Four members of I.S.D. 166’s Ice Storm robotics team wheeled the team’s robot into competition at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC). There were 123 teams competing in the FIRST Robotics regional tournament this year, making it the biggest regional tournament in the country. One team even came from Sweden; the other squads came from the Midwest. From L-R: Haddon Taylor, John Pierre, Reccko Helmerson- Skildum and Brody Lacina. Photo courtesy of Tom Nelson
Despite only getting three competitions in, the I.S.D. 166 Ice Storm robotics team placed 46th out of 60 teams in the Northern Light Regional tournament held March 5-7 at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC).
St. Paul NoMythic placed first in the Northern Lights Regionals with the Two Harbors Rock Solid Robotics team earning a 15th place finish to lead all northern Minnesota teams.
Ice Storm finished one spot ahead of the Duluth East Daredevils, who ended up in 47th place.
Placing first in the Lake Superior Regional (LSR) was the Edina Green Machine. The LSR is held at the same time as the Northern Lights Regional on the other half of the DECC. With 123 teams competing, this is the largest robotics tournament held in the U.S.
The Silver Bay Mariner Robotics squad placed 6th in the LSR competition to lead all area schools entered on that side of the bracket.
On the first day, “A bolt came out of one of our wheels and our robot wouldn’t work until the kids fixed it,” said Coach Tom Nelson.
Because of lost time, Ice Storm missed some of the competitions while they were working on their ‘bot.
“The second day a wire broke and the kids pulled all of the electronics out of the robot, fixed it and we got two competitions in, winning both,” Nelson said, adding it was tremendous to see how the kids came together to solve both problems.
For those unfamiliar with the sport of robotics, teams get about two months to build a robot from a FIRST kit each team receives. The kit contains parts made up of motors, batteries, control system components, construction materials, and a mix of additional automation components— with limited instructions. Working with adult mentors, each team has about two months to design, build, program and test their robots to meet the season’s engineering challenge.
Teams take those parts and then they machine parts, fabricate parts, or make parts from 3D printers and build, wire, and program the robot for competition.
The way the game works is that three schools are randomly paired to fight against a three-team alliance also randomly paired, in three-minute matches. The alliance that ends with the highest score wins the game. There are eight rounds in which eight games are played.
During competitions the goal is to shoot balls through holes and make 1-3 points and then, as time is winding down at the end of the three minute game, the controller attempts to hook his or her robot onto a cross bar and pull the robot up, which is worth a large amount of points. If it sounds simple, it’s not. During games some robots play defense while some are on offense during the fast paced games. Kids use remote controls to steer the robots into scoring positions.
Students who participate in robotics learn practical skills like welding, cutting metal, wiring, machining parts, mechanical engineering, and coding. They also learn to work together as a team, gain self-confidence, leadership and communication skills.
More that 83,400 high school students on 3,336 teams from around the world compete in FIRST tournaments.
Teams come from throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and one squad this year was from Sweden.
CCHS students participating on this years team are: John VanderHeiden, Patrick Pierre, John Pierre, Cayden Zimmer, Kole Anderson, Sadie Wilson, Haddon Taylor, Olivia Nesgoda, RaeAnn Silence, Hailey Smith, Jack Wolfe, Emma Wolfe, Recko Helmerson- Skildum, and Brody Lacinia. Coaching this year are Tom Nelson, Greg Pierson, and Mike Duvall, who is once again helping the kids learn to program the robot. Lori Backlund, I.S.D. 166 school district financial officer, also assisted the kids in raising money for the program.
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