Robotics

TKA MidKnight Robotics teams compete with other FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) teams in the Bay Area.

TKA has two team - MidKnight Madness #7854 and MidKnight Mayhem #15385 - comprised of up to fifteen high school students each.

For more information about the TKA program, contact the team coaches via email: robotics@tka.org.

Join TKA Robotics!

High School Robotics 2021-2022: Want to be part of a winning team and learn new skills? Apply Now!

The FTC season runs from September through January, with the NorCal Championships in late February or early March.

Teams meet three times/week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays 3:30-6:00 p.m. and Saturday mornings 9:00 a.m.- noon.

The Robotics team fee for this season will be $450, which includes individual tool kits and team shirts for each student and also covers team expenses such registrations, robot parts and materials, equipment and coaches' stipends. Families will be billed through TKA FACTS system.

The TKA robotics team members contribute a variety of skills, and no prior experience is required.

We train new members on CAD, 3D printing, hardware prototyping, and software with Android Studio to program in Java.We also have an on-campus machine shop to design and manufacture parts. The team is run like a small business, with marketing, fundraising, team management, and presentation skills needed as well.

TKA Robotics Celebrates Achievements for the 2020-2021 Season!

Congratulations to the members of MidKnight Madness who received the "Connect Award" which is given to the team that most connects with their local STEM community.

The team is recognized for helping the community understand FIRST, the FIRST Tech Challenge, and the team itself. The winner of this award is the team that has a clear team plan and has identified steps to achieve their goal.

Congratulations to members of MidKnight Mayhem who received 2nd Place for the Collins Aerospace Innovate Award.

This award celebrates a team that thinks outside the box and has the ingenuity and creativity to make their designs come to life and produced a creative robot design solution to any specific components in the game.

2020-2021 Accomplishments

View the season celebration slideshow below:

MidKnight Mayhem Design Process

Watch this design process video! (5:14)

Madness Robot Reveal

Watch this robot go! (1:33)

About Us

Our Mission

Our mission is to inspire students to explore STEM through the hands-on experience of designing, building, and programming robots based on sound engineering principles while having fun in the process.

Our History

The King’s Academy launched its Robotics Program in 2014-2015 with both a high school FTC team (15 students) and two junior high FLL teams (12 students). The school’s junior high students now have a Robotics/Engineering course elective in lieu of FLL teams, increasing availability to more students. Starting in 2019-20 the high school students also have an Intro to Engineering course utilizing Project Lead the Way curriculum.

Departments

Hardware: The builders of our robot who implement design ideas, all while overcoming challenges and keeping the robot within the guidelines.

Software/Programmers: Writing the instructions for our robot to complete objectives (i.e., score as many points as possible).

Business Operations/Marketing: Applying for sponsorships, writing business plans, documenting the engineering process, managing inventory, planning for community outreach, etc.

Outreach

Our team outreach includes promoting robotics within our own school as well as reaching out to team sponsors and others in the community. For example, we..

1. Promote robotics within our school to recruit new members at the following events: interactive robot game at School Carnival (Oct), TKA Club Day for current students (Oct), Open Houses and Orientation for new families (Oct, Dec, and May), and STEM Career event (April).

2. Promote STEM within our community at: Valley Church STEM event (Oct)

3. Industry connections: Attend Intuitive Surgical’s Open House (Sept)

Goals

Students lead sub-assembly teams combining software and hardware with experienced students training rookie members to ensure continuity next year
Worked with school administration to hire a staff coach and recruit additional mentor support to ensure robotics program is sustainable for future years
Promote robotics within our school community to help recruit new members next year
Participate in 2-3 school wide events (e.g., Carnival, Open Houses, Club Day, New Family Orientation)
Secure ongoing financial support from at least 5 corporate sponsors and/or matching gifts
Establish industry relationships with 2-3 company visits (Intuitive, NASA wind tunnels, OhmniLabs, etc.) and invite speakers to team meetings 1-2 times per month

Design Process

Game Strategy

The first step is always to understand the FTC Game, which includes a brief animation (link to 2019-20 SKYSTONE season) overview and comprehensive game manuals.

The team then strategizes what tasks are most important by evaluating the tradeoffs between risk and reward (potential points scored). This year the team used Macbooks and Google Drive to help define their game strategy. The interactive spreadsheet helped the team analyze the risk/reward tradeoffs and calculate approximate points per second.

Brainstorming Designs

The next step, once we've decided which scoring tasks are the highest priority, is to brainstorm design solutions. We have found using large sticky notes and presenting our ideas to each other is an efficient process. This process also encourages all team members to contribute their ideas and to think "out-of-the-box."

Hardware Development - Prototyping/Testing

Prototyping the sub-assemblies (i.e., drive train, ball collection and scoring alternatives, sensors, etc.) gives us useful feedback, fairly efficiently, on which ideas will work best. A variety of materials are used, everything from Tetrix parts, cardboard, plastic, foam, and other raw materials.

