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No Gears, No Glory By Matt Ferguson

No Gears, No Glory! - Our team’s motto in this years game, FIRST Robotics “Power Up”.

The Kingston Robo-Cards, FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) Team 4994 from Kingston High School, is
in the middle of their fifth competition season and it is off to a great start! The team recently returned home
after winning the two-day competition at Kettering University on March 1st through the 3rd despite a major
setback! We built a fast robot that could quickly place cubes and hang on the 7 foot tall rung for this years
game. After our first of twelve qualification matches, we found out that the way we climbed (by pushing off
the ground with pneumatic cylinders) was illegal and we could not use our climbing mechanism.
The students felt defeated after working so hard during the six-week build season. We could not use the
very mechanism that we based our entire robot design around.
Instead of giving up, the team dug their heels in, went to the pit area, and we removed all of the parts used
for climbing, which was about one third of the entire robot. The robot was made driveable and we continued
to compete in the qualification matches. The team worked vigorously on a new climbing mechanism using
the parts we removed in between matches.

At the end of the qualification rounds the team finished with 8 wins and 4 losses, in 7th place out of 38
schools, and we had our new climbing mechanism working! The top 8 teams get to choose their alliances
and team 4994, the Robo-Cards, ended up being the 5th seed after choosing team 245, the Adambots of
Rochester, and team 6091, Eagle 1 of Deckerville. Our alliance then went on to sweep the number 4 alli-
ance, the number 1 alliance and go on to win the finals undefeated in the elimination rounds! This perfor-
mance currently places the team 7th in the state after the first week of competitions out of about 160 teams
that competed across the state. There are a total of 508 teams competing in Michigan during this 6 week
season.

Along with winning the entire competition, we also won the “Innovation in Controls” award sponsored by
Rockwell Automation. This award is for having an an innovative control system combined with great pro-
gramming that has a unique function for the robot.

This year’s team consists of about 18 eighth through twelfth grade students. The team has been meeting
twice a week since the beginning of the school year and has been meeting 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Satur-
days since January for the six weeks leading up their first competition last weekend!

This years’ robot has a limit of 120 pounds. We are currently using 5 motors, an air compressor, and
three pneumatic cylinders, all controlled through an integrated WiFi bridge, wirelessly through a laptop. The
competition requires our robot to be able to collect power cubes (milk crates wrapped in fabric) and score
them in a scale. It also needs to be able to pick them up from various heights. In the last 30 seconds, the
robot needs to grab a rung that is 7 feet high and pull itself 12 inches off the ground! The robot can be 55
inches in height with a 28 by 33 inch base and can never extend more than 16 inches outside of that perim-
eter, but can goto an unlimited height once the match begins. We have a 133-page rule book to follow!
Along with learning electronics, programming, and mechanics, the team has business and media depart-
ments as well. We are contacting business for sponsorships to raise money, maintaining our new website
and social media accounts, organizing our pit area, learning CAD, designing t-shirts, and making promo-
tional items.

Along with competing at Kettering University on March 1st through the 3rd , the team will be going to
Milford High School on March 15th through the 17th. We hope to see you there to support our team! Due to
our win at Kettering, we will most likely be invited to compete in the State Championship at SVSU on April
11th through the 14th. The top teams in the state then compete at the World Championship event in Detroit
at Cobo Hall on April 25th through the 28th. Keep in mind, we missed going to the World Championship in
2015 by merely 6 points and have some confidence that we will qualify this year!
As a result of our success, we are still in need of funding. We need approximately $12,000 to operate every
year and that is just for the first two tournaments. Qualifying for states moves that total closer to $20,000 and
qualifying for the world championship would push it to $30,000 because each level is another entry fee and
a longer stay in hotels. Feel free to visit our website, team4994.weebly.com, for more information.

Other than monetary donations, we also accept in-kind donations, which include machine time, technical
support, raw materials, tools, etc. The value of in-kind donations will be estimated for sponsorship levels and
any donation can be used as a tax write off!
https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/4994 https://www.thebluealliance.com/events/fim#rankings

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