Flaming Phoenix 7423 - Blog

Flaming Phoenix 7423

Robot Reveal

4/10/2017

Hello everyone! Here's what's been going on: this year, we moved on to PA states by winning third place Inspire at the Oxford Qualifiers. Then, we moved on to ESR through Delaware States by being the winning alliance captain. Then, from ESR, we moved on to Championships by second place design. Thus fair, it has been a crazy year and our team has enjoyed every second of it.

March Update: Post-Super Regionals

4/1/2016

Since our last update, here is what happened!

First, we had our very first competition of the season at Oxford High School. During the competition we participated in six matches (5 normal matches and 1 surrogate) and won four. We also were chosen by Rhyme Know Reason (8528) to be their alliance partner in semi-finals along with Sab-BOT-age (7314). In the end, we were 11th place out of 34 teams.

Next, we went to Delaware States. Overall, we placed in 12th out of 24 and participated in semifinals as an alliance partner of Cubix^3 (8221) and Out of the Box (7244). Despite many disconnection issues, we were able to score a high score of 347. Not only did we win PTC Design Award we also won 2nd Place Inspire Award, advancing us to the East Super Regionals!

Then, we went to the Harrisburg qualifier. At our second PA qualifier, we were able to fix most if not all of our connection errors. At the competition, we ended up first place in the qualifiers with 501 ranking points. During semifinals, we chose Jag-Wired and Out of the Box. However, we lost due to the chain disengagement in semi-finals. At the competition, we won the control award and we were nominated for PTC Design.

Finally, the most recent competition to which we traveled was the East Super Regionals Championship held in Scranton, Pennsylvania. For the first 5 matches, we held our top position. Then one of our pieces snapped! Luckily, we were able to fix it and reprint one the next day, allowing us to rank 10th in the Tesla division.

December 07th, 2015

12/7/2015

Hey, it's been a long time since we've updated on here! But here's a few facts that'll really chill the flames.

So far, we have not competed at a competition, however we volunteered at Ambler, PA (12-5-15) and will be helping out at an FLL Competition soon. Our current robot is still a work in progress and you can see the latest version of our robot on our YouTube Channel, Flaming Phoenix team 7423.

Next, we've been vlogging a lot so far, so that will most likely be the best way to keep up to date! We love to vlog because it gives us a great opportunity to show our excitement and cheerfulness to a greater area! So expect more content on both YouTube, our Twitter, and here!

ZTE Phone has Arrived! (With Photos)

6/13/2015

So as most know, the ZTE Speed is the Android that FIRST will be using in the 2015-16 season. We got ours from Amazon for about $55 instead of from FIRST cause it would be cheaper. Check it out here.
Since there isn't much coverage on this device, we figured that we should do a review of the phone to show what people would be buying. We hope you enjoy our coverage of the device!

Note: The below isn't a review, it's just a beginning comparison.

Comparison to the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. You can see the difference in the displays, in which the Note 4 has an AMOLED display and the LCD of the Speed. The colors looked more washed out, but in a competition environment, it shouldn't be that bad. Plus, the screen looks pretty bright, but has really weird viewing angles, so looking from an angle to the screen will distort the colors and give you an eventual headache.

Note, we recommend to install Nova Launcher right out of the box because it's simply faster than the normal home screen!

Size comparison to the Note 4. With the ZTE Speed having a screen of 4.5 inches and a body size of 5.3 inches, fits within screen of the Note 4.

Phoenix in the News!

5/4/2015

During super regionals, we were offered the option to wake up early in morning for a chance to be in the news! 3 of our members, Justin, Christy, and Thomas all participated and woke up at around 4 or 5 in the morning! See below for the videos in which they participate in!

Live Feed Of Super Regionals

3/20/2015

Check back here tomorrow at about 8:30 AM EST for updates on this feed!

still 2 hours to go!

STEM Expo At Cab Calloway Center

3/10/2015

Last Saturday, MOE FRC, MOE FTC, and Rhyme Know Reason held a STEM expo at the Cab Calloway School of Arts. They invited a few other teams such as us, the Flaming Phoenix, and Wilmington Friends. They had set up a field for practice and to show off the robots to the general public. The teams had also invited other people who were in the STEM community, such as doctors. They had also shown the movie Slingshot starring the founder of FIRST and the inventor of the Segway, Dean Kamen. The movie was about a water purification system to clean the water in order to eradicate the 50% of the pathogens in the water. It's called the Slingshot, explains Kamen, because the slingshot is a powerful tool that David used to subdue the large Goliath, which is what he wants the Slingshot water purification system to accomplish. Moreover, he had former President Bill Clinton to test out the grotesque water and he says, "I drank it and I'm still alive."

After the EXPO, our teams (Flaming Phoenix, Rhyme Know Reason, and MOE) went to Charcoal Pit for dinner. We all had a blast! We almost did the Cotton Eyed Joe while eating cause we forgot to do the dance during the Expo. Also, we invited two of our non-robotic member classmates to come along with us to the Expo, hoping to spark interest for Robotics. They stayed the entire expo and went to dinner with us. The students came out talking non-stop about FIRST and how much fun it was! Maybe we have new members for next year?

click above for the full image! (the second image has significant noise removal cause noise (or the grain in photos) really bothers me :P)

Friends until the end @RhymeKnowReason pic.twitter.com/mWy61gEkWC
— Flaming Phoenix (@FPhoenixes) March 8, 2015

Introduction Into The Cascade Effect

3/3/2015

So we've been a little behind on blogging, so its time to play catch up! This post will catch us up all the way to State Championship!

So, at our first competition, we won 2nd place motivate, first place PTC design and finalist awards! Good job team!

Then, at our second competition, we won second place motivate, and the PTC design award! Unfortunately, we weren't chosen to be an alliance partner during the semi-finals. However, we won 2nd place inspire, meaning that we moved on to state championships!

Then after Penn State York, we went to Delaware State Championship to compete, we were 2nd place motivate and we wont PTC design award! We were chosen to the an alliance partner, but unfortunately, we lost in the first semi-final round.

In preparation for PA states, we held our own scrimmage! We created our playlist and grabbed our equipment and headed over to the Charles F. Patton Middle School! We had a blast with the 5 teams that showed up!

Now, the previous Saturday, we went to PA states. We placed 15th in the Robotics category, got got 3rd place motivate, nominated for PTC Design award, and we won 2nd place inspire! We were all very ecstatic about being able to move forward to states! Thank you to Mrs. Gaza for the photos!

We have more photos on the photos tab of our site. We will have more updates to come! Until later, happy 'STEM'-ing! :)

Introduction

1/1/2014

The Flaming Phoenixes [we] are a Southeastern PA FTC team. This year (2013-2014) is our first year and so far, we are enjoying it. We have 7 members: Thomas, CJ, Christy, Dev, Jonathan, KC, and Austin. We also have 5 mentors: Mr. and Mrs. McClure, Mr. Hwa, Mr. Simmons, and Mr. Morun.