And with the on-campus machine shop, students can now fabricate custom parts using various equipment such as a mill, lathe, and drill press, supervised by adult mentors. The students not only gain valuable hands-on experience, they can implement more complex designs and rapid prototyping. We are especially grateful for the generous donations of several TKA families and the Wayne and Gladys Valley foundation to equip the shop.

Software Development

The software team uses an Android Studio-based programming environment. Several team members are proficient in JAVA but constantly mentor new members.

This year's challenge includes a lot of autonomous navigation that requires pre-programmed software that can use gyro, light, and color sensors. The challenge also allows for vision targets (three different images) to assist robots with more accurate navigation during the autonomous period. In addition, the students learned to use GitHub as a collaborative development tool. .

FIRST

What is FIRST?

Founded in 1989, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) prides itself on its leadership in the scientific arena and its commitment to building a strong foundation for the country's future workforce. Founder Dean Kamen, the recipient of the 2000 National Medal of Technology, has "awakened the innovative and imaginative leadership in America's youth to the excitement of science and technology." FIRST has competitions for several different age groups, from JrFLL (Junior FIRST LEGO League) for elementary school students, FLL (FIRST LEGO League) for middle school students, to FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) and FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) for high school students.

Access FIRST's website.

About FTC

FTC is designed for students in grades 7-12 to compete head to head, using a sports model. Teams are responsible for designing, building, and programming their robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams. The robot kit is reusable from year-to-year and is programmed using a variety of languages. Teams, including coaches, mentors and volunteers, are required to develop strategy and build robots based on sound engineering principles. Awards are given for the competition as well as for community outreach, design, and other real-world accomplishments.

For more information, please access the FIRST FTC website.

About FLL

Introduces younger students to real-world engineering challenges by building LEGO-based robots to complete tasks on a thematic playing surface. FLL teams, guided by their imaginations and adult coaches, discover exciting career possibilities and, through the process, learn to make positive contributions to society.

Access FIRST FLL website.

Previous Seasons

2019-20 FTC Robotics

The 2019-20 FTC challenge was called SkyStone. To see the full challenge, check out the FTC game animation.

Both teams competed at the January 18th qualifying tournament in Santa Clara with the following results:

MidKnight Madness #7854 won:

1st place Inspire Award given to the team that best embodies the ‘challenge’ of the FIRST Tech Challenge program and is a gracious competitor. With this top place award, Team 7854 qualified to compete in the NorCal Championship tournament competing against 56 of the top teams in the Bay Area.
2nd place Connect Award connecting with their local STEM community to explore opportunities available in engineering, science and technology as well as helping their community understand FIRST robotics.
2nd place Design Award which recognizes their robot's design elements that are both functional and aesthetic and that incorporates industrial design elements into their solution.

MidKnight Mayhem #15385 won:

Captain of the 4th seed alliance

At their first qualifying tournament on November 23rd at Cisco, the teams won the following awards:

MidKnight Madness #7854 won:

1st place Think Award for their engineering notebook
2nd place Design Award for robot's design elements
3rd place Inspire Award given to the team that best embodies the ‘challenge’ of the FIRST Tech
Challenge program and is a gracious competitor.

MidKnight Mayhem #15385 won:

1st place Design Award which recognizes their robot's design elements that are both functional and aesthetic and that incorporates industrial design elements into their solution.

2nd place Robot Game as the finalist alliance
2nd place Connect Award connecting with their local STEM community to explore opportunities available in engineering, science and technology as well as helping their community understand FIRST robotics.

2018-19 FTC Robotics

This year TKA expanded to two robotics teams: MidKnight Madness #7854 and our new team MidKnight Mayhem #15385. We had a total of 21 students, including 10 rookie members.

Both teams successfully qualified to compete in the NorCal Championship based on their accomplishments at the qualifying tournaments. Championships were held on March 3rd at Independence High School in San Jose.

At the December 8th tournament at Google, both teams' robots performed so well that they were selected as alliance partners to compete in semi-final rounds.
MidKnight Mayhem #15385 won:

1st place Connect Award for connecting with their local STEM community to explore opportunities available in engineering, science and technology as well as helping their community understand FIRST robotics.

MidKnight Madness #7854 won:

1st place Innovate Award for their out-of-the box thinking and most creative design solution
2nd place Think Award for their engineering notebook
2nd place Robot Game as Finalist partner

MidKnight Madness #7854 won their semis match in this exciting video below (2.5 min) to advance to the finals round. In the first 30 seconds, robots score points in autonomous mode (no driver) by deploying from the center lander and correctly detecting a gold mineral (yellow block). Then drivers use robots to acquire gold and silver minerals (white balls), deposit minerals in the lander and finally reattach to the lander at the end of the game.

