Weekly Blog

Week Eight: 11/11-11/12

We have concluded our eighth week of robotics! This week was filled with amazing progress. Let's not wait any longer, so let's get into it!

On Tuesday, we assembled our new 3D printer, the FLSUN T1 MAX. This printer will help substantially when it comes to fabricating new pieces for our robot. Team Rocket focused a lot on their intake system and also focused on testing out the new 3D printer. Mechanism focused on the launching mechanism and making sure that it is up to speed. We put a lot of time into developing our outreach robot, as well as other outreach materials.

On Wednesday, both of our teams continued the work from yesterday. We made many developments on the camera code for both teams, and we also worked heavily on putting the ramp on for Mechanism. We also finished coding the outreach robot and it will be used in future events, so stay tuned and make sure to come to our events! We also planned outreach events and further developed our coding skills.

Thank you all so much to those who read this every single week. Once again, until next time, signing off!

Week Seven: 11/4-11/5

Happy seventh week of robotics! As we continue counting down until our first scrimmage, it becomes more and more important that we are constantly developing. Lucky for us, we are! We will likely be able to have a fully performing robot at the first scrimmage, unlike in previous years. Without further ado, let's get into this week's recap!

On Tuesday, both teams focused on continuing the work of their launching mechanism. Mechanism decided that their launching mechanism would be put on servos so that it could rotate and change the shooting angle. Team Rocket also put a lot of work into their intake system and tested it. Both teams also started the program for their launcher mechanism.

On Wednesday, we created the nameplates for the other team and continued developing our launcher mechanisms from the previous weeks. We also worked on creating outreach materials and developing the closet.

That's all we have for this week. Until next time, signing off!

Week Six: 10/28-10/29

We have now finished our sixth week of robotics, which means we have about five weeks of practice left until our first scrimmage! We will need to really crunch for the next few weeks if we want to perform well enough to have feedback so that we can improve before qualifiers. This week was focused on developing both teams' robots and organizing the closet. Let's get into it!

On Tuesday, we spent a lot of time putting the finishing touches on organizing the closet. Both teams also continued developing launching mechanisms on each of their robots. Some of our older members also helped teach the younger members a bit more about coding. Team Rocket also designed and created an intake to use in competition.

On Wednesday, we made the number plates for one of the teams and continued our work from yesterday on the launching mechanisms. We also put a significant amount of work into the outreach robot, making sure that we had something that was not able to break easily at outreach events.

That's all we have for this week. If you want to see photos that go along with this blog post, check out our social media that we update each week! Until next time, signing off!

Week Five: 10/21-10/22

We have completed our fifth week of robotics, and we have a lot of progress to show for it. This week, we continued our efforts from the past weeks on several parts of the robot and also focused on developing skills. An exciting piece of news is that we have received our own computer from the tech department at our school! Let's get into the recap for this week.

On Tuesday, we focused on organizing the closet so that we can have room for our playing field that arrived last week, and so that we can be more efficient going forward. We also worked on coding skills, more specifically, by figuring out camera code. We also put a lot of effort into developing prototypes and designing in CAD.

On Wednesday, both teams focused heavily on CAD because that is one of our weak spots as a team. We also continued organizing the closet. Mechanism finally put our artifact carousel on the robot, and construction will continue in the next few weeks as we focus on the actual launching mechanism.

Thank you so much for reading! We also post on every social media that is linked on our website, so make sure to follow those! Until next time, signing off!

Week Four: 10/7-10/8

Week four has wrapped! This week was very productive, and we are proud of every member of both teams for progressing throughout the season so far! It's so crazy to think that just four weeks ago, all of the new members knew little about all that this program offers. Anyway, let's get on with what each team did this week!

On Tuesday, both teams were productive in finalizing prototypes for testing and designing elements to further their design process. There were also discussions about strategies for this season. We also worked on repairing the 3D printers that we recieved last week, and we managed to get one of them working. Team Rocket also finalized the prototype of their shooting mechanism and gave a demonstration for Mechanism.

On Wednesday, Mechanism completed construction of our launcher enclosure and printed our first draft of our artifact carousel. We also completed repairing one of the 3D printers and tested it. We also heavily reached out to other businesses and worked on the notebook. There was also a learning day on Saturday where we learned about archaeology and defensive engineering.

If you are reading these every week, thank you so much. If you have any suggestions for these posts, make sure to put them in the suggestions/problems document that's found in many places across the website. That's all we have for this week. Until next time, signing off!

