Above: The CCHS Robotics Team Ice Storm capped a great season off by competing in a weekend tournament at the DECC in Duluth. Team members are (L-R, front) Carrie Palmer, Shae Morawitz, Sara Carman, David Blackburn, Connor Franks, Isak Terrill, Noah Works. (L-R, middle) Sam Kern, Caleb Phillips, Bergen Soland, and Industrial Tech Instructor Peter Johnson. (L-R, back) Jacob Carr, Nate Carlson, and Brandon Bockovich. Left: Nate Carlson holds the controls as he directs the ‘bot in competition. Teammates to his left, Greg Howe and Sam Kern and Coach Peter Johnson on the right lend moral support.
A problem with their robot’s electrical system near the end of the competition caused the Cook County High School robotics team to fall in the standings, but if the team’s place fell their spirits never waned.
“Overall it was a great experience. Everyone performed well and did a great job,” said team leader Nate Carlson.
Competing for Cook County were Brandon Bockovich, Jacob Carr, David Blackburn, Morgan Weyrens-Welch, Isaac Terrill, Carrie Palmer, Shae Morawitz, Noah Works, Haylie Anderson, Sara Carman, Greg Howe, Bergen Soland, Caleb Philips and Carlson.
The team placed 52 out of 60 teams. Last year the team placed 19th out of 56 teams.
But robotics, while considered a team sport, is more than just about competition. During the six-week build out phase participants learn to weld, read schematics and blueprints, mill and machine parts, work with a lathe to cut plastic, cut and shape metal, wire an electrical system, and learn how to program a 3-D printer. They also learn teamwork as they work together on all phases of the robot.
“Plus, we make lifelong friends from the kids that we meet at competitions,” said Carlson.
This year “Potato Salad,” the nickname given to their revamped robot from last year, was tasked with stacking boxes in a competition called “Recycle Rush,” with the goal to see how may shipping crates a ‘bot could stack in 2 minutes and 15 seconds. This year the team competed in at least 15 competitions in the three-day tournament.
Once again the event was held at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC), and the competition was again designed by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), which designs the games that are played nationwide.
Each squad is paired with two other squads and squares off against three other teams in a series of games. Teams are rotated throughout the day. Carslon said, “Sometimes you get paired with weak teams, sometimes with strong teams, but it all works out at the end of the competition.”
The best eight alliances compete the last day to see who qualifies for the World Championships. The three teams to move on from the Northern Lights Regional are Team 2526 Robotics of Maple Grove, Minnesota, Team 93 NEW Apple Corps of Appleton, Wisconsin and Team 4818 Taurus Robotics of West Fargo, North Dakota who will compete at the World Championships held in April in St. Louis.
“We had trouble getting parts this year, so at the end we had to make do with what we could find locally or we could make,” said Carlson. “But I would have to say that we know living this far away from manufacturers that we are always going to have trouble getting things when we need them, so I’m not offering any excuses, just giving an explanation.”
The three senior captains, Carlson, Jacob Carr and Brandon Bockovich are leaving big shoes to fill, but Carlson isn’t worried.
“There’s a great bunch of kids coming up and they are going to do great things. Just because this was our last competition of the year doesn’t mean we won’t continue to train the kids for next season. The work will be ongoing and the kids will continue to build their skills. To start with, we are going to figure out what happened to our electrical system and fix it. There’s lots of work to be done. It should be great fun,” Carlson said.
Leave a Reply