On May 1st, our First Tech Challenge team (ReMOEte) competed in virtual judging sessions. They did well, celebrating their accomplishment of being on an FRC team and an FTC team this year. On May 8th, the in-person First Tech Challenge state competition took place. ReMOEte got to watch their hard work pay off through matches and the award ceremony. Their robot, MOEderna, played quite well, allowing the rookie team to rank first (momentarily). It was refreshing for team members to do an in-person MOE cheer, and ReMOEte got other teams to join in as well. At the end of the long day, the team’s efforts were gifted with a number of awards. One of these awards was the Promote Award, commemorating a 60-second video that answered the question, “What makes FTC work?” One of our team members learned how to use video-editing software, and in just one week, managed to create the winning video. All in all, this year of the Miracle Workerz functioning through a pandemic produced the ReMOEte team – a hard-working, fun-loving, and persevering team. Going forward, they’ve decided to be on the lookout for off-season FTC events and to cherish this great season. Go MOE!

The 2020-2021 Miracle Workerz would like to thank our sponsors for their generosity this year.  Without their support, we would not have been able to make the MOE@Home a great opportunity for our new and returning students.  This year was difficult for many.  These companies recognized the value of supporting this opportunity for future STEAM student through this pandemic.  We welcome them as returning sponsors next year and invite potential sponsors to inquire about how you might help!  Feel free to contact us!  

The Game Design team has been meeting every week to brainstorm and incorporate some of the best ideas into a polished and finished game. Having discussed themes from chess, to elements, to football and of course, a “water game,” the team is finalizing the finer details in the proposed game. The game’s game pieces, endgame, teleoperated period, and autonomous period have all been fleshed out to fit our “Gold Rush” theme while incorporating the chain element and a Coorportition aspect; for example, the Mine, Fool’s Gold, Sluice, etc. The field and game pieces and images of robots interacting with field elements have been rendered in 3D that allows for a visual representation of the game and placement of game components. Additionally, animations are being made to showcase gameplay in action and how the field elements will move and interact. Team members are researching to immerse themselves in the theme of gold mining while a scoring guide and presentation are being drafted and edited in preparation for the upcoming interview with the judges. Student presenters are practicing answering interview questions and covering important talking points. We are nervous and excited to present the final game product that we have been working on!

Subteam members participating in the Innovation Design Challenge have been incredibly hard at work this season. The Innovation Design Challenge asks that teams identify a problem or opportunity and design a solution to help people (or a community of people) keep, regain, or achieve optimum physical and/or mental health and fitness through active play or movement. This particular challenge has been embraced by our team members, sparked creative discussions, led to innovative thinking and has provided opportunities to meet with professionals to gain insight and build business plans as the team addresses this challenge.
After a multitude of brainstorming sessions the Miracle Workerz decided to address this challenge by using augmented reality in order to create a specialized game aimed at engaging individuals who are wheelchair bound. The sub team hopes that their specific plan will increase movement, as well as mental health and fitness by partnering with non disabled individuals.
More detailed information will be shared once the judging phase of this challenge concludes. The team has been persistent in developing a result that meets this challenge and will be of the utmost benefit to the community.

Our First Tech Challenge team (named ReMOEte) has been building and busy. As of right now, the FTC competition – which has been decided to be held in-person – is in two months. So, how has ReMOEte been preparing? Well, they’ve combined all of their skills to create numerous prototypes of what they want their final product to be. They have a functioning shooter, collector, and arm up and ready, along with many needs met regarding programming. The shooter and collector deal with rings in the FTC game, and the arm deals with a contraption called a Wobble Goal. A few issues the team is tackling right now are designing a grabber for the robot’s arm and figuring out the orientation of everything. Overall, this season has brought not only challenges but also fun, new hands-on experiences. Revisit MOENow for future updates on ReMOEte and their work!

Instead of in-person competitions, teams this year will be participating in Infinite Recharge at Home which consists of a video interview with select team members, and the Skills Competition which consists of five challenges for the team to compete in. Teams will showcase their robots by taking pictures and filming them completing the different challenges and submitting them by the deadline. Teams can also present their robot over the online interview with judges by going over the design process and what the robot is meant to do.
The field will be marked with markers called Nav Points that help locate specific spots for specific challenges. These challenges include the Galactic Search Challenge, the AutoNav Challenge, the Hyperdrive Challenge, the Interstellar Accuracy Challenge, and the Power Port Challenge.
The Galactic Search Challenge is meant to emulate the Autonomous Period of Infinite Recharge where robots must try to gather power cells as quickly as possible on one of the two paths which will be randomly decided. The AutoNav Challenges calls for teams to program their robots to three paths autonomously. These include the Barrel Racing Path, the Slalom Path, and the Bounce Path have different characteristics that present different challenges (curves, sharp turns, loops, making contact with markers, etc.). The goal is to reach the End Zone from the Start Zone as fast as possible. Similarly, the Hyperdrive Challenge has four paths which are the three paths from the AutoNav Challenge plus the Lightspeed Circuit Path only the robot must be manually driven. The Interstellar Accuracy Challenge represents the element of shooting power cells into power ports from Infinite Recharge in which robots must shoot three power cells into one of the ports (bottom: 1 point, outer: 2 points, inner: 3 points) from each of the four zones, within a five-minute time frame, with no more than fifteen power cell shots. Lastly, the Power Port Challenge calls for robots to get as many points from shooting power cells into ports in one minute, whether autonomously or remotely from the allotted Challenge Space.
The MOE Skills Challenge team is currently working in the lab to make adjustments to the MOEllinnium Falcon so that it can be better equipped to tackle the new set of challenges!

The unique season of FIRST for the 2021 season provides teams with several competing options since in person meetings are in question around the World. One of those options is to compete in the Innovation Design project, presented by Qualcom as related to the theme FIRST GAME CHANGERS powered by Star Wars: Force for Change. This project gives the team an opportunity to develop real world innovation challenges to test problem solving skills while potentially making a community impact. This particular challenge is asking teams to specifically design a solution, build a business model and deliver a pitch in competition with other FIRST Robotics Competition teams; to earn 1 of 20 finalist spots to be invited to the FIRST Global Innovation Awards.
The societal problem that FIRST would like each team to address is to help people, or a community of people keep, regain, or achieve optimum physical and/or mental health through active play or movement. The Miracle Workerz has ten members on the Innovation Challenge subteam, who are brainstorming ideas and narrowing down their eight current proposed ideas to the one that they will develop and present for competition. The subteam has also had the opportunity to meet virtually with to discuss the practicality of their ideas and discuss the marketability of their innovation solutions.
The Innovation Challenge is teaching our students how to engineer solutions to real world problems, giving them experience in collaboration, providing them the opportunity to design a business model and to refining their presentation skills. These members meet regularly in a remote setting to process ideas, prototype their solution and work on their presentation.

Season 2021 has presented some unique opportunities for the Miracle Workerz this season since in-person competitions are in question. The team decided to pursue several of these challenges, one of which is game design. Using a combination of Slack and Zoom and the power of the imagination, this smaller sub-group is using brain storming techniques combined with a game design template to work up a proposal to the FIRST judges. The sub-team first worked on coming up with storylines, game components, tasks or a complete game concept based on their own individual ideas. As they continue to meet, they’ll narrow down the options to one storyline and put together a completed game design concept presentation for the judges. The competition will initially be a group of up to 30 other teams randomly chosen internationally and move up if selected. Look to MOENow for more information as the team progresses this process!