A New Year!

It's 2013 and were back! Starting up a whole new year with some new people but the same joy and excitement!
We have started building and drawing some blue prints for our brand new robot! This year the competition is called Toss Up. It has the robots hanging from bars and throwing objects. We are using the biggest object ever used in the Vex Robotics Competitions. We are looking very forward to doing this all over again, and hope to go back to Worlds this year for another fun and great learning experience for the whole team!

We also hope people can help us out with funds and the team! You can donate money right here on the website, just click on the link on the main page to donate.

Sincerely, The Syntax Errors

P.S. Thanks for checking our website!

We Were on the Air This Morning!

2013-2014 Season NEW GAME REVEALED

Tonight the next season's game was revealed and it all has our minds racing with design and strategy ideas. We see some pneumatics in our future....

A Whirlwind

To All the Syntax Errors Fans,

So much has happened over the last two days and I realize that our last published post was yesterday at the opening ceremony. Two posts are still trying to publish from Ms. Amy's phone and there is not any Wifi in the convention center (apparently it interferes with the performance of the 'bots).

Suffice it to say, many postings are yet to come. We miss everyone and can feel your love and support from where ever you may be!

~The Syntax Errors

Basking in the Glow

If it seems too quiet here at the blog, that's because we've taken a short hiatus while we basked in the glow of REACHING OUR INITIAL FUNDRAISING GOAL!!

To date we have raised $11,400 which will go to sending our team to Anaheim in less than a week. We could not have done it without all of the funds donated through this blog. Thank you.

If you are visiting us for the first time and are interested in donating, please do! Any funds which are not spent on our trip will go towards building our program next year. This year's program was started entirely with grant money which will not be available next year. I have a feeling that our numbers will swell given the success in our first year and would be great to have the resources to support the students.

While we are in Ahaheim we will blog daily, so stay tuned April 17-21 as we take on the World Championship!

~The Syntax Errors

A Milestone!

The blog has reached over 1,000 visits since it's start just two weeks ago. Thanks to all of you that have come by and continue to check in. As you can see from our counter on the right, we still have a few thousand dollars to raise so anything you can do to get the word out is greatly appreciated.

This Friday from 5-8 is our Music Review fundraiser--just $5 per family and you can be entertained for 3 hours! We will also have a bake sale with sweet and savory treats, robot drives for $1 and Hexbugs for sale. See the map below for directions.

In the event that you cannot attend Friday's fundraiser--please use the PayPal donation button on the right to support our team. It all adds up!



View Larger Map

In the Media

Katie at KUNM Children's Hour put in a word for us yesterday. Thanks, Katie!

Geoff at the Alibi also posted about us on their blog.

We are so grateful for the support from the greater Albuquerque community and if any of you know of other media that would be interested in getting the word out, please leave a comment so we can get in touch.

~The Syntax Errors

We're on KRQE!

A segment about the team aired on KRQE early this morning. You can access the video and transcript here. Nice work with the interview Elijah!

NM robotics team makes national competition

On the Air

KQRE/KASA were on campus today filming and interviewing the team which was very exciting! We did not make it on tonight's news but may be on the air tomorrow morning for the am news on Channel 13 (KRQE). We are also scheduled to be on NM Style on Channel 2 (KASA) which airs from 8-9am. James the editor/camera operator was glad to be a part of such a positive story.

Tune in and see us in action!

In other news, check out the practice field! SiaTech High School is letting us borrow half of a playing field so we can practice in a more accurate environment. Up until today we have been using a wooden perimeter and chalking in the scoring troughs. Now we have regulation bean-bags and scoring areas that meet the Sack Attack regulations. We are so grateful for this support from a fellow robotics program.

Update: We did not air on New Mexico Style this morning, but were part of the early morning news. Here's a link.

Fundraising Event This Saturday!

This Saturday (3/30) we will be hosting a bake sale at the Altura Park Soccer Fields here in Albuquerque from 9am-1pm. We will have most delicious treats, hot coffee and Hexbugs for sale! The Hexbugs are the Nano and the Ant and sell for $7 and $12, respectively.
If you can come out and support us, or if you have some goods to donate to the cause, please leave a comment and how we can get in touch!

Wow!

Today we received $1250 in donations! We are on our way to Worlds!

Please use the PayPal button to the right to make your tax-deductible donation to our team.

We are so grateful!
~Syntax Errors

Monday Practice

We met as a team today, split into our groups and got down to business.

The 'bot is finished!

Our programming issue was resolved!

Diego worked with the PR team to get started on screen printing!

A successful practice.

Following practice, we held our first pre-Anaheim parent meeting. We had a huge turnout and hopefully some questions were answered. The fundraising ball is rolling and soon our Kickstarter URL will go live.

Up and Running

Today marks our first official blog post before the World Championships in Anaheim, CA! We have a lot to do to put the finishing touches on our robot and fundraise our way to California. This blog will highlight all of the ups and downs on our way to World's!

Last weekend we won the Excellence Award at New Mexico's inaugural VEX Robotic Competition. The Excellence Award is not because we were the best at designing, programming and driving our robot. We won it because we demonstrated excellent sportsmanship and attitude during the event. We were all totally shocked and amazed that we won the overall competition and grateful for the opportunity to represent our school and the state of New Mexico in just a month!