Both teams also competed at the February 3rd Daly City tournament where MidKnight Mayhem #15385 won:

1st Place Think Award for their engineering notebook

MidKnight Madness #7854 was the Captain of the 4th Seed Alliance for the Robot Game and also won:

2nd Place Connect Award for connecting to STEM community

2017-18 FTC Robotics

Last year's TKA's MidKnight Madness team had fifteen students, grades 9^th-12^th, including ten rookie members. FTC challenges students to design, build, program, and drive robots (no larger than 18"-cubed) in a game played by two alliances of two robots each.

The challenge for the 2017-18 FTC season was FIRST Relic Recovery, a 150-second game to score a variety of points during both autonomous (pre-programmed) and driver-controlled periods. To see the full challenge, check out the FTC game animation.

At the February 3rd, 2018 robotics tournament in Daly City, TKA's MidKnight Madness won

1st place Inspire Award for overall performance (being a strong FIRST ambassador and role model for other teams)
3rd place Think Award for their Engineering Notebook (documenting their design process to remove obstacles through creative thinking)
3rd place Connect Award for community outreach and business plan

At the December 2nd, 2017 tournament at Google, the team won

1st place in the Robot Game as the Captain of the Winning Alliance
1st place Design Award for the best industrial design
2nd place Innovate Award for most creative design

The team advanced to compete in Northern California Championships in February, 2018.

Watch this exciting video of one of their final matches below, won by TKA #7854 and their partner from St. Mary's school in Berkeley #11575. In the first 30 seconds, the robots score points in autonomous mode (no driver), followed by two minutes of stacking blocks in patterns and their partner successfully scoring a game element outside the field.

FIRST encourages teams to promote robotics in their community. The TKA high school team designed a game for the TKA Carnival in October that required participants to race robots through an obstacle course. The team has also demonstrated our bots at TKA Open Houses and STEM Events in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. This past summer, several team members mentored elementary students at robotics summer camps in Sunnyvale and Cupertino.

2016-17 FTC Robotics

In the 2016-2017 season, TKA's MidKnight Madness team had fifteen students, grades 9^th-12^th, including four rookie members. The team qualified for the NorCal Regionals and won the following awards at their first two tournaments in the 2016-17 season:

2nd Place - Finalist Alliance for the robot game (both tournaments)

1st Place - Think Award for their Engineering Notebook (documenting their design process to remove obstacles through creative thinking)

2nd Place - Inspire Award for overall team performance (being a strong FIRST ambassador and role model for other teams)

This two-minute video highlights TKA's bot #7854 scoring in the robot game by detecting/scoring colored beacons, launching balls in center goals, as well as placing their large cap ball on the center goal.

At the NorCal Regionals tournament in February, our team's lead mentor, Randy Andrews, won the Compass Award for his outstanding guidance and support. The team submitted this one-minute video to highlight how Mr. Andrews has inspired the team since they started three years ago. Congratulations Mr. Andrews!

2015-16 FTC Robotics

The MidKnight Madness 2015-16 team had fifteen students, grades 10th-12th, including four rookie members.

The team won the following awards at their first two tournaments in the 2015-16 season, which qualified them to attend Regionals:

1st Place - Captain of the Winning Alliance for the robot game
1st Place - PTC Design Award for implementing industrial design principles that differentiate the robot's aesthetics and functionality
3rd Place - Inspire Award for overall team performance

At the Northern California Regional Championship in February 2016, MidKnight Madness finished in 3rd place in the Robot Game within their 24-team division.

View this exciting video (2 min.) from one of the semi-finals rounds of the FIRST Tech Challenge qualifier tournament (Jan. 23, 2016). TKA's bot #7854 is partnered with Notre Dames #7593, and the video shows both teams scoring "climbers" in a rescue shelter, then TKA climbs the mountain and successfully hangs from the high cliff bar.

2014-15 FTC Robotics

The 2014-2015 team had fifteen students from grades 9 through 12. Five students had prior experience in robotics and were graduates from FIRST LEGO League (FLL). Three of those students also had experience in FTC and transferred their knowledge to The King’s Academy sponsored team. In addition, we had two teachers who served as coaches, and four adults as mentors.

We competed in multiple FTC tournaments and won the following awards at the January 24th, 2015 tournament:

Winner of Innovate Award - most innovative, out-of-the-box robot design
2nd Place Robot Game - Captain of Finalist Alliance
3rd Place Inspire Award - overall achievement

Congratulations MidKnight Madness on their inaugural season!!

2015 Junior High Robotics

TKA's Junior High students participated in FIRST LEGO League (FLL) the past two years. Being on an FLL team is more than just building with Legos. Students work closely with their team to build and program an autonomous robot, do a research project on a real-world problem, and prepare a presentation of their solution, all while having lots of fun. Robots are built and programmed using the LEGO MINDSTORM platform. The Master's Builder's team in 2015 was comprised of 10 students, grades 6th to 8th. Junior High students now have the opportunity to take a Robotics/Engineering elective.

2014 Junior High Robotics

TKA had two on-campus Junior High teams in 2014 coached by TKA staff and four off-campus teams coached by TKA parents. They all competed in local FLL tournaments.