar

12/02/2015

GRRT Team "Set" to Compete in Arkansas

As anyone who has ever launched a rocket or built a robot well knows, the devil is in the details. For the GRRT team, this particular detail turned out to be a persistent problem with set screws.

Due to the frequent direction changes required by the tasks to be accomplished during the competition, the set screws holding the wheels in place repeatedly loosened. Finally, one screw snapped off while being re-tightened...making it impossible to adjust or remove from that point on.

With only two days remaining until the competition in Arkansas, the team had to work fast to devise a fix. The wheel could not be removed due to the broken set screw, so the team hoped that it would hold long enough to compete. This turned out to be a dead end, as the screw loosened after further operation.

Fortunately, this allowed the wheel to be removed. The team drilled and tapped a new hole for a second set screw, and the robot is once again operational and ready for action. The set screws will still require tightening between each round of the competition.

Will the screws hold for the competition? Will the wheels fall off?

Only time will tell. Stay tuned!

Brock Adams
Technology Reporter for the Raton Roar

11/29/2015

The GRRT Team (Gifted & Talented Raton Roar Class) competed in the BEST Robotics Competition in the SOCO Hub region (Southern Colorado). Each team's robot was required to navigate an obstacle course and move various objects from one location to another while racing the clock.

The GRRT robot was designed and built by team members using a kit of materials provided by the competition committee. Each team was limited to using those materials and little else. This required innovative solutions and creative re-purposing of the various components.

The GRRT team placed first in the BEST division, first in the Software & Design division, and second in the Game division. The BEST acronym stands for Boosting Engineering Science and Technology and was awarded due to the team's overall presentation to the judges.

As a result of the team's success, they are moving on to the regional competition in Forth Smith, Arkansas to represent the SOCO Hub region on December 4-5, 2015.

The team has worked many, many hours redesigning and rebuilding the robot in preparation for this next level. In addition, each member has devoted much effort towards learning to maneuver the robot.

The GRRT team raised $3,500.00 from corporate sponsorship, spaghetti dinners, bake sales, and donations to fund the trip to Fort Smith.

The GRRT team consists of Benjamin S., Brooke F., Zena B., Baylor W., Donovan M., Ella S., Matias S., Jaden M., Rhianna H., Noah S. and sponsors Jo Alm and Elizabeth Wick.

Photo credit: Zena B.