The FTC season kicks off annually in September and typically goes through January unless they advance to state, which occurs in February.  This year our competition season is going through April, which is when Worlds will be occurring.  The season starts off with getting and setting up the field kit pieces.  This is when they start to strategize what aspects the team will be designing their robot to accomplish. 

In addition to practicing twice a week throughout the competition season, they also do outreach.  Last fall, Team Blackout helped out with our middle school robotics team twice a week as well as helping out with the FLL event that we hosted here at PRA in November.   

Our upperclassman FTC team (Team Blackout) is composed of 5 juniors from PRA.   Each year they participate in two regional qualifiers. At the Denver regional event they earned the 3rd Place Inspire Award (overall 3rd best team at the event for all aspects judged, not just robot performance), which was one of the awards that advanced them to the state competition. At the Loveland Regional event they again received 3rd Place Inspire award as well as being part of the winning alliance. During the event they scored the 3rd highest alliance score in the world during one of their matches. This ranking was at the time of the event.

During the Colorado State Championship they won the event as part of the winning alliance and qualified for the First Championship. During this event they also won the control award for coding & programming.

FIRST World Championship in Houston, Texas (April 15th-20th). 

"We, Team Blackout, are committed to encouraging teamwork, adaptability and continuous learning, combining our diverse skills and perspectives. We tackle challenges with creativity, and determination. We aim to inspire the next generation of young minds, while continuously improving ourselves. Our goal oriented approach drives us to achieve excellence in the FIRST Tech Challenge and allows us to further enhance both our team and the rapidly expanding STEM community around us."

Team Blackout #17483: Youtube Account

Team Blackout #17483: Instagram Account

Autodesk Fusion 360, Road Runner, Odometry Pods, Android Studio and Finite State Machine 

Slides, wiring, absolute encoder sensors, gears, laser cut aluminum side plates, artistic acrylic plates, custom odometry wheels, claws, servos

Click this link to view the PRA High School Robotics Fundraising Flyer (PDF) to see how your support can help the team as it prepares to travel to the Worlds Championships.

CheddarUp fundraising link