2013
The Officers
President
Treasurer
The Robot
Name: Kernel Panic
Skills: Long distance frisbee throw, 10pt climb, shot blocker
Community Events
For 2013, Fatal Error participated in Exploration-U, a science night for kids hosted by Penn State's Science-U. Approximately 600 people attended. Kernel Panic shot frisbees for kids to catch, and even shot a frisbee into a basketball hoop!
We also went to Ag Progress Days and the Centre County Grange Fair. We have no pictures from any of these events, but some video from Exploration-U is included in the "Community Events" video on the 2014 page.
The Offseason
During the 2012-2013 offseason, the team worked to become more knowledgeable. Mentors held classes on the use of pneumatics, and our head electrical & programming mentor, Mr. Terosky, taught LabVIEW programming to us and other 4-H FRC teams across the state at two programming seminars (one basic and one advanced).
The team also moved towards becoming more student led, electing the first set of 4-H officers.
The Game
Ultimate Ascent was based on the game of Frisbee golf. Frisbees were shot across the field into rectangular goals. The only issue were the large obstructions: two jungle-gym like pyramids, one for each alliance, dominated the middle of the field. Hanging from a pyramid during the last 30 seconds
of a match would gain 10 points per rung reached.
The Team
2013 was the team's second year. Some members from the previous year were lost, some new members joined.
Build methods for the robot were drastically improved in 2013. The robot was finished a week before Bag n' Tag, allowing the drivers time to practice. Some CAD and calculations were used for the first time.
Build Season
2013 Trailer
Driving Tryouts
Beginning of the Season Photos
See our planning sessions!
Competition
Fatal Error performed phenomonally at the 2013 Pittsburgh Regional competition. The robot was useful for both offense and defense, because it had a long range from which it could shoot frisbees and it was very tall, which made it easy to block other robots' shots. It had a high center of gravity, leading to some unsteadiness, but thanks to the extra time during build season, the drivers were prepared and knew how to handle it. Omnidirectional wheels also helped alleviate some of the risk of tipping over.
By alliance selections, 4027 was seeded 5th of 48 teams. With a hand-picked alliance, the team went on to make it to the quarterfinals matches.
Duck tape hats became a signature of the team, along with the drive team's hat flip trick.
Major partners