Week Three: 9/30-10/1

We have completed week three of robotics! This week's progress was mostly a continuation of last week's, but there were some new improvements that we will discuss shortly. The team roster page will soon be up with placeholder images before we get official photos of each member at the next few practices. One piece of exciting news is that we received 3D printers from a teacher at our school!

On Tuesday, both teams continued construction from last week on their robot and designed more potential solutions using CAD programs. Within the next few weeks, both teams will have working prototypes for all aspects of this year's challenge. Several team members started working on preparing to contact businesses across our area.

On Wednesday, we contacted many businesses and received our first few sponsors. We also repaired some issues that happened with our new 3D printers. Both teams continued construction from yesterday and developed prototypes to be developed upon in the upcoming weeks.

This was a very busy and productive week. Until next time, signing off!

Week Two: 9/23-9/24

Week Two is now in the books! This week in robotics was filled with lots of learning, brainstorming, designing, and building the robot. We have had some more new members join as other new members left due to conflicts in their personal schedules. As we like to say at DGF Robotics, the more the merrier! The full team roster page will likely be finished in the next few weeks as a couple of our members are involved in other extracurricular activities that take up most of the week, leaving them unable to come to robotics in the first few weeks of the season. Let's get into the week recap!

On Tuesday, the first thing we did was assemble the field perimeter and put the tiles underneath. Until the season field parts arrive, we may use the field less because now the new members have a grasp on how large the playing field will be this year. Mechanism started construction on the largest part of our robot, the launcher enclosure, and continued with the drive program that was started last week. Members of both teams worked on the engineering notebook and brainstormed solutions for launching the artifacts into the goals.

On Wednesday, we assembled the field perimeter again. Then, we brainstormed more solutions, continued designing parts to go on the robot, and building the base, and learning! Today was essentially a continuation of the brainstorming and construction that happened yesterday, so there isn't much to write home about.

On both days of this week, there was constant productivity from every member of both teams. If everything goes well, next week will be equally as productive!

Week One: 9/16-9/17

Here it is! The first of our weekly blog posts of the season! Sadly, this post will not be that long because, as the season is just starting, we are still in the brainstorming segment of the engineering process. This week was very productive for both teams in terms of teaching the new members how robotics works as a whole. Before we get started with the week recap, a very important announcement is that #22925 is changing their name from Flapjacks back to Team Rocket like in previous years.

On Tuesday, we had our first practice, where Dylan of Team Rocket #22925 hosted a workshop for the new members to learn how to connect to the programming website and then the students who attended the workshop practiced coding basic motor movement. Members from both teams participated and it was overall a fun learning experience. The non-participating members worked on stripping the robots down to their bases so that they can be worked on in the following weeks.

On Wednesday, we assembled our field perimeter for the first time after not using it at all last year, which is great to know in the future for when we need to code the AUTO period. Members of Team Rocket worked on repairing their wheels after they malfunctioned last year. Sam of Mechanism worked on designing his team's robot in CAD while the rest of the members worked on the notebook or disassembling the robot.

Overall, this week was very productive, and we look forward to the weeks to come! Until, next time, signing off!

Season Kick-off Blog: 9/7

Hello, readers! That was one crazy game reveal! If you have not checked out what the game entails this year, you can see it on the FTC Information page on our website, or on the FIRST YouTube Page.

As you may know, yesterday was the FTC season kickoff event. To start, we received news of rule changes, the official dates for learning days and tournaments, and news about premier events across the world. Then, after lunch, it was time for the game reveal. Everyone in the room watched attentively as we found out the exciting challenges that this season will bring. After the game reveal finished, all members of both DGF Robotics teams that were present at the Kick-off went straight to the game field and started making strategies for the season.

Something slightly different about this season is the way that advancing through regional events and onto the World Championships works. Instead of the usual winners of the bracket and any major award winners advancing directly, by winning the bracket or awards, teams gain advancement points which factor in to if you get to advance or not. In the way that the officials at FIRST have measured it, not many results would be different if this was in place in previous years. This makes sure that teams are working towards not only success with their performance of their robot, but also factoring in awards.

This week we will begin practices after a short informational meeting on Tuesday. We are excited to recruit more members, and get them learning and working as soon as possible. Get ready for weekly updates about strategy, build progress, code progress, and community Involvement! That's all for now, folks! Until next time (hopefully very soon), signing off!

