Merge pull request #11 from FRC5881/25mid

2025 mid-season update

Author: Alextopher

content/en/blog/2025-mid.md

@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+---
+title: "2025 mid-season update"
+date: 2025-02-10
+author: karina
+---
+
+## 2025 Mid-Season update
+
+Hello everyone, please join Karina to catch up with our team and learn about our progress so far this season.
+
+{{< video src="https://tvhs.us-east-1.linodeobjects.com/vid/mid25.mp4" >}}
+
+### Report
+
+We are halfway through the 2025 robotics season and we’re excited to reflect on our progress, evaluate our current strategies, and assess the challenges we’ve faced. For the first time in the team’s history, we are participating in two regional competitions. We will be competing at the Finger Lakes Regional at Rochester Institute of Technology on March 12th to March 15th, 2025. With a week in between to debrief, reflect, and improve our robot, we will be competing at the New York Tech Valley Regional at MVP Arena in Albany NY. Our team is excited for the opportunities this season brings and we wanted to share an update with all our supporters.
+
+### Game Scoring Strategy
+
+1. There are vaguely 2 categories of scoring opportunities (tall and short)
+2. We decided we would like to build a short robot that featured multiple independent systems, so that we could optimize for speed and consistent ranking points. Going tall is also much more challenging.
+3. DEEP Climb in particular almost guarantees a ranking point, and lighter robots will have better chances of climbing low.
+4. We’re targeting 4 scoring opportunities. L1 & L2, ALGAE in the PROCESSOR, and DEEP CLIMB. With L1 Autonomous and a working DEEP CLIMB we will be nearly guaranteed to win 2 Ranking Points per match and we’ll be contributing the ALGAE towards the 3rd. Because we’re not targeting L3 and L4 we might be weaker in terms of the raw number of points, and so if we’re not paired with tall a robot we may lose matches. We’re aiming to be a weak 2nd pick or very strong 3rd pick during alliance selection.
+
+### Robot Design Strategy
+
+Our core robot design philosophy for 2025 is to take advantage of how a swerve drive gives good access to all 4 faces of the robot and build independent purpose built systems. For example, scoring in L1 & L2 have very different constraints and the best design for L1 is likely not the best design for L2. Rather than ‘squeezing’ L1 & L2 together we’re prototyping and building 2 mechanisms to solve the different tasks.
+
+### Team Member Updates
+
+We caught up with students on the team to hear more about their season so far.
+
+#### Marshall: President and Build Team (10th)
+
+> My main focus this season is electronics and climber design. While I expanded my skills in electronics this year, there is still more for me to learn!
+
+#### Catalina: Build and Outreach Team (10th)
+
+> I am working on creating prototypes and learning circuit board soldering. I learned about the safety precautions needed to use the table saw and resources for programming. Some challenges I faced this season were collaborating with others who had different ideas and understanding programming.
+
+#### Jack: Build Team (9th)
+
+> It’s my first season on the team and I am working on building the robot’s chassis. I learned how to rivet and realized that designing is a challenge for me.
+
+#### Albert: CAD and Build Team (9th)
+
+> My main focus is designing the arm. I learned a lot in my first season including how to use CAD and pneumatics.
+
+#### Alex: Build Team (11th)
+
+> I am focused on designing the climber and algae arm. Throughout this process, I learned how to CNC.
+
+#### Jonathan: Build Team (11th)
+
+> This season, I’m working on planning the whole robot, game structures, and the robot chassis. I learned more about how to be a leader and the importance of responsibility.
+
+#### Tyto: Programing (12th)
+
+> My main focus is programming the robot. I wrote a simulation for the arm and built abstractions for multiple subsystems. I also drafted several CAD designs. Throughout this process, I learned a lot about writing simulations and data structures.
+
+#### Karina: Safety Captain and Outreach Lead (12th)
+
+> This season I have been working with the mentors and students on outreach and social media coverage. We have worked on impact videos and new outreach strategies. I learned the importance of time management and we deployed a new project management system.
+
+### Support the Team
+
+As we gear up for upcoming events this season, it is important to recognize that none of these incredible accomplishments would have been possible without the unwavering support of our generous sponsors and supporters. Their contributions support our students in not just building the robot, but learning life skills that they can take with them far beyond their high school careers. We invite companies and individuals to learn more about supporting our team by visiting our website: https://tvhsfrc.org/support

content/en/blog/2025-parents.md

@@ -8,4 +8,4 @@ author: alextopher
 
 At the start of every robotics season, the Tech Valley High School Dragons invite parents of team members to our school for a Parents Build Day. Parents build field elements for the team and the community practice field. The pratice field is used by The Dragons and other local teams to test and perfect their robots. We are grateful for the support of our parents and our practice field collaborators!
 
-{{< video src="/vid/parents25.mp4" >}}
+{{< video src="https://tvhs.us-east-1.linodeobjects.com/vid/parents25.mp4" >}}

data/authors.yaml

@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 alextopher:
   name: Christopher Mahoney
 ryanmorash:
-  name: Ryan Morash
+  name: Ryan Morash
+karina:
+  name: Karina