Preseason Blog #3: 9/1

Hello again, readers! This summer was uneventful for the Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Robotics program. At the end of the school year, we had to say goodbye to our coach as she pursued other opportunities outside of robotics. As a result of this, we were not able to have any practices or do any outreach throughout the summer. The summer was a very dark time for robotics, as all members were unsure of the fate of the program. However, a few weeks ago we received news that we had found a new coach. Welcome, Amanda Olson! We are excited to see what she does with leadership in the program.

On a different note, it is almost time for the robotics season to start, and we could not be more excited! The Kick-off Event is Saturday, September 6th, where we will receive all of the information for this season. Shortly after that, we will start regular practices and we will be updating all of our socials with our progress! We have also received the dates for the Qualifiers, Scrimmages, and the State Tournament, which are below. Dates are also available on the home page of this website.

Scrimmage: December 6th, 2025 @ NDSU 10am-4pm

Bismarck Qualifier: January 10th, 2026 @ BSC Advanced Technology Center

Fargo Qualifier: January 31st, 2026 @ NDSU

State Tournament: Febuary 14th, 2026 @ BSC Advanced Technology Center

That's all for now! Expect many site updates in the future as we continue to receive information about this season. Until next time, signing off!

Preseason Blog #2: 5/9

Hello, readers! We have a few exciting bits of information to share with you that we have been working on for the past month. This blog will be a lot shorter than the last one, because there is not a season to recap.

First, at long last, we have organized the storage closet. You cannot begin to understand how tall of a task it was to organize the closet after having everything strewn about with little to no organization last year. With an organized storage system, it makes it easier for the construction of the robot to go smoothly. Hopefully the closet can stay organized throughout this season!

Second, we have announced next year's Robotics Team Captains! Congratulations to Dylan Kemp-Brown and Isaac Olson, and good luck on their journeys as leaders!

That is all we have planned for this blog post! We are eager for next season! As always, if you have any questions, comments, or feedback, you can post them in the suggestions/questions/feedback document, and we will do our best to respond. Until next time, signing off!

Preseason Blog #1: 3/7

With the release of the website, it is time for the first blog post! However, the title of this web page is a little bit misleading. The blog will not be updated every single week, just every week during the 2025-2026 FTC season, starting when we have our first team meeting in September. During the off-season, we will update the blog when we have a community event or if anything happens over at FIRST Tech Challenge, such as the season challenge video getting released!

It is also important that we use this blog post to reflect on the performance of both of the teams from Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton. Our two teams this season were Mechanism #17449, and Flapjacks #22925 (that is their name as of the time of writing, but their name is subject to change). Mechanism #17449 went to two qualifying events in the 2024-2025 season: the Fargo State Qualifier and the Bismarck State Qualifier. At the Fargo Qualifying Event, we placed tenth during the qualifying round, which meant we would be unlikely to be able to play in the elimination bracket, but we were able to persuade the team that was in second place to pick us for their alliance. We were able to get to the final round of the consolation bracket, but we were eliminated. Flapjacks #22925 placed above us during the qualifying rounds, getting ninth place overall, but sadly, they were not selected for an alliance. At the Bismarck Qualifier, Mechanism did not have very much luck, placing twelfth overall and not getting picked for an alliance.

Even if neither of our teams qualified for the state tournament, the season was very eventful and fruitful, giving everyone on both teams experience and wisdom for seasons to come. However, the year is not over yet. There is still plenty of time going forward to become more involved in the community and build up our knowledge even more throughout the off-season. With our seniors graduating, we need to take the time to learn as much as we can so that we can continue to prosper even without the most knowledgeable and experienced people.

During the off-season, we have many exciting outreach events and fundraisers planned. We are planning on going into classrooms in the middle school and giving presentations about our robotics team, as well as maybe letting some of the students drive a robot that is not used for competition. We have also planned to do several 50/50 raffles over the summer at the Buffalo River Speedway in Glyndon, MN. We have also planned to attend some of the local festivals such as Felton Days in Felton and Loco Daze in Dilworth to spread the word about FTC and make our robotics team known to the community. It is important to get the word out about FTC because FTC is a great way for future generations to get started in engineering and design and it can help spark people to pursue those fields.

Well, that's all for now. There is more to come in the next few months, and we hope to keep this website active for months and potentially even years in the future. If there's anything you would like us to address in the next blog post, make sure to suggest it in the suggestions/questions/feedback document, and we will do our best to respond. Until next time, signing off.

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